-
Two people in a small tent at this time of year can cause condensation. Are there any vents in the inner tent?
-
Not too sure what the problem was, but we were DAMP.
I have an aranet4... this is an accurate CO2 monitor with temp and relative humidity sensors too.
I use it in my office to tell me when to open the window. I noticed that when I felt sluggish in my office wasn't always after eating, some research said it was CO2. This works out, when CO2 in the office goes above 750ppm (parts per million) my brain slows down.
Anyhoo... I took it camping.
Or rather, I took it driving and camping.
I wanted to know if tiredness in the car was due to high CO2 and too little fresh air... answer = YES! So now I can use the aranet4 as an alarm to open window or blast the fans before I get tired on long journeys.
And camping, well I was merely curious as to what the temperature might be in the tent, how well it holds a temperature.
Camping with an aranet4 was wild.
These numbers from 10pm through to 6am in Southern England.
- The temperature inside the tent held steady at 17'c in the tent... it got down to 12'c outside.
- CO2 spiked at 3,350ppm, but averaged 2,500ppm... it is about 415ppm outside constantly in fresh air... and I have never seen it higher then 1,000ppm indoors before.
- Relative humidity was about 87% in the tent... weather apps reported only 67% outside.
Basically... blew my mind.
The tent is phenomenally good at holding temperature, but achieves that by largely holding onto all of the air inside the tent (despite all air vents being open... lack of wind in the right direction?).
Side effect of it being so good at holding the air and temp... the tent also held all of the CO2 exhaled and all of the moisture exhaled.
If the air vents were closed, if the humidity that night was worse... I can well imagine a damp inside of the tent.
- The temperature inside the tent held steady at 17'c in the tent... it got down to 12'c outside.
You are reading a single comment by @user16171 and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
eskay
Velocio
@user16171
Did a one night camp with my son this weekend.
Dusted out my 20 year old Coleman Epsilon backpacking tent.
Re proofed it with NikWax and seam sealed the whole thing.
Not too sure what the problem was, but we were DAMP.
It could have been condensation, but the tent material felt full saturated. It was a misty morning.
Could the damp air have permeated the tent?
It might also be that the bathtub ground sheet needed re proofing too, and that the moisture was coming up from under us.
It might have just been condensation of two people in an old tent
Either way...
Tempted to try again. Re seal everything with Fabrisil silicone based gear, rather than the water based Nik Wax stuff... try to bring a 20 year tent back into life.
or...
Just treat myself to a new backpacking tent. Doesn't need to be pro grade.
Just enough to throw in a backpack or the boot for a minimal camp with one kid.
Anyone got any experience of the Vango Caringorm?