Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
Outdoor Activities => Northern Ireland Camping and Bushcraft => Topic started by: LandyLiam on December 12, 2011
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at the christmas camp i remembered to use my thermometer to test out a few things:
temperature outside tent: 7deg
temperature inside tent: 7deg (i thought this would have been higher! only 1person in tent)
temperature inside sleeping bag: 21deg (alpkit pipedream 400 down bag, felt warm with only shorts and t shirt on, started the night with socks on too but had to take them off in the early hours as i was getting too hot!)
i used the thermometer on my tesco watch ( http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.100-1257.aspx ) for this, it does take about 15 mins to settle and i'm not sure how long i left it between measurements (it was only 6am) so not the most scientific of tests
has anyone else done such an experiment? (i bet matthew has ;) )
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Button thermometer on my altimeter usually strapped to the pack so records the ambient temp (unless in the sun). Also used a thermal probe on my multimeter to record the temp in the back garden when I did my sleeping bag tests. Never thought of inside the sleeping bag before, and rarely in a tent since starting to ponder such things.
All the air in a tent that can freely circulate, and the large surface area, probably limits the warmth they can trap, especially as most of your heat is limited from escape by your close insulation (clothes/sleeping bag). Most heat thus released would be from your breath, which could be why, if you ever do get a tent heating a bit (perhaps full of people) it is evidently humid?
Tents and solid-fabric inners primarily function to keep your insulation dry (effective), cut the wind (strongly circulating ambient air)... and create a living space. I think they limit further heat loss, rather than trap extra heat, except perhaps where the temperature difference is extreme or the ventilation is severely limited.
Perhaps use your anemometer to check the wind speeds also next time? We don't want to know the readings from inside the sleeping bag though ;D
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I used my watch to record the temp in my tent when camping in galway in february a few years back, it went down to -5 inside the tent!! brrrrr ;D
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I calibrated my small button compass/thermometer combo a couple of years ago and over the last couple of winters my snow camps up on the hills have been around the -10°C mark inside the tent.
Calibrating a glass thermometer is pretty easy, calibrating a watch less so!
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+7 certainly explains why it didn't feel overly cold on Saturday night. Probably not the best winter testing for gear.
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+7 certainly explains why it didn't feel overly cold on Saturday night.
+6 was the overnight minimum recorded in the tent
Calibrating a glass thermometer is pretty easy, calibrating a watch less so!
well its sort of what i do for a living ;D
so next time everyones camping please remember to bring a thermometer (glass ones with mercury NOT recommended!!) and test these 3 positions:
1. in the sleeping bag: best if you lie on your side and place thermometer on floor of bag not touching your body
2. in the tent: as low down as possible but not touching the groundsheet, on top of a coat or something
3. outside the tent: in the porch area near a gap to get some wind flow over it but NOT in direct sunlight
probably best time to do it is first thing in the morning so your sleeping bag is as warm as possible
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+7 certainly explains why it didn't feel overly cold on Saturday night.
+6 was the overnight minimum recorded in the tent
Calibrating a glass thermometer is pretty easy, calibrating a watch less so!
well its sort of what i do for a living ;D
Out of interest, can you genuinely calibrate a Tesco watch or do you just check it against references and then assume linearity?
so next time everyones camping please remember to bring a thermometer (glass ones with mercury NOT recommended!!) and test these 3 positions:
1. in the sleeping bag: best if you lie on your side and place thermometer on floor of bag not touching your body
2. in the tent: as low down as possible but not touching the groundsheet, on top of a coat or something
3. outside the tent: in the porch area near a gap to get some wind flow over it but NOT in direct sunlight
Or direct moonlight ;D
probably best time to do it is first thing in the morning so your sleeping bag is as warm as possible
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1. in the sleeping bag: best if you lie on your side and place thermometer on floor of bag not touching your body
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careful not to roll over on it, unless u want to take ur own temperature?? ooer lol ;D
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Out of interest, can you genuinely calibrate a Tesco watch or do you just check it against references and then assume linearity?
no i can just check it against a very very accurate reference thermometer, but if done overnight i can check the max and min and get a good range