I often choose to leave the stove burning all night, my tripping partners like hot coffee first thing in the morning and I have a cheap bag and I sleep cold in the first place. However, many people refuse to leave the stove going at night for reasons including carbon monoxide poisoning, stove pipe separation in wind, and tent fires. I find these unlikely. I am no expert, but here is my reasoning:

Carbon monoxide poisoning: tent is too leaky

Stove pipe separation: This could obviously happen, and some sources say it would instantly fill the tent with extremely hot gases which you would inhale with potentially fatal consequences. The tent volume seems too big for this to happen IMHO.

Tent fire: could happen anytime the stove is going, but unlikely with fire retardant material.

What do you all think of this? What do you do at night? Have any of these things happened to you before (e.g. stove pipe separation)? What happened?

I generally agree with you, but my real world job tells me flame retardant is nearly a fraud, and that heat over a number of hours cumulatively - maybe as few as 10-20 - will make the fabric ready to burn and sustain flame just fine. And dirt and dust is not flame retardant.

But again, take reasonable precautions and don't all go to sleep after a lot of imbibing and I don't think it's cause to not let it burn all night.

Agreed. Matt plans on stoking the fire through the night, although I'm sure he'll at some point get sick of it... LOL. In any case, the fire kept going through the night won't be much above a smolder anyway...

Plus, I'm a REALLY light sleeper... I feel like if anything goes bump (a pipe coming loose or what not) I'm going to hear it, the dog will, too.

We did that...once. Trying to keep the stove going all night made for temperature fluctuations that made it very difficult to stay comfortable and sleep well. Feed the stove we got hot so unzipped bags to cool off and when stove burned down got cold so zipped up...repeat through the night.

As for safety I sleep better knowing I don't have anything to worry about.

I prefer an evening of warm temps, good company and warm drinks. Stoke the stove a little for the last time, snuggle into my bag and drift off as the fire dies down. I don't ever want to depend upon the stove to keep me warm as I sleep. If I don't have a sleep "system" that is warm enough to keep me comfortable, I shouldn't be out there. Trust me, I've learned the hard way!

There are tips and tricks to warm up an inadequate sleeping bag. Warm bottles, shove your sleeping bag footbox into your parka, put on more layers of snuggly clothes, etc. Too many things can happen to make for a miserable night if you aren't prepared.

Besides, I can't keep my stove operating all night anyway, even if I wanted to. Hot tent through the evening, cold tent at night! Wake up in the morning, get your son-in-law to light the fire and start the coffee, while your catch another 30 minutes of shut eye. Life just doesn't get any better........ and nothing, absolutely nothing smells better then coffee brewing on the stove while you lay there waiting for the tent to warm up.

My friends think I'm crazy for enjoying winter camping, but it is one of the great joys in this old geezers life.

I would agree about the smell of coffee but would have to raise you the smell of sizzling bacon :) mmmmmm

quote SteveElms73: "I would agree about the smell of coffee but would have to raise you the smell of sizzling bacon :) mmmmmm"

I won't quibble much about that one......brings back fond childhood camping memories. Laying in my bag all warm and toasty on a frosty morn, while Dad would be busy making breakfast. Coffee perolator going and bacon sizzling in the cast iron fry pan. All is well with the world!

Like awbrown said, I also have a sleep system that keeps me warm all night. I prefer to jump in the sleeping bag after filling the stove and sleeping through the night instead of having to get up every 2 to 3 hours to stoke the fire. Makes the morning chilly, but it warms up quick enough.

As far as a pipe come loose in the wind, one thing I will modify on my chimney is adding two screws to the pipe, one on either side of the joint, and wiring them together. Example here, scroll down the page a bit: Winter trekking

Can't speak to the viability of flame proofing or not. Guess I got to trust the concept as much as the next man. But keeping the stove pipe angled away from the tent, attaching a spark arrester to the top, and having some stove shields between the stove and the tent wall will also help and prevent any "testing" of the flame proofing.

I'm actually going to be testing out my stove in my hot tent for the first time tomorrow for 5 days. Is the issue of the pipes seperating that big of a risk? My pipes seem to fit together pretty snug. I am throwing in some nuts,bolts and wire though in the event I find I need to secure them better...

quote SteveElms73: "I'm actually going to be testing out my stove in my hot tent for the first time tomorrow for 5 days. Is the issue of the pipes seperating that big of a risk? My pipes seem to fit together pretty snug. I am throwing in some nuts,bolts and wire though in the event I find I need to secure them better..."

When I first got my stove and tent, I raised the same question on Wintrekking.com. Most responded that they don't wire their pipes together and depend upon the snug fit.

My stove pipes are tapered and they are welded down the seam and riveted. There is no way they will split open along the seam. They fit together snuggly and I support the stack with a bipod. I have not done anything else to ensure a tight conenection between the pipes, such as bolts and wire. One reason is that I think it would make it difficult to stack the tapered pipes together and store them in the stove

However, I have not had an occasion to deal with snow bombs falling from overhead branches or anything like that. I have had the setup in use in some fairly stong winds and haven't noticed any movement of the piping at all.

In my tent, the stack starts with an adjustable 5" elbow, followed by a short 5" pipe with the flue damper, followed by three sections of tapered pipes. The least tight connection appears to be where the 5" elbow inserts into the Kni-co stove. I am contemplating some sort of a more secure connection at that point, perhaps just wrapping a wire around the elbow and running it down the back of the stove then wrap it around the stove leg. However, I have not noticed any movement in over 20 nights (and days) of use this fall.

Just to be on the safe side, I've always got my insulated mitts handy and I actually keep a small fire extinguisher close by.

I have the Kni-CO as well and was wondering if the elbow is mandatory or can I use the pipe straight up?

We actually had the tent fire happen...but not because of stoking all night. The flap that covers the hole when there is no flue came loose and rested against the flue pipe. A quick thinking tentmate and a snowball made short work of it.

I agree with others that the process of getting out of my warm bag isn't worth the additional hour of stove heat. If someone else wants to stoke it I won't stop them...but I bought a better bag for a reason.

The one trick mentioned above that I can't speak highly enough for is boiling some water and placing it into metal water bottles that go into the sleeping bag about 15 minutes before we do. DANG it feels great climbing into a warm bag. You also have liquid water for the morning.

In response to the tent fires, that is the reason I have warm cloths in a bag outside and away from my tent. Even if I'm only a mile from my car it would be a very tuff trek on a sub-zero January night trying to get back to my car after escaping the tent and leaving my sleeping bag in my underwear. The spare cloths would be a life savor.

Always used a straight pipe over 10 foot long to go outthe top. I have tried the rolled pipe and with proper rings and hard diameter ends screwed in place I feel safe. We use a baffle in the two different stoves and in 6 years with a sil nylon tent I have one spark hole.

quote DanCooke: "Always used a straight pipe over 10 foot long to go outthe top. I have tried the rolled pipe and with proper rings and hard diameter ends screwed in place I feel safe. We use a baffle in the two different stoves and in 6 years with a sil nylon tent I have one spark hole."

Dan--
What "two different stoves" are you using here and how are you using a baffle ?? Is it something added ??
I'am looking at the possible combinations of a Kifaru tent with stove (for alot of $$) or maybe a CCS lean with stove jack added (out where I don't know) for some extra comfort in years to come. Can a CCS lean be properly vented with a modern lightweight wood stove?? I really don't want to pay the high $$ for a Kifaru or SNowtrekker,, but at that same time,, want something that works most of the time.