BURNING MAN is going to be COLD

[lemur]

ok.

just sit down for a minute cuz this is some bad news i just got..

i mean, like, they just handed it to me:

BURNING MAN IS FUCKIN REALLY COLD


ok? did you get that?

if not....

imagine how cold you think its gonna be......

it will be colder than that.


(to the wise guys who are like 'i grew up in the desert, i know its cold' ..yeah, whatever.. some of us are city folk and are literal dudes. we dont know this shit)

so, when i go to burning man... i prepare for 30degree temps.

at night, i always dress very warm and still often end up quite chilly and happy that the fire is usually going in camp when i get back in the evening.

i tell ya, a dome full of people can hold the heat! youd freeze your _insert remaining appenges here_ on the way out of those places if you went in when the sun was still lightin things up and went out hours later in skimpy clothes


..and thats just on a normal night that gets into the 50s..

on a particularly brutal cold night one year.. even with everything but a winter coat on (i was dumb and had it packed and loaded in a vehicle that was hauling my gear) ... it was so damn cold AND WINDY that it was MORE COMFORTABALE IN THE PORTA POTTY

..yep, you heard that right.. it was so fuckin cold and windy, (wearing a pair of cotton pajama pants under thick cargo pants.. long sleeve tshirt and two hoodies) that i spent the last 30-40 mins before my ride was ready to go in the blue room rather than sit next to the roaring fire.


so fuckin you better be prepared, you noobs, or people whove experienced warmer weather.


you think the heat is bad!!!

lol.

walking while drunk and shivering is not easy, i tell you.


YE BE WARNED!!!

the seas are rising!!! and the people living in the lowlands will drown!!!!!!!!

[maladroit]

walking while drunk and shivering is not easy, i tell you.

Not if you're drunk enough!

I grew up in the North...30F is rather balmy compared to -30F.

Just throw in a bunch of blankets when you pack. Or pick someone else who looks cold and suggest huddling together for warmth.

[lemur]

30 sure is balmy, after a long winter...


but not so much after it was 105F 8 hours earlier!

i know cold, too! perhaps not -30 but.. i did spent quite a few nights out there in -15 (without wind) making some neat meteorite photos..

of course, some of us come in from overseas, or in planes.. from far away, packing a bunch of blankets might not be an option for some.

..so maybe the hugging thing is all some will have left!

[graidawg]

30 is really warm in england!


but we do centigrade

[BBadger]

Yeah, you'll be out for the night after some burn or something else, feeling pretty warm, and then around 3:00AM the cold hits you. BAM! "Holy fucking mother moses, let's go back to camp to pick up some clothing!"

I learned to appreciate the warmth the wool fez I was wearing (originally just for decoration) along with large bath robe my friend packed as a costume gift (also just for fun), kept in my body. So pack a fez and bath robe!

[ygmir]

I've seen frost and ice.

[Martiansky]

Cold?!
Was hoping I would have a reprieve from the cold!

Where's Figjam?!
We're gonna need a "Heating your space at night thread" to go along with his cooling thread!

[FIGJAM]

I've seen frost and ice.

"I've seen fire and I've seen rain."

[TomServo]

I've seen frost and ice.

"I've seen fire and I've seen rain."

"I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end."

[Drawingablank]

imagine how cold you think its gonna be......

it will be colder than that.


(to the wise guys who are like 'i grew up in the desert, i know its cold' ..yeah, whatever.. some of us are city folk and are literal dudes. we dont know this shit)

so, when i go to burning man... i prepare for 30degree temps.

Even though I live in a cold climate, this caught me up last year at Opulent Temple. 30 degrees doesn't normally bother me and most nights on the playa the wind is pretty calm, but one night we had cold temps coupled with a raging dust storm for several hours and with the wind chill factor that made it feel closer to 0 degrees. I was wearing my playa coat and warm clothes but I found myself nearly hugging a burn barrel until our ride came back for us.

[unjonharley]

The cold can hit just after sunset also.. If the wind comes up the chill factor up your toga is cold.. For cold nights, use a foil windshield reflector under yourself.

[trilobyte]

Wait til you experience a really cold year!

[clocksnmirrors]

cold is my kryptonite. i'm not kidding. cold makes me shut down



fortunately i've known this about myself for years so i always plan on the cold contingency. this year i'll be testing a homemade 12v toaster heater. but on the off chance that doesn't do the job in my little trailer, i'm going to have to pack the propane heater (figjam has been recommending it but i've been hemming and hawing - i think i just got sold)

[FIGJAM]

Come on, tell um all the details of the toaster heater!

I want to see if everyone agrees with me.

[clocksnmirrors]

hahaha

behold

[media]

[Captain Goddammit]

That thing is an interesting idea... his execution of it is pretty half-ass though.
Theoretically, to drop it from 120 volt operation to 12 volt, you'd divide the original length of the heater element wires into tenths of their original length but apparently when he added all his little short-outs the resistance was too low and they glowed too hot, which he solved by wiring the other side the same way then hooking them up in series. It would seem easier and cleaner to just add half as many short-out connections to each side, then hook up in parallel.

But I think it's all a moot point... power is power. If you drop the resistance by adding those short-out wires, you raise the current draw. Have you got a 12 volt source that can sustain 400 or 500 watts (30 or 40 amps) for very long? That's getting up into "generator" territory, and in general, electrical stuff operates more efficiently at higher voltages so you might as well go with 120 volt heat.


If you're not gonna run a generator, listen to the good Dr. F. Jam, get a propane heater! It'll work about eleventy zillion times better!!
You can carry a lot more energy in a bottle of propane than you can in several large and heavy batteries. Electric heat from batteries is not usually a practical idea unless you've got 1.2 metric shitloads of batteries to draw from.

Go with the goddam propane, I'll give you a traditional Burning Man hug here and there but I don't wanna have to do it all night.

[clocksnmirrors]

all valid points. and all totally in agreement with what figjam suggested

i know this would be an energy hog. so i was only planning on using a portion of the elements
also, this is really more of a curiosity than a serious effort to stay warm. i just have to see if i can make it work


however, my trailer space isn't huge, so this just may end up being a success

to be continued....

[maladroit]

It'll be a good story for others to tell someday...

[lemur]

eating lotsa yummie food helps yer body to have lotsa energy and that helps ya keep warm



Apprx. Thermal Output: 1100 BTU per Hour

dietz junior #20


$10.95 each..

9 oz. Fount Capacity, 12 Hour Burning Time

from what ive seen they easily last that long..

two or three of these, with the right fuel (some people dont like the smell of some fuels.. and they do have odorless fuels) can be a nice electricity free way to get some warmth on those cold nights..

light too!

[clocksnmirrors]

borrow a cow from mrs o'leary and you can burn down a city with one of those

[GreyCoyote]

CnM: I dont do cold either, and my weapon of choice is an electric blanket. Sleep on top of it, not the other way around and it takes very little power to get warm. Many EBs will not work off of an inverter unless it is a perfect sine wave, but there are 12-volt EBs that can be wired direct to your batteries. The one I had pulled 70 watts and could run all night from a single battery or cigarette lighter.

Most of the heat you put into a trailer will accumulate near the ceiling and quickly leave without doing you much good. An electric blanket warms you directly.

[clocksnmirrors]

that's a great suggestion greycoyote!

actually i love electric blankets because you can get really good and toasty

i am also concerned about the propane heater depleting the oxygen in the trailer

[mudpuppy000]

Not sure why, but most electric blankets warn you not to sleep on top of them.

For clothing, make sure to carry around a nice fuzzy hat and maybe a thick scarf you can wrap around your upper body/face. That will do a lot to warm you up.

[BBadger]

You're not supposed to lay on the electric blanket because it may trap too much heat in it and it may cause melting of the underlying mattress material. You can buy electric mattress pads though, if you want something made for laying on. If you use an air mattress you'll want to put some sort of insulation below the mattress pad to keep the heat in, otherwise it'll just be losing half the heat out the air mattress below.

Personally, I just sleep on/in a sleeping bag and I'm all nice and toasty with that. It's made for zero temps, so it's more than sufficient.

[Captain Goddammit]

Oh yeah I use electric blankets too!
You can crank the toaster power down lower but it's not gonna make squat for heat.
I'd scrounge up a trailer/camper propane furnace. They vent the fumes outside and have a 12 volt fan that blows warm toasty air. Toastier than the toaster!

[maladroit]

Ny first night on an air mattress was cold. But then I sacked up and braved the elements like a man.

By which I mean, I huddled myself inside two sleeping bags.

[clocksnmirrors]

i make absolutely no claim on manliness. my body actually seems to generate a substandard amount of heat. my temperature routinely measures 97.6


that's why when temperatures drop to a certain point i need external warming

[Savannah]

I've never regretted bringing fleece footie pajamas . . .

[clocksnmirrors]

I've never regretted bringing fleece footie pajamas . . .

PLEASE tell me they have a trap door in the hiney!

[Elorrum]

silk. a long sleeve silk undershirt balls up into something the size of a baseball. tiny, and light. I take one with me when I go out at night, or if I don't think I'll be getting home before it starts to cool off. even a camisole makes a huge difference in how warm you feel. warm tummy, nice.