Coleman Procat Catalytic Heater With Instastart Technology
Get a little chilly camping at night or in the winter? Check out the PROCAT indoor heater from Coleman!
Published Jun 4, 2010 by mjkunzLast updated on Jun 4, 2010
I've always enjoyed camping and it is an activity I do year round. Camping in the winter and colder months of the year is a little more challenging when it comes to keeping warm. Add some young children into the picture and it can get a little harder. Besides having a good tent (Springbar Traveler 5 Tent) I've invested in a heater that I can use inside a tent. I purchased the Coleman Procat Catalytic Heater With Instastart Technology
The PROCAT is a catalytic heater meaning that it is flameless. Coleman designed the heater to be for indoor/outdoor use. It provides up to 3,000 BTU's and can run for 7-8 hours on a single canister of propane. It uses the the small green 16.4oz propane canisters as fuel. The unit has a built in battery operated fan to help distribute heat which runs on 2 "D" batteries. Coleman claims the fan can operate up to 20 hours. The heater itself runs with or without the fan batteries. The heater is lit using Coleman's electronic InstaStart ignition system, no matches required. The heater is "made in USA of US and foreign components" as Coleman puts it.
Don't get to excited this unit is not going to replace the furnace in your home. The heater is built by Coleman so it is intended for camping or related scenario. Plan on heating small spaces like tents or small rooms not an entire home. The heater is catalytic so you won't have a flame but 3,000 BTU is still hot. This was a new experience for me having a catalytic heater.
To ignite the heater just follow the instructions. When the heater ignites you can hear gas flowing and you will see the fabric type material behind the screen looking cover start to glow red as it heats up. Like I said before it is still hot even though there is no flame so you want to make sure you keep other items clear of the heater.
The fan on the heater is probably not what you expect. It runs pretty slow, which it would have to do to be able to run for 20 hours. The fan blows air through the grid/screen on the heater to distribute the heat. Don't expect a huge gust coming from it and you will notice that the fan is nearly silent. That said having the fan running makes a huge difference in distributing the heat throughout a tent. One caution though, make sure you remember to turn the fan off when you are done or you will be replacing expensive "D" batteries quite often.
The claim that the heater can run on a single 16.4 ounce bottle of propane for 7-8 hours is about right on. I've found that this is sufficient when camping. I tend to stay up late camping and unfortunately wake up early. If you turn the heater on shortly before retiring to your tent then the heater will run through the night and keep you nice and comfy. Just have an extra bottle of propane handy in case you wake up on chilly morning camping and find out the propane ran out overnight before you wanted it too. Luckily the propane bottle attaches to the heater quite easily and is pretty simple to light.
As for having a heater of any kind in a tent you run some risk. Even if it is built for indoors you can still star a fire, knock the heater over, or a child could get burned so take precautions. The heater has a pretty good base so it is pretty steady. I like to make sure when using it camping that I have a flat level spot in the tent clear of debris to place the heater. This heater does what it was designed for as I would expect from a product made by Coleman. Nothing but recommendations here. Give it a try!
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