Tent camping with an electric space heater

What about an extension cord?

Hi Mike

I met you last November at Turkey Swamp Park NJ with the Girl Camper Group. I'm going camping in April and decided to get a heater this time for my tent. I do not like propane but I will have electric on the site so I bought a small 1,500-watt heater.

Now I see it says plug only directly into an outlet not using an extension cord which of course I would need leading into my tent.

What do you think and what would you suggest? I don't have a Jackery/BLUETTI as yet. Thanks - Jane D

Hi Jane,

You never want to use a light-duty (18-gauge) or medium-duty (14 to 16-gauge) extension cord for anything with a 1,500-watt heating element. And that’s why legal departments of electric heater manufacturers include that warning.

But, you can use a 25-ft, 12-gauge, contractor-grade extension cord plugged into a dedicated 20-amp outlet on a pedestal for this. I still recommend that you only run your portable space heater overnight on low power (750 watts), and check the outlet you’re plugging into for any signs of overheating.

Here’s what you need

Note that the extension cord shown below is available at Home Depot has 15-amp connectors with 12-gauge wire that’s rated for 20-amperes of current. So it should be safe for extended use with a 1,500-watt electric heater that draws 12.5 amps of current.

And while you might be fine with a 14-gauge extension cord, I’m paranoid enough around space heaters to recommend a 12-gauge extension cord, and remind you to NEVER use a power strip.

Also, be sure to keep anything flammable away from the space heater and its power plug.

A Solar Generator is not a good choice for a heater

But a Jackery or BLUETTI won’t power a space heater for more than a hour or two at most. That’s because a 1,500-watt portable heater running for an hour would use 1,500 Watt-hours of energy and quickly discharge a 1,500 Watt-hour Jackery or BLUETTI power station.

Let’s play safe out there… Mike