There is no need to say that bringing water is essential for every camping trip – keeping hydrated is crucial for your health. However, sometimes you might need to boil water during your outdoor days for various reasons, such as having a hot shower on freezing nights, cooking something, or simply drinking a warm coffee.
If you plan to camp during a fire ban season or prefer not to start one, you might need to find alternative ways to heat your gallons of water. So, how to heat water without a campfire? There are many ways, including:
- Using a camping stove
- Use a jet boil system
- Using an kettle (with or without electricity)
- Using an electric skillet
- Use a solar cooker/stove
- Solar heating bags (solar shower)
Let’s go through each method and quickly discuss the benefits and drawbacks.
Why do you need to boil water while camping?
The most important reason why boiling water is necessary for your health safety. If you run out of potable water after camping for a few days, you might be inclined to use water from a water main close to your campsite.
Even though countryside and camping remote areas tend to have much less pollution than big cities, these water mains might still have some bacteria and viruses that would make you sick in case of ingestion.
But don’t worry – if you properly boil it, you will be killing the majority of microorganisms and have a potable and drinkable liquid.
Other reasons for heating water while camping includes cooking, bathing, and preparing hot drinks, such as coffee and tea.
6 tips heat and boil water while camping without a fire
Let’s go through each option in the following paragraphs!
Use a camping stove
If you are an experienced camper, you might already have a camping stove. There are multiple options in the market, and we like to use propane models because of their versatility.
To use for cooking and boiling water, you need a model that provides at least 10,000 Btu (per burner), such as Coleman Triton propane stove.
The downside of this method is the extra gear you need to carry around – both the device and fuel. If you are a hiker or backpacker, it might be worth exploring other lighter alternatives, such as MSR Pocket Rocket Ultralight Camping Stove (it only weighs 280g).
Use a JetBoil System
Jet Boil is an amazing backpack stove specially developed for backpackers. It has an excellent heating output to cook and boil water really fast.
The equipment is small and compact and fits every camper. However, it comes with a drawback – even though it will heat any liquid extremely fast, you won’t be able to simmer water or control the level of heating output.
If you are just after boiling water to drink in a fast and compact way, JetBoil Fast must be your gear. If you want something that also allows to cook and control temperature/flames, go with a camping stove option.
Note: JetBoil might be a viable alternative to cook some specific food, such as noodles, dumplings, and soups – check some special recipes here.
Use a kettle
If you have an electric hookup at your campsite, the number of alternatives increases dramatically (good news!).
One of them is using an electric kettle. There is no secret here – you just put water inside the equipment, turn it on for a couple of minutes, and you are fine!
If you don’t have electric infra around you, but your car is close by, you can also use a car kettle, such as sunsbell 650ml car kettle.
Use a Electric Skillet
Similarly to the dilemma between Jet Boil and a Camping stove, if you have an electric connection at your campsite, you might also stay between an electric skillet and a kettle.
If you only want to have hot water, use a kettle. If you want something that goes beyond and allows you to cook, an electric skillet should be your option (check our post with the review of the best electric skillets for camping and special recipes).
Use a Solar Stove/Cooker
Yes, that is right. You can boil water with your cooker/kettle powered by solar energy. There are plenty of options in the market for solar-powered stoves, such as Go Sun Go Solar stove, which reaches up to 550 Fahrenheit degrees and easily sterilizes the water.
The upside is that you can also cook with it – if you want a detailed review of solar stoves and how to use them, visit our article about them – can you cook with solar energy while camping?
Use a portable solar shower
We left this option as the last one on purpose – if you are just after something to heat water to provide you with a warm shower while camping, you do not necessarily need to boil it.
Warm water might be sufficient to give you some comfort during your bath, and a portable solar shower might be the option to go, such as advanced elements solar shower.
Other alternatives for hot shower while camping
If cold showers are your worst energy when you go camping, how about checking Mr Heater Battery Operated Shower Systems (aka B.O.S.S)?
They are an excellent solution for having a hot shower when camping in remote locations since they run from batteries (for ignition) and a 1lb propane tank (to create flame for heating), providing hot water for approximately 40 minutes (depending on the model).
It comes in 3 models with similar features but slight different capacities (check the picture below).
All the three models (XB-13, XW-18 and XC- 20) come with hot water safety flow switches and filters to avoid debris coming into the equipment (if the water available at your campsite has some).
Conclusion
Well, if you don’t like the idea of a campfire or your campsite has a fire ban policy in place, don’t worry – there are several other ways to have hot water, as shown above.
Our preferred approach is taking a camping stove and portable hot showers, given their ease of transport and installation. But we understand that every camper has different needs, and the final solution will suit their needs.
