Best home boot warmer solution?

[Basilherb]

I have a kid who can’t get his boots on. He’s about to be 13, but we have been having this problem with all shoes since he was 2 and buying toddler shoes. I think it’s some combination of a high instep and an inflexible ankle. We have similar problems with all shoes, but ski boots are by far the worst.

Getting ski boots on this year was a 3 person job, and started becoming an unpleasant way to start the morning. We tried a plastic ski boot horn from amazon and some sort of sliding spray lubricant which helped but did not solve the problem. There was yelling, cursing, and tears at some points (usually me).

We are lucky enough to have a townhouse about 5 min from the base lodge, so usually we will boot up at home and a nonskier will ”Uber” us in, or one lucky soul will drive and boot up in the parking lot (usually me).

I read the thread about the heated boot bags and that looks great….but I don’t need a bag since we dont need to travel with warm boots. I have a boot dryer but it doesn’t really warm the boots that much.

Is there anything I can buy to plug in and warm his boots in order to help get them on? I’d love if it were cheaper than the heated boot bags. It doesn’t have to keep them warm or work in a car or carry anything at all. But I will pay some money to avoid some miserable mornings with my teen

 

[LiquidFeet]

Hair dryer. Point it at the plastic flaps that overlap. Once softened, they will allow much easier foot entry into the boot. Carry a small compact hairdryer with you into the lodge for de-booting.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Love our dry guy

 

[Noodler]

Buy a long heating pad off Amazon and wrap the boots in it. Turn it on about an hour before booting up and let it heat the shells thoroughly.

 

[skiki]

What is his boot size? Maybe try a cabrio boot next season? No clue how it will work with his high instep since I'm not a boot fitter, but K2 has the Evolver for teens.

 

[Deadslow]

Had similar situation - this works and is a very low tech solution:

 

[Tom K.]

I pre-warm my boots in the morning with a set of these (they tend to disconnect, which I solved with 1 drop of superglue):

Travel Dry Circulator

The Travel Dry Circulator gets your boots dry so you don't have to have wet feet.

www.alpenglowgear.com

A towel over the top of the boots keeps the heat in. It doesn't make the boots super-flexible, but it helps just enough.

 

[Near Nyquist]

If you want it easy
Get a heated boot bag
It will solve all of your issues

I got one and it just makes my boots so easy to put on

 

[Basilherb]

What is his boot size? Maybe try a cabrio boot next season? No clue how it will work with his high instep since I'm not a boot fitter, but K2 has the Evolver for teens.

Next year he'll be in a 25.5 most likely. His feet are measuring exactly 24.5 cm right now (men's size 8-8.5). I looked at that K2 and I would definitely be interested in getting him to try it on if I can find a shop that carries it.

Had similar situation - this works and is a very low tech solution:

We tried something like those, as well as the aerosol spray bottle that lubes up the heel. It helps...but not enough. I think warming the boot to get past that instep area may really help a lot.

Love our dry guy

Which one do you have? We have a "Little hotties by dry guy" that I bought at Costco. It does a decent job drying but doesn't get that warm.

Buy a long heating pad off Amazon and wrap the boots in it. Turn it on about an hour before booting up and let it heat the shells thoroughly.

Great idea. I may even have one laying around to try out.

Hair dryer. Point it at the plastic flaps that overlap. Once softened, they will allow much easier foot entry into the boot. Carry a small compact hairdryer with you into the lodge for de-booting.

Thankfully he doesn't have quite as much issue getting them off! This seems like it would work but I'm hoping for something isn't as active right before booting up. He's also my slowpoke and not a morning kid so we are often waiting on him at baseline...then throw in boots that are really hard to get on...

 

[raytseng]

I pre-warm my boots in the morning with a set of these (they tend to disconnect, which I solved with 1 drop of superglue):

Travel Dry Circulator

The Travel Dry Circulator gets your boots dry so you don't have to have wet feet.

www.alpenglowgear.com

A towel over the top of the boots keeps the heat in. It doesn't make the boots super-flexible, but it helps just enough.

I think the dryguys are a little too low powered.

I would go for thermic refresher which has a bit more wattage. Put in and run for 1 hr setting when getting back from hill for drying

Turn on when you wake up and are having breakfast, and should be warmed up by the time you are ready to bootup.

 

[1Turn2Many]

Woodstove, but not too close.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

@Basilherb

One like this

We've one in CT and VT.

Works great

 

[Basilherb]

The Therm-ic one looks nice if it heats well.

The one I have looks very similar to the one @surfsnowgirl posted, but mine doesn't seem to heat very well, though it's effective in drying. I use it mostly for hats/mittens when kids are playing out in the snow, honestly.

Has anyone used this one? It's more of a heater, less of a blower, not sure if that would be more or less effective?

DryGuy Dry Rack

 

[surfsnowgirl]

@Basilherb

Ours has 2 settings heat/no heat and works great on all boots, gloves and hats, etc.

Haven't used the other one you mentioned.

 

[Basilherb]

@Basilherb

Ours has 2 settings heat/no heat and works great on all boots, gloves and hats, etc.

Haven't used the other one you mentioned.

I wonder if it's just because I got the (cheaper) Costco version...I think it was around $50. It looks the same but maybe it's lower in power/heat.

 

[BLiP]

One like this

I have this as well. Don’t know about using it for OP’s purpose, but it works very well to dry boots and gloves. For boots I almost exclusively use the no heat setting. If I leave the heat on, the boots get pretty warm.

For getting boots on the two things I’ve found that really help are the red boot horn posted above, and a lack of fear at yanking the boot clog open (some people are too delicate with it).

 

[Tom K.]

I think the dryguys are a little too low powered.

I would go for thermic refresher which has a bit more wattage. Put in and run for 1 hr setting when getting back from hill for drying

The Therm-ic one looks nice if it heats well.

I've got the older version of the Thermic and it dries really well and gently, but I wouldn't call it a heater, by any means.

For post-pow slaying, I use the dry guys and the thermic together, which works really well.

 

[Castle Dave]

I have a boot dryer and none of the ones in this thread will make much difference as they are not warm enough. As mentioned already just use a hair dryer and problem solved.

 

[Noodler]

I have the Sidas Drywarmer boot drying system. They're just "drop in" heating pods that you toss in each boot. The problem is that they just run way too hot. I accidentally melted a pair of footbeds using them on a trip a few years ago.

Anyone have any ideas on how I could either reduce their heat output or maybe wrap them in something to calm them down? I was wondering if I could use a rheostat type control with it to be able to manage the heat output?

 

[ted]

https://www.cvs.com/shop/thermipaq-hot-cold-pain-relief-wrap-prodid-1560587

Put it in microwave and lay across top of boots. They are heavy enough to stay in place