Hot water system as a heater for car camping?
For car camping near the snow line, is there anything that can safely be used as a heater while sleeping?
For example, how large would ordinary hot water bottles need to be, to comfortably emit heat for the entire night?
It seems like electric heaters are unfeasible unless there is mains power available (as even a truck battery would struggle to run a space heater for a quarter of an hour), and gas heaters are obviously unwise inside a sleeping space (due to exhaust).
Has anyone tried using a portable gas hot water system (located outside), to circulate hot water to some kind of radiator inside the sleeping space?
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It’s decently common to use a nalgene water bottle inside of a sleeping bag to help stay warm during the night.
Before you go to bed you fill the water bottle with water warmed over a stove and place it inside the sleeping bag. It is certainly possible to use boiling water but then you will want to wrap the bottle in something to avoid burning yourself. (There are at least 6 other answers on this site plus other internet places plus my experience of people using boiling water in Nalgene bottles).
I doubt that any larger heated water systems for camping exist, water is just to heavy.
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Hot water bottles work great for keeping you warm at night in your sleeping bag. They shouldn't be relied on for warmth though, if you're consistently cold then you should get a warmer bag, or learn how to set up a proper sleep system. Hot water bottles are great for getting your bag warm for you when you first crawl into it, especially while car camping, because you don't have to pack it on your back. When car camping, you can bring as many creature comforts as you want as long as you have room for them.
I used to attend an annual winter survival training camp when I was in scouts. We definitely kept a couple hot water bottles on the sled that we filled with boiling water right before crawling into our sleeping bags. Your average hot water bottle was good enough to keep you warm in the night, and in the mornings you had liquid water to boil again for your breakfast while everyone else was melting snow and trying to thaw out their water bottles.
There are a plethora of tent heaters available on the market, the gas heaters are safe for indoor use, and pose a greater threat to you tent (melting the nylon) than they do to you.
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gas heaters are obviously unwise inside a sleeping space (due to exhaust)
There are a lot of different types of gas heaters, many of which would be unsafe to use inside a sleeping space. An indoor rated catalytic propane heater, however, is one of the types that can be used safely indoors. As the heat is produced through a catalytic process there is no flame so the chance of fire is greatly reduced. My understanding is the chemical reaction does not produce harmful exhaust, but it consumes oxygen. If your space is not well ventilated (which is generally not a problem in a tent) you can run into problems due to low oxygen levels because you need oxygen to live and because the chemical reaction will not work with low oxygen leading to a buildup of harmful gases. Indoor catalytic heaters have sensors that prevent this.
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In the outdoors, the way to deal with cold is not to heat the environment, but to insulate yourself. You say "snow line", so it appears you aren't asking about anything particularly cold.
Just get a proper sleeping bag rated for the temperature. Since you are car camping, you can bring some extra supplies like blankets. Get a sleeping bag rated for the normal or a bit above normal temperature, then add a blanket for the unusually cold nights. It's a lot easier to throw a blanket on a sleeping bag to deal with lower temperatures than to open the bag and stick one leg out, or whatever, to deal with higher temperatures.
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