Big Buddy Heater

Muddydogs wrote:
I keep seeing reference to using a Olympic Catalytic heater in the winter, near as I can tell its basically a Buddy heater? I have a 4000, 9000, 18000 Buddy that is set up to run off of a propane tank, I know it will flat cook me out of a 10x10 canvas tent. I never left it on all night even though it says it has a low oxygen sensor and tip over shut off I could never trust it. The small fan on the unit sure helped move a little heat around and D batterys last a long time in it.

Anyone use one of these in there trailer?

This is the one I described earlier in the thread. Cooks us out if on too high and find low about right even without the fan on in the minus 5c range or so. Don't camp in the middle of our winter as minus 30 things below are a little froze but for early spring and late fall it is great.

Disregard.

Hugemoth,

That does sound scary. I have also read where people have said that using heaters that were not installed by the manufacturer could lead to insurance claim issues. I look at the whole thing differently now and have set it up to run off my house furnace. This one is far from the bedroom and there is nothing nicer than a digital thermostat. More propane? Ya cant take it with ya and I'm going to be comfortable one way or the other.

I had one of those little round Buddy heaters that caught fire in my camper. The regulator diaphragm failed causing propane to leak from the regulator vent hole, melting the plastic housing from the inside. Scary indeed. Threw it in the trash and will never buy another. The regular rectangular buddy heaters have a totally different regulator design that can't have this problem. I now use one of those.

I've experimented with overfilling the small bottles and putting them in the sun. There was no release of propane but the bottles actually expanded in diameter by up to 3/8" by stretching the sheet steel. They end up with an hourglass shape because the seam in the middle doesn't stretch. Now when refilling small bottles I weigh them and purge any extra propane.

rjxj wrote:
My buddy did catch on fire at one time and it goes back to the refilling small propane bottles issue. I'm not supporting or knocking the refilling of these tanks and just want too share what happened.

I have refilled them for years. Every so often I do throw them out and get new ones. I usually put the empty tank in the freezer then do the refill procedure outdoors. The refill went fine but when it was used in the side compartment of the buddy and the room temperature went up it started to bleed of at the release valve and caught on fire. I grabbed it and went outside. As I was going out it sort of flickered out but scared the heck out of me.

I would never use refilled tanks indoors again. Even before using on a small table top grill, I let them sit in the sun long enough that they have stabilized and bled off any over pressure. It's not the heaters fault so I'm not knocking it. It's not about refilling. It's about the combination of using a chilled bottle with a warm 20 pounder and tipping the scale just to where it needed to release a small amount when warmed up.

I know, I know, in theory it cant over fill but it did when using that method and I know I'm not the only one doing it.

My buddy did catch on fire at one time and it goes back to the refilling small propane bottles issue. I'm not supporting or knocking the refilling of these tanks and just want too share what happened.

I have refilled them for years. Every so often I do throw them out and get new ones. I usually put the empty tank in the freezer then do the refill procedure outdoors. The refill went fine but when it was used in the side compartment of the buddy and the room temperature went up it started to bleed of at the release valve and caught on fire. I grabbed it and went outside. As I was going out it sort of flickered out but scared the heck out of me.

I would never use refilled tanks indoors again. Even before using on a small table top grill, I let them sit in the sun long enough that they have stabilized and bled off any over pressure. It's not the heaters fault so I'm not knocking it. It's not about refilling. It's about the combination of using a chilled bottle with a warm 20 pounder and tipping the scale just to where it needed to release a small amount when warmed up.

I know, I know, in theory it cant over fill but it did when using that method and I know I'm not the only one doing it.

We use ours when in cold areas, in the 20s. Electric heat when generator is running to charge. Buddy heat while we are awake in RV. Save furnace and batteries for night to keep temps acceptable.

Pogoil.

It's always interesting to see the usual naysayers busting on the Buddy Heaters, even though they don't use them. We go through 10 or 12 one lb canisters every winter with our Buddy Heater in our sticks and bricks living room. No smell. No CO.

There's no reason to bring a 20 or 30 lb propane tank into your living space. Why do people even entertain that?

For an RV, given the choice, I would go with the Plat Cat first, Oly Wave second, then the Buddy. I don't have room for the first two in my current trailer, so the Buddy it is.

I "hard-plumbed" a Big Buddy Mr. Heater into our motor home. The Big Buddy has the low-pressure quick connect on it. This is the key to more safely using the Big Buddy.... low pressure. This heats up and keeps warm a 31.5 foot "leaks like a sieve" 1984 MH.

We use it when skiing at our favorite local ski hill. We are in and out quite a bit. We provide ample ventilation ... and no, this does not defeat the purpose of it, it keeps the MH warm and comfortable even on med or low, most days. If it gets really windy and cold (<10, over 15 mph wind), we may have to run on high. This is in Minnesota.

They are nice heaters. Very economical compared to the furnace, both in electricity consumption for the fan and propane consumption.

Would I use them to sleep??? Haven't yet. We always have electricity in the winter if we overnight (rare) and just use our furnace to bring up to temp and then our oil-filled electric heater to maintain overnight. If we didn't have electricity, I would just get it really warm at night and then use our down sleeping bags.

But, during the day, absolutely. I closed our MH up tight, as a test, and ran the Mr. Heater Big Buddy full blast with no ventilation, other than the natural ventilation. I had our MH CO detector and our house CO detector and neither one went off after 8 hours. It was about 20 degrees out with a pretty good wind and inside was approaching 80 degrees, way too hot. But there was no sign of CO problems.

Now, there are many here that say never use in doors, many that say they use them all the time, and some that say they use them but not at night. I guess I fall into the latter...

RJsfishin wrote:
Quote:
as a propane tank can and will let off pressure through the valve.
------------------------------------------------------------------
In context, this is a very misleading statement.
The only time a tank will bleed off pressure, is if it some how got over filled, which is near impossible in recent years w/ the use of OPD valves. And even then it will only bleed off if not being used, and even then only if day time temp is rising. A tank will NEVER bleed off while propane is flowing from it.

My Olycats....... burn 24 hrs/day in colder weather

Right you are but let’s say you leave a full propane tank in your trailer during the day and the temps in the trailer rise hot enough for the propane tank to let off some pressure then what? I'm just stating why they recommend you don't have a propane tank in an enclosed area with open flames or chance of ignition what you or I do with our own stuff is what we do.

I might run with scissors or shoot lead bullets out of my pistols when the pistol manual states don’t do it but I’m not going to recommend others do it.

Quote:
as a propane tank can and will let off pressure through the valve.
------------------------------------------------------------------
In context, this is a very misleading statement.
The only time a tank will bleed off pressure, is if it some how got over filled, which is near impossible in recent years w/ the use of OPD valves. And even then it will only bleed off if not being used, and even then only if day time temp is rising. A tank will NEVER bleed off while propane is flowing from it.

My Olycats....... burn 24 hrs/day in colder weather