Mr buddy heater

powderman426 wrote:
There are ten pages of those who used them and lived to talk about it. We will never know how many pages would be filled by those not so lucky. So like Clint said in the movie, Do you feel lucky punk?

Oh, yeah- I forgot about all those Dead Bodies out there...can you name/link to a news story of even one incident of death/injury from a Buddy Heater?

No, you can't.

Of course, I'm sure that's due to The Vast Conspiracy between news organizations and the makers of this diabolical weapon designed to kill unwary campers.

To each his own, but comming from someone in the HVAC trade for close to 30 years that has seen people die from using these types of unvented heaters I would not advise using them in an enclosed space. It is a fact that burning anything uses oxygen so even a blue flame burner will start making carbon monoxide as the oxygen in a space is used up. This depends on the cubic feet in the space and how tight the construction is. Also I would not use a CO alarm as a guide that something is not making CO, most of them do not detect lower levels that can start to affect a persons cognitive abilities. There are always going to be people that say well I did it and I am still here, well just look up CO deaths and see how many are not here any more.

Was thinking of going sort of hydroponic using hot water heater. We have under slab heating in the s/b. Since it is mainly at night when we get chilled, was thinking about putting hydroponics pex with a thermostat controlled zone control valve attached to the underside of the bed and a second water pump for circulation. Could cut into hot water line in bathroom and mount pump there so noise is minimal. propane use would be minimal. I find furnace cycling drives me nuts when trying to sleep so could turn down at night and turn bed down during the day.

You can't just look up CO deaths and use that. You have to look at the type of heater, who made it, and the conditions it was used. We still have CO deaths around here every winter from people new to the country and try to keep warm by burning a charcoal grill all night.

If you are going to use one make sure to have enough combustion air, this is what the manual says:

This heater requires a vent area of 18 square inches (example 4 1/4” x 4 1/4” opening) minimum for adequate ventilation during operation.

The thing is I can see people closing everthing up tight and using one of these unvented heaters.

HUNTERJEFF wrote:
Has anyone ever used a Mr buddy heater in conjunction with the heater in the tc to conserve battery. I have a 815 with a single battery
Thanks Jeff

"To conserve battery" .....if that is your goal , get yourself a grp 31 AGM battery and mount it inside the camper somewhere. Tuck it into a corner on the floor if you have to. The warm battery will offer you more juice than the cold battery you're using now.

Disconnect the OEM battery, I would not run two batteries at different temps together. You will have to charge the AGM by driving, using a genny or solar.....but it will get you through the night in your Lance 815, I have done it in an 845 in zero F temps.

Unlike Mr. Buddy or cat heaters, you do not have to vent the AGM battery.

I carry my Mr. Buddy as a backup only. I have used it vented while I was awake and shut it off when sleeping.

I use a Wave 3 ventless heater and we love it. I open up one of the top roof vents a little and never get any foul smell, or condensation inside.

We have used ours when the weather was really cold and we needed everything we could get our hands on to keep the rig warm ... no problems and no fears

Well consider this post coming from a person that must be dead as I use a Mr Buddy. I use mine for extra heat when awake, I am not comfortable using when asleep. I love it!! If the camper is -20 I can power on the furnace and the Mr Buddy and have it up to 20C in 20 or 30 minutes. I use it to project heat to dry cloths. I use it when I am low on battery power as well as a emergency heat source should I need it.

I would love to have a vented cat heater but I just do not have the space.

Follow instructions and keep some windows / vents open.

I "hard-plumbed" a Big Buddy Mr. Heater into our motor home. The Big Buddy has the low-pressure quick connect on it and has 9,000 - 18,000 BTU settings. Also has a fan that can be operated by battery or 110 plug-in. 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), we may have to run on high.

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 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 -20 down sleeping bags.

But, during the day, absolutely. As JerryBo66 did, I also closed our MH up tight 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, 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...