How long does a Big Buddy Propane Heater last?

[stevekk]

With the 2 little propane tanks installed and heat setting on low of 4000 btu?
How many hours will it run?
Thanks..

[jauguston]

Don,
If you can get 7 hours out of a Buddy heater on low (4000 btu) tell me the secret. I have used one for 7-8 years and about 5 hours is all I and many others get.

[KA4EBU]

Propane has 91000+ btu per gallon. A gallon of propane is appx 4.2 pounds. 91000 / 4.2 = appx 21,500 btu's. A 4000 btu burner will use a pound in appx 7 hours. These are the numbers I have seen around for a while. It's all about and appx because propane is effected by temps, a lot.
That's all I read.

[mlts22]

jauguston wrote:
22,

The big advantage of the Buddy heaters for those of us that camp in non-serviced sites is the lack of battery power use. Furnaces will deplete a group 27 battery in one cold night. The furnace fans are power hungry.

Very true. I have to run my generator for at least 3-5 hours to make up for the charge used up when the furnace runs. At least while the converter is running, I can fire up an electric heater at 750 watts so the furnace can have a rest.

Of course, this setup may work for me, but if there are strict generator run time issues, then the Buddy heater is probably the best bet.

[bradyk]

I use my Big Buddy in my ice fishing tent all the time. We can go on high for about 2.5-3 hours on most on the -25 days, and if it is fairly warm can use 2 of them for most of the daylight hours in the winter. I also refill my own too and have many of them so keep a half dozen or so with me and never have to worry about getting cold. When we drive on the ice like now I just take a 20lb and run it instead.

[Francesca_Knowl]

jauguston wrote:
Franchesca,

The Buddy heater has two settings. 4000 and 9000 btu. The Big Buddy has two of the 4000-9000 btu blocks. The Big Buddy uses two settings on one of the blocks just the 9000 btu setting on the second. That gives three settings for the Big Buddy 4000-9000 with the second block not used and 18000 btu with both blocks on the 9000 setting. The Hunter Buddy has a bigger block giving it the 6000-12000 btu settings.

Thanks- I see that now that I finally found the little Buddy instructions. Good lesson in not believing "specs" given at ad sites like this one that I posted from earlier.

[jauguston]

Franchesca,

The Buddy heater has two settings. 4000 and 9000 btu. The Big Buddy has two of the 4000-9000 btu blocks. The Big Buddy uses two settings on one of the blocks just the 9000 btu setting on the second. That gives three settings for the Big Buddy 4000-9000 with the second block not used and 18000 btu with both blocks on the 9000 setting. The Hunter Buddy has a bigger block giving it the 6000-12000 btu settings.

[Francesca_Knowl]

ol Bombero-JC wrote:

jauguston wrote:
Billy,

It is very strange that the burn time is different. The burner blocks are exactly the same for the Buddy and the Big Buddy. The Buddy has one the Big Buddy has two. On low the second burner block is off.

~

Francesca Knowles: does the above affect the formula you posted?..:h

.

The formula is strictly related to number of BTU's per pound of propane. Calculations would be made based on size/number of burners going.

If as Jauguston posted both Buddies have the same size (rated) burner, propane consumption should be the same if only burning one burner....unless "low" settings are somehow different.

I'm not exactly sure which models we're discussing here- it looks like there are (at least) two single-burner Buddy heaters.

This one has a 4,000 BTU burner and I think it's just off/on.
and
this one has what looks like one burner, and adjusts from 4,000 to 9,000 BTUS.

And the Big Buddy with two burners, has three "heat settings", the lowest being 4,000- supposedly just like the little single burner.
BUT:
Top "speed" is 18,000 BTUs... I don't see how that would be possible if it just had two 4,000 BTU burners identical to the little Buddy.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

jauguston wrote:
Billy,

It is very strange that the burn time is different. The burner blocks are exactly the same for the Buddy and the Big Buddy. The Buddy has one the Big Buddy has two. On low the second burner block is off.

~

Francesca Knowles: does the above affect the formula you posted?..:h

.

[jauguston]

22,

The big advantage of the Buddy heaters for those of us that camp in non-serviced sites is the lack of battery power use. Furnaces will deplete a group 27 battery in one cold night. The furnace fans are power hungry.

[jauguston]

Billy,

It is very strange that the burn time is different. The burner blocks are exactly the same for the Buddy and the Big Buddy. The Buddy has one the Big Buddy has two. On low the second burner block is off.

[mlts22]

5 minutes until someone asks to borrow it.

My experience: One Coleman 16 ounce bottle on low -- 4-5 hours. On medium, 2-3 hours. On high, both bottles get gone in 2-3 hours. On a 20# propane tank on med/high, around 40 hours.

Yesterday, I went on a trip with my TT to drop it off at a spot I'm dry camping on weekends. As soon as I found that the furnace cracked off, started burning dust and making warm air, the Big Buddy went to a friend tent camping. If given a safe RV furnace that exhausts combustion products to the outside versus having to vent and make sure the heater is in a fire-resistant spot, I'll take the added propane use of the RV furnace for safety reasons.

[TurnThePage]

I know my Big Buddy heater burns 10% to 20% more propane than my standard Buddy heater when both are on the lowest setting. That was definitely a disappointment.

[jauguston]

Buddy or Big Buddy on low will use one tank every 5 hours. Our Buddy connected to the coach tank on low would probably run 24/7 for a month or more (-: Coach tank is 50 gallons.

[BB_TX]

I have a Portable Buddy and on the 4,000 setting I get around 4 hours on one of the small propane cylinders.