Little Buddy Heater

[VTR]

Almost bought one today, but than I read it might shut off at 7000 thousand feet. Experience with this?

[RFV]

VTR wrote:
Almost bought one today, but than I read it might shut off at 7000 thousand feet. Experience with this?

I have one and have used it camping in the AZ White Mountains at 9000 feet. No problems whatsoever. Heat like a champ!

Rudy

[manualman]

Buddy's are designed with a thermocouple and flame jet apparatus that won't burn hot enough if the O2 starts to be depleted and the thermocouple then turns off the LP supply. It works great at regular altitudes, but at high altitude, the ambient O2 is already so low that the flame jet is reduced and won't satisfy the thermocouple.

Basically high altitude tricks it into "thinking" that it's in a regular altitude room and that the oxygen is being dangerously depleted and that it is saving your life by turning off.

[lillyputz]

I also installed a Olympian Wave 8. It works great. I would highly recommend the Wave.

[scrubjaysnest]

We've used ours for years with no problem.

[Tom_M1]

My Buddy heater works at 7500 feet. I removed the built in regulator and plumbed it into the low pressure line that feeds my cook-top.

[Ron_Schulz]

In my last RV I had installed an Olympian heater. Worked great until I moved out here. Than I started to notice a propane odor whenever it was on above 6000'. Wasn't a leak, just smelly. I now have an Big Buddy. No problems at all. We were in the higher elevations most of the fall and worked great...

[VTR]

Interesting, thanks for the input folks.

[tplife]

I'm leaning toward an Olympian WAVE heater due to the safety advantages vs. the Buddy series. Flame issues at higher elevations might explain issues with the Buddy brand.

[AJBert]

My dad has one of the newer ones with the 7000 foot limit. It "worked" above 9000 feet most of the time. It would turn off now and then but wouldn't start up right away. It wasn't until we were done hunting that we found out about 7000 foot deal.

My brother has an older one that we've never had a problem with.

[beemerphile1]

The way I understand it is that the safety O2 sensor is actually a flame sensor. If the pilot is too small it won't operate.

[avoidcrowds]

Yes, I had 2 Little Buddy heaters. Got the first, and it didn't work on our first trip where we tried to use it. Exchanged it, and the new one also would not work. We camped at 8,000 and 9,000 feet when they would not work.

Found some very fine print on the box that even the salesperson claimed to not know about. It says it does not work at high altitude. 7,000 feet is the highest we could get it to work at. Got rid of it, and got a catalytic heater. It worked at high elevations with no problem.

Got our current trailer, and let the catalytic heater go with the old popup.

I would not recommend a Buddy heater for use in most of Colorado, or where you plan to be above 7,000 feet regularly.

[Golden_HVAC]

Something about a high pressure propane tank with a pressure relief valve on it has me concerned. (worried).

I have a Olympic Catalytic heater that runs on low pressure gas, and is tied into my RV gas pipe with a tee located under my oven. That way if there is a propane leak, the leak detector will go off, and shut off propane supply to the RV.

I have run the heater at 6,000 feet elevation with no problems, but don't know if there is a cut-off or low oxygen sensor on my model - 1994.

Make sure that you leave it on high heat output for at least 15 minutes to fully light the pad, and get it red all over the surface, before going to lower heat setting.

Good luck,

Fred.