New portable fish house heater.

[The General]

Just got a new otter portable and am worried of the sunflowers heater I've used for years accidentally touching the canvas and putting a hole in it.  I've been thinking about the big buddy heater but the more I review it the more horror stories I read now I'm second guessing that brand.  What our your guys suggestions and if you have the buddy heater how do you like them?  Would you recommend the big buddy or s the regular one enough?  Any other brands?

[glenn57]

I'd get the bigger one and get the hose to hook to a bigger propane tank. I have 2 30000 btu heaters I got from fleet farm that work good. not sure the name but there round and black. wish I could tell ya more.

[Wyofish]

Fawk and I both have Big Buddies and have had no problems. What are the horror stories you've heard?

[DDSBYDAY]

  After a week with only the Mr. Heater and 20-30 below temps I have been researching heater reviews on youtube.  I will be getting the big buddy with the quick connect hose for the 20 lb. tanks tomorrow.  Most horror stories I have read all are because people used the big tank hose without the filter.  I think they are about 13$.  You can also buy the hose that does not need the filter.  I am guessing it costs a couple of bucks more.  I am going all in after dealing with this issue for 4 days.  The mister heater saved my bacon this week.  I was just going to get another one until I saw all the nice features of the big buddy.  I also will be picking up an adapter to refill all those  empty 1 lbs canisters I have stashed.

[glenn57]

DDS, I wouldn't waste my time filling those. not only in my mind is it a waste of time its also dangerous. back when I did it half them little tanks leaked. if you go with the hose no need to refill. heck you can get a tube for a propane tank that you can run a lantern and 2 other hoses off of.

[DDSBYDAY]

 Hey Glenn57, this is no union job we are talking about here.  I am thinking tertiary back up plans.  I can't shut down the whole operation if the match guy has a hangnail.  When I go fishing it's all in.  The 6, 1lb tanks I bought this last week were 4.60$ a piece.   It's a small price to pay as back up when you need them.  I just don't want to be in that position again.  A little soapy water and the leaky ones will be fired.   

[Boar]

Ive just bought a refurbished big buddy, why refurbished? cause it was sent back an the problem was fisxed. if you run a 20 lbwer on it use the filter. the refilling the 1 lbers dont work an dont wast ur time , get knew tanks each time. dont try an skimp at this point. big buddy small tanks no refills or lareger tank with filter on hose.

[The General]

Fawk and I both have Big Buddies and have had no problems. What are the horror stories you've heard?

One is there is a big recall on them for leaking and starting on fire.  Most of the complaints are they quit working and won't keep the pilot lit.

[HD]

I got one, and it works great!

Sometimes, if you have a draft, sometimes it blows out the pilot. (has to be a good breeze)

Other than that.....no problems...

[Fawkinnae]

Like Wyofish said. We both have big buddies and have had no problems. I also run off of a 20lb tank and 6 foot hose. Sometimes takes a little while to get it lit as the gas takes some time to get to the heater. 2-5 minutes max.

[The General]

Well I trust you guys more then any reviews..........I'm buying one when they go on sale.  What is a good sale price?

[snmann]

I have both sizes of buddy heaters and so do 5 people I fish with.  None of us have ever had any problems with them.   Would never go back to the sunflower style heater.

[glenn57]

Well I trust you guys more then any reviews..........I'm buying one when they go on sale.  What is a good sale price?

89 to 99 bucks. think the hose is around 20.

[glenn57]

Hey Glenn57, this is no union job we are talking about here.  I am thinking tertiary back up plans.  I can't shut down the whole operation if the match guy has a hangnail.  When I go fishing it's all in.  The 6, 1lb tanks I bought this last week were 4.60$ a piece.   It's a small price to pay as back up when you need them.  I just don't want to be in that position again.  A little soapy water and the leaky ones will be fired.   

well if its not a union job......it should be.............it get done right then. and for backup plans have no issue with the 1 lbers.........I just wouldn't refill used ones. NOT OSHA APPROVED!!!!!

[DDSBYDAY]

Well I trust you guys more then any reviews..........I'm buying one when they go on sale.  What is a good sale price?

 

  Fleet Farm has the big one for 119.99 and the 12ft hose with regulator for 36.99.  I don't think you will find them for much less than that.  I will be picking one up this week.

[kenhuntin]

There was a recall on some of the heaters made. I would recommend the big buddy because you have big heat when you need it. I use the filter with a bigger tank. If you do not use it you will get an oily substance in the system that requires a total cleaning. For small trips I use the small tanks.
 As for refilling the 1 lb. tanks I do it all the time. A couple of suggestions are if you use the more expensive actual Coleman 1 lb. tanks they do not leak. Worthington ones will leak out about 99 percent of the time. The 20 lb. tank should be cold and the 1 lb. tank warm when you start. When you fill it at first it will not get much in it. so take a needle nose plier and gently lift the pin on the 1 lb. tank to release trapped air until you smell the lp. Then refill the tank again this will get you more in the little tank because they never seem to fill to capacity.
 If your pilot light on the big buddy is flickering or does not light chances are you need to clean out the tube with an alcohol dipped q- tip or pipe cleaner. That little process will save you the $30.00 on a new thermocouple unit.

[DDSBYDAY]

  I am pretty sure you want the little tanks cold and the big tank warm.  Gas volume shrinks as the temp drops. 

[The General]

I was reading on the box of one today and remembered another complaint I read a lot about.  It was if you are using the 20lb tank you needed to get a filter.  However on the side of the box it says if you buy the 12ft hose or the 10ft hose you don't need the filter.  However if you buy the 5ft hose you needed to get a filter.  Not sure why anyone know?

[DDSBYDAY]

  A couple of the hoses come with a regulator.  Those don't need the filter.  If in doubt go with the filter.

[Boar]

filters are cheap enough to get one regarless. dont know why to the question, but for ten bucks I could live without the answer.

[DDSBYDAY]

  I like the looks of the 12 ft hose with the quick connect.  That is the one fleet farm has for 37$.  From the looks of the hook up the filter attaches to the buddy and the hose goes into that.  On the big one, the hose connection is internal to run the whole unit.  It doesn't look like there would be room for  a filter that way.  You would have to have 2 hoses and 2 filters if you use the propane tank attachment to hook up your hoses. 

[HD]

Is it really a filter? or a spark/flash back arrestor? ....like on a torch? 

[The General]

Is it really a filter? or a spark/flash back arrestor? ....like on a torch? 

I didn't get to see the filter as the store was out of them.  However they had replacement filter kits for them.  It must be some type of filter as the complaints talked about if you didn't have one of these things on the heater would plug up causing them not to work.   

[DDSBYDAY]

  Yep, it's an actual filter.  Some of the propane tanks have contaminants in them and will clog your heater up.  I think with the longer hoses that might not be as big of a problem thus no filter required.

[DDSBYDAY]

   I guess the hose length doesn't have anything to do with it.  The more I find out the more confused I get.        

[The General]

I called Mr. Heater this morning and got the skinny.

1.  If you use the 12ft hose with the regulator you do not need the filter because it's a low pressure hose being the fuel is regulated at the tank and will not squeeze contaminates out of the hose.

2.  If you use any other hose without the regulator you will need to have a filter.

[DDSBYDAY]

More on the options-  I am glad I was not the only one not quite sure about this.   

  I was confused about the hose options so I contacted Mr. Heater to get the scoop. I have not actually used the hose myself (so the 4 star was arbitrary...seems like this is the way to go, tho'), but I wanted to share what the company said. (Please note that the product manuals for the Mr Buddy heaters are available on their website at the specific product link). My initial question and the company response follow, including the contact info for the company rep that sent me the information:

Initial question to Mr. Heater:
amazon.com advertizes that the plasticizer-free green hose(f273704) can be used with both the portable buddy and big buddy, but I don't see it listed in the big buddy manual. Is it compatible with both? Also, is the quick disconnect hose (F271803) compatible with both the big buddy and the portable buddy? Does this hose require use of a fuelfilter? If no, why not? Is it made of materials that will not degrade like the f273704 hose?

Response from Mr. Heater:
When you connect any of our Buddy model heaters to a remote propane tank, that tank can have over 120 PSI of pressure inside it.
This high pressure in the rubber hose connected to the heater can squeeze a plasticizer or an oil out of the rubber in the hose and once it gets into the heater it is trapped and will plug up the tubes and cause the heater to be an unreliable unit.

We came up with a fuel filter to prevent this oily substance from getting into the heater when using a high pressure hose.

The hose manufacturers came up with a hose that doesn't have the plasticizers in it so NO filter is needed (our part number for this plasticizer hose is F273704).
BUT the draw back with this hose is with no plasticizers in the rubber it causes the hose to be very stiff especially in cold weather. So you don't need the filter but you have to work with a hose that doesn't like to straighten out or is more difficult to work with because of this stiffness.

As far as the hose with the quick coupler, this is only available to be used on the Big Buddy MH18B heaters. The Big Buddy has two built in regulators but also has a male quick coupler built-in that by-passes these two regulators so if you have a regulated propane supply like in an RV or your house, you can use our hose to connect to this low pressure source (all low pressure is less than 1/2 PSI of pressure).

We also have a hose for the Big Buddy that has the quick coupler connection to the heater and a regulator at the connection to the propane tank, like on a barbeque grill.
Because the regulator is mounted directly to the propane tank it reduces the very high 110 PSI of pressure from the tank to the low 1/2 PSI pressure. Because this pressure is so low it will not be able to squeeze out the oily plasticizers from the rubber in the hose and does not need a fuel filter.