@Lancer18 posted:@RobertMT, you certainly can use the adapter hose as described. For a Mr Buddy Heater, it's not as easy as you might think or such a good idea.
We used our buddy heater extensively during our past winter trip. We have a Truma, of course, for our 1575's furnace.
We used the buddy heater for:
- When getting out of the shower. It nice to have something to warm up to when your thermostat is set at 65° F.
- To warm our coach up faster on a cold morning.
- To warm up frozen hands. We had temps as low as 12°F in Bryce NP on our recent southern Utah winter trip. Our Buddy received much use.
Having a one-pound propane bottle attached to our Buddy heater makes it very portable. We can put it anywhere on the floor. We can even take it outside. Using the adapter hose creates some problems:
- You will need to have your 5, 10, or 20 pound bulk propane bottle inside your coach.
- You have lost the easy portability of your Buddy if you have it tethered to a hose, Also, you must hook up a Buddy filter between the hose and the Buddy Heater.
- The oils pulled out of most hoses will ruin the Buddy's heating element. Buddy claims to have their own branded hose that doesn't require the filter. My local propane dealer tells me that they still repair Buddies using the Mr Heater proprietary hose. Best to use the filter with any hose.
Sure, use any standard adapter hose from your propane bottle to your stove's brass adapter or BBQ. I might mention that Camp Chef make an adapter hose that threads directly in most stoves' threaded fitting. No more brass adapter. The regulator is on the tank's end of the adapter hose. The only problem is that it appears to be almost permanently out of stock.
The single use one pound cylinders of propane are really convenient to use, but very costly at just under about $5 each at Walmart. Buying propane in bulk to refill my TC tanks is much, much cheaper, and convinced me to invest in the refillable one pound Flame King cylinders.
The Big Buddy heater sips propane compared to the RV furnace. In cold weather camping months where the ambient temperatures are constantly below the low 30°s, I usually use a Big Buddy heater to supplement the furnace in the TC during awake hours only. In the name of safety I never use the Big Buddy during times of un-occupancy and especially not when sleeping. A one pound cylinder of propane on the low setting of the Big Buddy usually lasts about 4 hours. Camping over multiple days would consume the contents of more than all four Flame King one pound refillable cylinders I own, so in such situations I use the Big Buddy quick connect hose instead of the one pound cylinders. I run the hose to the outside through the bottom flipper seal on the dinette slideout and connect it to the TC’s quick connection to draw directly from the TC propane system consisting of two 30 pound tanks.
Something to be VERY CAUTIOUS about is dangerous carbon monoxide (CO) buildup inside the living space of the RV when using Buddy heater. Cracking open a roof vent and a window provide fresh air and helps prevent CO buildup. Lower concentrations of CO in breathing atmospheres over time has affects on the human body, and CO can be a silent killer in higher concentrations……… CO is odorless and cannot be detected by smell.
I have a residential battery operated CO monitor/alarm I purchased and use every time I use use my camper. I always keep it next to the bed when sleeping, but when the Big Buddy is in use I keep it on the dinette table. From a personal safety perspective I do not have much confidence that the CO/Propane alarm installed by Lance or any other RV manufacturer is very sensitive or reliable in the early detection of potentially harmful/dangerous levels of CO.
The following foto of the CO detector helps to demonstrate the importance of cracking open a window and a vent. The monitor/alarm was displaying 35ppm CO after less than 3 hours of Big Buddy operating on the low setting without any window or vent cracked open. Not necessarily deadly at that level, but the potential health effects and well being over time are not good either. Later, a repeat of this demonstration with a window and a vent cracked open yielded no detection of CO by the monitor.
Be safe, and be aware of the dangers of CO. A Google search of the dangers of CO is very informative.
