Mr. Heater Portable Buddy LP heater (supplemental while awake heat)

 I have two small ones and one big buddy, they see extensive use in my fish house (ice fishing) and during deer season I have a insulated enclosed deer stand on my property.

Other than melting a few things that brushed up against them I have never had any problems, but I would hesitate using too long in a very tightly sealed  space without a little ventilation.

 They are pretty much the standard in this area for icefishing so if there were any major problems with them I would have heard of it by now

Jacster Trixter posted:

I really like the Buddy. Just crack a vent and use when you are awake. All will be well...unless of course you trip while carrying a large mixing bowl full of gasoline right next to it. In which case all will most definitely be well. Just sayin'.

 

Cheers!

Same as tripping with one of your margaritas.........

and from what I get out of it, your margaritas can make one trip...literally....!

I remembered Jeff talking about his Mr. Heater Buddy last year commenting that it works great while boondocking (no electricity).

We are going on a 4-day camp out next week without hookups and I had always recharged my batteries with the solar and never worried about it. Now looking at the current forecast, we are supposed to have rain all 4 days. That means no recharging. 

With my Victron battery monitor I already know my furnace blower is a major battery hog. With my dual Group 29 batteries, during the summer (no furnace) I can easily go 24 hours and only consume <10% of the batteries. Therefore in 4 days I would be down 40%. However, in the winter I have the furnace blower going and in 24 hours on a cold day/night 30-40 degrees I can consume 25%. 

This looks like the perfect solution. 

I see there is a smaller version MH4B with 3800 BTU. It sits on the bottle so very compact.

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heate...opane/dp/B001CFRF7I/

I assume the larger version you mentioned heats the area quicker if set on high (9K BTU), but consumes 2x the fuel.

I like the smaller size of this little guy and since I have the green bottle refill adapter I don't care about using many small bottles.

Anything else I should be thinking about before I pull the trigger here?

Kent if you get that one let us know how it performs, I think that would be a perfect size for my TC...however I don't think I would go to sleep with that running....!

 I have been using the little 3800btu heater in my fish house this winter and it works fine. I also have been using the refill adaptor on the bottles. I do notice the refilled bottles only last me around 3 hours where a brand new one around 5. But the directions say to have the little tanks cold and the big tank room temperature and I have not been doing that, both tanks are ice cold outside

 A nice safety feature on it is if it gets tipped over or even bumped hard it goes out.

Kent. Ed, I have the next size up but only run it on low and get about 5 hours on it.  Never leave home without it in the spring and fall.  Ed your only problem might be Quigly knocking it over. It has a auto shutoff and it works quick.

We have used the one in the OP for years.  Mostly out in the desert when we don't want to eat up the battery with the furnace blower at night.  Crack a window and a vent and all is good.  One of my projects is to plumb it to the trailer LP so I don't have to carry the bottles.

Bob R posted:

Kent. Ed, I have the next size up but only run it on low and get about 5 hours on it.  Never leave home without it in the spring and fall.  Ed your only problem might be Quigly knocking it over. It has a auto shutoff and it works quick.

I think if I get one I would put it on the dinette table or up on the stove, be a lot harder for him to bump...

I use the Buddy and love it.  It's also available from Lowes.  Only difference is the color is yellow instead of red.  Price on the shelf was a few dollars less than Amazon.  As noted it does produce a lot of moisture, so the cracked window/vent is a must.

Kent -

Super busy these days so sorry about the delay.

In my opinion, the Little Buddy (we have the Portable Buddy) should heat your TT just fine.  However, if I were you I'd go pick one up at Lowe's or HD so that if it doesn't quite do the job you can return it easily.  It will definitely work fine if you move it around to where the 2 of you are - dinette, bed, batbroom, etc....  I just don't know if it will heat the entire 1985 evenly.

The reason we have the Portable Buddy is because of our previous larger popup trailer surrounded by canvas.  Our 1575 heats up quickly even with our single tent-end (that does have a solar blanket on top & Reflectix in the windows in cold weather) so the Little Buddy would work for us.

Another reason I like the Portable Buddy is for power outtages at home.  It will heat our master bedroom or kitchen or family room nicely while we are awake.  We've had to do that 4 or 5 times including once a few weeks ago.

One more thing - I do feel that the Portable Buddy is more stable than the Little Buddy for safety reasons.

And of course - whichever you buy, PLEASE DON'T SLEEP OR LEAVE WITH IT ON!  

I saw the review comments about the limited stability of the small unit after the bottle is empty, so I added a larger base to my order. It looks like this one.

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pr...rs/product/10213691/

Nice Kent.  

I have one of those for a single burner stove we use.  Very stable.

Be sure to check back in and let us know how well it heats up your trailer.  The whole trailer, localized areas, ...

We use the buddy every once in a while.  I prefer the Lance heater but the buddy works well.  Humidity is the biggest problem and inability to thermostatically control the unit is the second problem.  Vent the rig and you should be fine.

LJJ -

Of course we all use our furnaces, but the Portable Buddy (or Little Buddy in Kent's case) comes in handy while dry camping &/or boondocking as far and away the number 1 power draw is the furnace fan.  Not to mention the furnace is noisy while watching a movie, playing a game, or someone is trying to sleep in.

Red Barchetta posted:

LJJ -

Of course we all use our furnaces, but the Portable Buddy (or Little Buddy in Kent's case) comes in handy while dry camping &/or boondocking as far and away the number 1 power draw is the furnace fan.  Not to mention the furnace is noisy while watching a movie, playing a game, or someone is trying to sleep in.

I do agree there are times where the Buddy comes in handy, however, because of the moisture that the unit produces and the headaches I get when I use the device for extended periods of time, I only use it when I am very low on LP, or during an emergency.  I personally don't like to use the Portable Buddy in general use.  Just me.  I don't know if I get a headache because I think I should or because there is a justifiable cause. 

$104.99 is enough to give me a head wound.

Only $79 at Lowe's, if you don't mind the yellow.  Mr. Heater Buddy at Lowe's

As its getting near the end of the season they often put them on sale too.  I think I paid around 60 at lowes for mine.

LJJ -

Sorry to hear about the headaches.  

That doesn't happen to us (plus we leave a ceiling vent cracked as well as a tent-end zippered window open a crack).

Quite a few places have it in the mid $80.'s right now -

Just checked Amazon.
Currently just $84.88 with free shipping -
http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heate...words=portable+buddy

http://www.tractorsupply.com/t...r-green?cm_vc=-10005

$71.99  If you are in Utah.  I think they only sell in store.

Nice find LJJ!  

I just checked.  We have 2 stores in this area.  One of them has them in stock (not that I need a second one though).

Bob R posted:

I have used the same thing in a tc for years and love it.  Run it for a hour or so and it heats up the camper interior and walls really quick.  I find I can get about 5 hours on low on a 1lb bottle.  It actually does not produce carbon monoxide but carbon dioxide so if you keep things closed up it gets damp inside.  We do crack a vent or window though.

When everything is setup for perfect combustion they makes CO2 and water vapor. They all make carbon monoxide when/ if they run low on oxygen. Like if they use it up when not vented enough.

Price alert -

Currently just $69.00 with free shipping at Bezos' store -

https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heat...words=portable+buddy

We recently took an 8 week trip out west and spent approx. 2 weeks in the Quartzsite & Lake Havasue areas on BLM land.  

In was quite chilly at night necessitating heat.  We supplemented our furnace with the Mr. Heater Buddy.  It worked great.  

In our truck camper, we found a perfect place to use it!  We lowered our oven door and placed it on that.

It was off the floor, in a spot made for heat.  It functioned like a little wood stove, as we could snuggle up to it and warm our hands. 

Les1 posted:

We recently took an 8 week trip out west and spent approx. 2 weeks in the Quartzsite & Lake Havasue areas on BLM land.  

In was quite chilly at night necessitating heat.  We supplemented our furnace with the Mr. Heater Buddy.  It worked great.  

In our truck camper, we found a perfect place to use it!  We lowered our oven door and placed it on that.

It was off the floor, in a spot made for heat.  It functioned like a little wood stove, as we could snuggle up to it and warm our hands. 

I don't know why I've never done this before a couple of weeks ago. I did the same thing, set my Big Buddy on the oven door, works perfectly!!

Ran it on Med. (9,000 BTU) and it quietly heated up the 1685 in no time without the drain on my batteries from running the furnace.

FYI, I haven't bought any 1lb. propane bottles in ages... Refill them for next to nothing.

Tip: Put the 1lb canisters in the freezer, and the 20lb tank in a tub of hot water and you can get them very close to storebought full. 

Refill Adapter

i have the buddy convert hose so i run the 15lb bottles, this spring putting a quick connect below the oven hooked onto this side of the regulator so i can use my outside bottle on the buddy heater. https://www.academy.com/shop/p...repChildCatid=467906

I bought 3 of these refillable flameking 1 lb cylinders and made this refill  jig. No dickin around with freezing and a full fill each time. I ordered from home depot online and picked them up at me local store.  I have refilled the disposables until I overfilled one and in the heat it assumed an hourglass figure. Not pretty.