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big buddy question


Pooh

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I think my tank was overfilled, or had something wrong with it. Went out Saturday afternoon and it acted up. Hooked up my cooker/heater, which acted up also.

With the big buddy, I tried 2 hoses. A quick connect and 5 foot cooker/heater hose with use same results. Then hooked up my cooker/heater it's not working correctly.

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For the guys still useing the one pound tanks how long do they last for you?

I bought the quick connect hose this weekend and have yet to use it but I sure went through the one pounders.

They would last for about six hours on low.

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You will really like the quick connect hose. Be patient when first lighting. It takes some time for the hose to fill with propane and bleed out the air. It has taken me 3-4 minutes sometimes holding the red knob down before the pilot will light. Too many people think you should be able to connect the hose and light in seconds. Not true. Sometimes I will take a screw driver and push down the plunger in the quick connect hose with the gas on. Only for a couple seconds before attaching to heater. I am not recommending but that is what I do. The big buddy heaters are so much better than the old sunflower heater - no CO headaches and less apt to burn your portable HSOList.

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If it wasn't for the safety issue I would prefer the sunflower. I fished with the sunflower heater for 15-20 years in portables and never had a head ache or a problem and always thought the portable provided plenty of ventilation with the breathability of the canvas and opening a small vent. Then one day while fishing I felt a little tired and decided I needed to step outside for a little fresh air. Upon opening the zipper I started to get dizzy and went down to one knee thinking I was going to pass out. As I breathed in the fresh air I thought I would start to feel better instead I felt nauseous and got a migraine like I have never experienced. I was even dry heaving a couple times as I packed my stuff up. I probably should have went to the hospital, but just went home to my couch. I don't know why this day was different from the 100's of other day I used the sunflower, but needless to say I retired the sunflower after this experience.

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Happened to me this week while working inside a metal trailer, temps in the single digits, plenty of ventilation, full 30# bottle. Ran it only on high as it was a 30' trailer with a lot of area to try to keep a small area warm. Fired up easily, ran fine for just under an hour, shut off and would not restart, let it sit for an hour or so and restarted, would not run except on pilot, as soon as burner would light pilot went out. Called Mr. Heater tech support and explained what was going on with my month old big buddy and was told it was too cold for propane heaters, regulator was freezing, absurd, but changed to a brand new warm regulator I had on hand and cleaned tubes and such, no change. Called tech support a second time and got a different person who ran through a set of exercises to troubleshoot. Tech support disclosed that on high in single digit temps a 30# will not vaporize enough lp to supply the heater. Ended up putting a warm 20# on and all was ok, switched back to 30# and it started and would run on low, placed tank two feet from front of heater, ran 3 hours on high with no issues, moved it 12v feet from the heater and it was dead within an hour. Tech support suggested manifolding two 30# bottles together if temps are low, so much for a portable heater. With temps in the 20's at the end of the week it ran continuously until the 30 was empty. Granted, most users never leave their big buddy on high for hours on end so this problem will appear to be intermittant, but it is not, rather a supply issue on portable tanks and verified and admitted by the manufacturer. I have two choices, trailer my 500 gallon lp tank with for my big buddy or just spend the money and get an empire, I chose the latter. I now have a big buddy that will work fine provided one understands it's limits.

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Ihave had issues with my big buddy this year for the first time. This heater is 4years old and always ran flawlessly. Last year I got a 11lbtank with a quick connect hose and it worked great. Now this year the last two times I've been out I had problems. First time (it takes me about 20-30 min. to get setup and heater running) I went out and after getting pilot going everytime I tried to turn a burner on the pilot would get real short and then go out. It would stay lit and work fine just on pilot but no other way. Put on a 1 lb cylinder that day and it worked fine and finished fishing. This last time I could light the burners but they would have a hard time staying lit. sometimesgetting real dim like its out of gas and the wham bright red and pumping out the heat. Even turned off once. After 1 1/2 hrs of this for some reason it started working perfectly and finished out the night awesome. If anyone has any suggestions other than cleaning I would take them. Iwill be doing the cleaning this afternoon. Thanks

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Do you have the heater turned on prior to openning the valve on the tank? If so, your OPD valve in the tank is probably sensing this and closing. Had this happen on my grill. Left one burner on when I had turned the tank off (always burn the fuel from lines before turning tank off) and the next time I went to light the grill I didnt notice I had one open.

Closed the tank valve, and then all the burners. Opened tank, opened burners and it worked fine.

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