BIG BUDDY BURNED UP.....

[ozzie]

are you sure about the hardyboy? I ask cause wouldn't that then mean you would have to but a new hose every so often....not that it isn't a bad idea to replace your heater hose every couple years but with the screw and filter it states to change out the filter once a year...just curious

[nater]

Glad you guys were safe. That's freaky.

I'd also be interested to hear what Mr Heater has to say since I have one as well.

[PierBridge]

Quote:

It looks like something came loose or cracked internally.

Something happened previously or during transport to damage the heater to cause this. As much as we love our Buddy's they are not as durable as the Mr. Heater Sunflower/Cookers are.

[Jeremy airjer W]

The quick disconnect hose i have has the filter inline so no i didn't have to purchase a separate filter. The hose still has a filter its just built in.

I'm not aware of any quick connect hose from mr. heater that has an "inline" filter. A filter is not needed with the quick connect hose because the hose should be regulated at the tank. This makes it a low pressure hose and a filter is not needed.

[Hardyboy]

Here is a photo of the quick connect hose attached to the heater with the tank end also in view. The packaging stated it had an inline filter but after what you said airjer it does look like it could be a regulator. so if that is the case which it looks like then i will stand corrected.

[CaptainMusky]

are you sure about the hardyboy? I ask cause wouldn't that then mean you would have to but a new hose every so often....not that it isn't a bad idea to replace your heater hose every couple years but with the screw and filter it states to change out the filter once a year...just curious

The hose from Mr Heater that has the quick disconnect does NOT have an inline filter. It does not require one either because this is a low pressure hose.

[fishersofmen]

Yes it is a regulator. You can see how it bypasses the regulator that is built into the unit. The screw on type hose goes directly on the built in regulator. (After the filter)

[Oranda]

I had a similar thing happen to a Coleman lantern several years ago. I called them. They sent me a new lantern and asked for the old one back so the engineers could see if they needed to do any design changes (I am sure the legal dept wanted it in their possession too).

best thing is to call and take honey not vinegar approach and see what they do. Best of all is that noone was hurt!

[B-man715]

All heaters take a beating while bouncing across the lake.

My Big Buddy had a compression fitting wiggle loose. Luckily I smelled the leak before lighting it, or I would have had similar results

Without my Leatherman to tear it apart and fix the leak it would have been a cold day in the porty!!

[Hookey]

Just a comment for what it is worth. Last year I had a buddy heater catch fire using a two lb screw in propane tank so while the type of hose used could be a factor understand these heaters are designed to run on screw in tanks and these too fail.

My humble opinion is that the Buddy heaters are often hard to light and hard to keep lit. Any time you emit gas under pressure and it does not ignite it builds. Once it does ignite you may have more than you bargained for.

Yes they are nice when they light and happen to stay lit and yes they are cleaner burning. Anytime I take the big buddy I have my sunflower as I refuse to let this buddy ruin another fishing trip. I have purchased three Buddy Heaters.

We all know who our real friends are, mine is my sunflower. While I sometimes hang around one of the buddies I always expect the worse and have a backup plan in place.

I have owned a Buddy a Little Buddy and a big Buddy.

If they ever come out with a Best Buddy or a Good Buddy or a Reliable Buddy I might try them again but for now I will stick with my old friend I can trust to keep me warm and never lets me down.

[Neiko]

We bought a Buddy Heater for my Father in Laws birthday so he could have it in his deer stand. Well my Bro in law was half lit himself and didn't have the 1lb propane bottle screwed in right and hit the ignitor. We were in his garage and all of a sudden there was flames everywhere. BIL reactions were slowed because of liquor so I grabbed it and ran out of the garage expecting it to blow my hand off any second. Lucky there was no damage but man was it funny afterwards.

[lispeej]

Hardyboy, I have the same hose you do....and I love it!

That is the hose that the mr.heater rep told me to buy for my big buddy heater when I emailed him last year.

Part# is: F271803 if you guys are interested.

[Hardyboy]

Hardyboy, I have the same hose you do....and I love it!

That is the hose that the mr.heater rep told me to buy for my big buddy heater when I emailed him last year.

Part# is: F271803 if you guys are interested.

Yep it was recommended to me as well and like it alot better. I would buy it again.

[Hookey]

I have been wondering what kind of heater that poor old 85 year old that caught fire and died falling out of the tree was using

[buzbunni]

Hardyboy, I have the same hose you do....and I love it!

That is the hose that the mr.heater rep told me to buy for my big buddy heater when I emailed him last year.

Part# is: F271803 if you guys are interested.

This Quick connect/regulator has had me confused over the years, but I think now I am starting to get the picture.

So....if you have the quick connect with the low pressure hose.....

1) U don't regulate the temp/flame at the buddy, you regulate it at the tank?

2) Do you need to use the regulator on the unit at all, or do you just leave it on?

3) Since you turn the propane off at the regulator on the hose, there is no pressure in the hose after the flame fans out?

4) Anyone know the part number for a quick connect for the Portable Buddy?

I have a Portable Buddy that I have owned for about 5-6 years. I run it with a 20lb tank, attached to a high pressure hose into a filter, attached to the unit. At the end of the fishing day I turn the propane off at the tank 1st, let the flame burn out, and then turn off the Portable Buddy. I am assuming that this will reduce the pressure build up in the hose and therefore cause less clogging in the filter.

Am I correct in this assumption?

I have had a couple "flameups" with this system, but I believe that in both instanced I may have cross-threaded the filter or hose. Not certain, but I think that is the case.

I used to run the hose thru the front zipper door of my shelter, but for safety reasons I don't do that any longer. I now run the hose under the shelter flap. This way, if need be, I can immediately flip up the shelter.

[Jeremy airjer W]

This Quick connect/regulator has had me confused over the years, but I think now I am starting to get the picture.

So....if you have the quick connect with the low pressure hose.....

1) U don't regulate the temp/flame at the buddy, you regulate it at the tank?

[buzbunni]

Thanks airjer. That clears it up.

I thought the regulator was the knob that regulated the heat.

Obviously I did not know what a regulator was.

I do now.

I think

[HUMMER 55]

Ok, so heres how it all boils down. Just thought i would share this incase anyone ever has he same issue as i did:

I called Mr. Heater, they where very nice and where sorry for what happened and they asked me some questions as to how it was hooked up, what we where doing with it and so on. all was normal and correct. The contact was very intersted in seeing the heater and a picture of what was damaged and ect. he also offered to send fed-x in to pick it up. and they did, the next day.. So i waited about 3 weeks and i got a call back and there inspection team that die-sects there warranty units came up with no conculsion as to why it burnt up partirslly due to the fact it was so heavily burnt. he said this is the FIRST heater they have ever inspected without having a solid confirmation as to what happened. Ok so what now.. he asked me what the value of lost items where and i said well the house new and some small thing in it would be roughly $530 and the heater is $100.

he said they want to make it right me and said that they would send a new heater to me at no charge and write a check for half of the damaged property. I thought WOW thats more than i would ever ask for, since the house is 3-4 years old ! I just got the heater on thursday and a check in the mail on saturday !! this company was great to talk to, great to deal with, and they felt terrible for what happened, i was impressed! if you ever have an issue with a mr heater these guys are there to help ! now i have to find a new house for next year.. good thing the store clearances are coming out !!

[DTro]

Thanks for the follow up. It's pretty cool that they did that and you were happy with the outcome.

[BartmanMN]

Wow, that is impressive service.

[fishersofmen]

That is awesome!! Nice to hear an ending like that.

[WTN4ICE]

This just happend to my unit also though not as extreme. I was kneeling next to the heater when it made definate pop and flames came out the top.I ran out and shut the gas off at the tank a friend 12 feet away heard the pop.I did relight it outside and it seemed to burn normal so I put it back in the porty and started fishin.I did notice a gassy smell so it was not burning properly. We made a short move and when I attempted to relight it there was a definate propane leak so I decided not to push my luck and used a friends heater.

I use the juick connect hose on a 20lb tank. The heater is still at the lake so I will have to check the serial number to see if it is an affected unit.

[gonehunting]

I am a true believer in Buddy heaters but did have one light on fire also. It was -28 on Lake Winnipeg. My thought was that maybe the o-ring in the quick connect hose got so cold (before connecting) that it did not seal correctly. It has worked fine since then. Scary when it happens though. Luckily we brought extra heaters. Learned one thing though - don't go fishing when it is -30 degrees, although we did catch some big greenbacks that day. Just too dangerous when using sleds and portables.

[B@ssmaster]

I had a different issue with my 4 year old Big Buddy that could have caused a similar fire, but I got lucky and caught it in time. I was testing out all my equipment in my garage before hitting the ice and decided to fire up the heater as well. Good thing I did. I connected the hose to the filter, opened the valve on the propane tank and hit the sparker on the Big Buddy. Before I knew what happened, "Whoosh!" I had flames about 18" high off the top of the Big Buddy. Needless to say I moved pretty quick to close the propane tank valve.

Turns out that one of the two internal Big Buddy heater pressure regulators (there is one on each side of the heater that the tanks or hoses screw into) had an internal leak! It was venting propane out the tiny hole in the top of the regulator. (I presume there is some form of internal diaphragm that had ruptured.) Went on line, found the part number and ordered a replacement part for $11.

My point is, there could be another failure mechanism besides loose fittings, etc. Check your regulators for propane flow out of the top vent holes.

[sikaso]

If using 1 lb'ers I always have 2 tanks on my Big Buddy, and if using a hose I still leave a 1 lb tank connected on the other side just to eliminate any possibile leak out of an unused connection.