sunflowers and kids

[hamms-scooter]

Any of you guys use htr/cooker or other sunflower style heaters with kids in your shack? I have always used my buddy heater with my son in my shack but going out today and don't know if it will do the job with this wind and temps. If vented very well it should be ok right? He likes to get out and run around too. He is 3.5 yrs old.

[mww24]

there would be to much risk for me to do that at any time. One slip or mistep could spell very serious burns. I worry about that just as much as CO2. Also. you know when your not feeling well. Kids have a very hard time knowing and expressing to adults how there body feels to them so it may be hard to tell if he isn't feeling well. Personally I wouldn't even do it with my 8 year old. But its your family and your decision. Good Luck.

[hamms-scooter]

Was leaning to the buddy after thinking about it some more...We can just do some jumping jacks if the buddy fails to provide the heat.

[Northlander]

X2

[KrabbyPatties]

I brought my son with me back when I just used a sunflower--so two or three times a winter from probably age 3 to age 9. We kept the vents open on the portable and never had trouble. I kept the sunflower on a homemade box that kept him from being able to touch it easily and he knew not to touch it anyway.

What finally stopped me from using the sunflower was an incident when he and I went out. When I lit the heater, we got a big fireball out of it and both bailed out of the portable ASAP! I tried to light it one more time outside of the shack and got the same effect. We looked at each other with wide eyes, both said to heck with the sunflower, and haven't used one since. We have a Buddy heater now, which is fine for me, but he gets a little chilly on colder days.

[SFC]

That could happen with any heater that malfunctions. I would reccomend keeping all your vents open with any type of heater that burns fuel. Anyone with a monitor with a digital readout ever check both the buddy and heater cooker for carbon monoxide? If you are getting headaches you have a problem. Google carbon monoxide poisoning and its long term effects,I have posted this before but it opened my eyes alittle. I tried my co detecter with my buddy for 1.5 hrs with vents open, detecter read zero.

[hamms-scooter]

Used my buddy heater today kept us toastie and was warmer then I thought just the wind chill had a bite. If I got up off of my seat in portable it wanted to move big time across the ice. My son thought that was great so I had to do that a few times. We didn't hammer the fish by any means but we also didn't move like I do when alone. Today was about being in the shanty with him not the catch. Good times.

[mww24]

glad u had a good time hamms. Sometimes fishing isn't about fishing at all. I've never gotten hilly with my buddy or big buddy. If you have snow to pack the sides and the wind cant creep in from around the bottom they do great heating the house if you don't go in and out a lot.

[hamms-scooter]

I flipped the bottom flaps in and push the slush on it works well. I used to have a issue with it shuting off all the time but now I have one of those neoprene socks for the tank and put the heater off the ice on a peice of that 2 inch foam insulation. Never shut off once. Tank heat is maintained alot better that way and you get to burn all the tank instead of it freezing. Also use a peice of foam for under my sons feet.

[BigDogRob]

I use a Big Buddy in my portable which is a 2 person flip-over. I only remember once getting cold, and that was because when I grabbed my new tanks and threw them in the truck...I didn't realize that the wife had gone shopping and had another bag replaced on the counter... Tought me to double check before leaving. So when I ran out of propane it cooled down quickly. I have been out in some pretty strong winds that I had to use my poles in order to keep the canvas from pushing in on me. I know my brother-in-law hated his because of problems with it burning through ALOT of propane? Mine is really good on gas. Two tanks dark to dark don't hurt my feelings. I just found also to bank well around the bottom. I usually open my vent once in awhile. just to put some fresh air in it. I like the portability of it and not worrying about breaking off the head while on a tank. My girl likes that it has a fan switch to play with, but usually I just tell her that she can't play with it and she will listen, while the fish are biting. I know when going with others that use sunflowers I need to get up and walk around a bit more doe to feeling light headed or drowsy. I also like that I haven't burnt my lines off on my buddy.

I think it is alot of preference with either one.

Happy Fishing!

[Stick in Mud]

Our Buddy heater keeps it toasty enough, and I feel a lot safer with it than with a sunflower heater. They're both fine if you're careful, but I think more can go wrong with the flower heaters. My dad had one malfunction once, and I heard enough from that story to prefer the Buddy, though I know a malfunction can happen with all of them. Plus, the sunflower was higher off the ground, which made this clumsy fella more likely to get his coat melted.