Info on Mr. Heater Buddy

[Lostit@theHole]

I am shopping for a heater for my new portable fish house and was wondering if anybody had any suggestions? I was looking at a Mr. Heater Buddy. Heard good things. Anybody used these? Would a good ol' sunflower work better in a flip over style shack? Thanks and good luck.

[frozen toes]

The buddy heater are good, but they do have their faults. The biggest problem with mine is any air flow will blow the pilot light out. Other than that, they heat very well.

[Enids Hubby]

I have have an otter lodge and used to use a sunflower heater and got rid of it , to stinky and hard to regulate temp . I now use 2 portable buddies , only need 1 except for the really cold days . I always pack snow around the bottom to seal out the drafts and put them on top of a 5 gallon bucket and never had a problem with them blowing out . They can control temp better , especially when using 2 of them because you have 2 settings on each . I leave the vents on the house open and the top of the door opened a bit for fresh air . If you need to seal the bottom of the house to keep the draft out before we get any snow just drill an extra hole and use the shaving to put on the fabric , it will freeze it to the ice and keeps draft out.

[loebs93]

A lot of people like the Buddies for their small, single person shelters. If you have a bigger house one buddy just won't do the trick on a seasonably cold day. Some say the sunflower style Mr. Heater is to loud, it emits too much CO gas so you need ample ventilation and it’s hard to control the temp and those are all true but when you’re out fishing in single digit temps or colder they rule. They will heat your entire house in just seconds compared to minutes with the buddies. And they get things hot, if you want it that way, whereas the buddies may struggle to keep the house at a comfortable temp.

I have used both and like both for different situations. I feel a lot safer using the buddy but would rather use the Mr. Heater for most of the season.

[Bones62]

I use the Buddy under most conditions because it keeps the temp. comfortable, but when it's well below 0 the Sunflower is needed to keep warm. I have 2 Sunflower and they have always worked perfect. I bought a Buddy 3 years ago that has always worked fine, but last year I bought another Buddy that quit working after a few months, and I bought another this fall for my son's deer stand that did'nt work right out of the box. I returned the latter right away, but the one from last year is still not working. I have to look into getting it repaired. Might just be bad luck, but I am hesitant to buy another one.

[loebs93]

We always had a lot of returns on them when I worked at Gander. People always complained that the pilot light never stayed lit. One of the down falls of the buddy is that you need to have it in a place free of any significant air draft to keep the pilot lit.

[arbuck]

My vote is for the Mr.Heater/cooker. Higher BTU's than the buddy and in my opinion it is better to have to much heat than to little. I have tried the buddy in a FT Guide and it didn't do the trick for me. I have not tried the new big buddy and think that that might be a good unit (I don't know if the draft thing is an issue with the big buddy) but for $120.00 I could buy 3 heater/cookers.

The CO/stink thing does come up on occation but I just open the top/door for 30 seconds once in a while to air everything out and usually keep the vents open to keep fresh air coming in.

arbuck

[iffwalleyes]

I have one and it anyone wants a deal on one I will gladly sell it. It just can't get any of my houses warm. I just got a 1 man frabill ranger solo and I thought it would be prefect. Man I was cold. I will stick to the sunflower. If anyone out there wants to trade a Buddy for a Mr. Heater Cooker look me up.

[Lostit@theHole]

Hey everyone thanks a lot for your input. It reasons like this that make this site so awesome.

[Bones62]

The problem I have with the Buddy is that it lites OK, but when you turn it to the run position it won't stay lit. I know it's not being blown out by a draft because I've tried it inside. The flame appears to burn a different color than on my Buddy that does work fine. Maybe where the fuel comes out is fouled in some way? If anyone has been able to fix this problem I would appreciate your help.

[iffwalleyes]

Are you running it off a 1 lb propane bottle or are you running it off the hose and a bigger tank (full tank). I had the same problem last year when I had it on the hose. I was told that the tank was too full and that the pressure from the tanks snuffed it out. I was told I should bleed some of the propane out of the tank and that it should work. I did that and they were right the heater took right off and stayed running. Still didn't provide enough heat for me but it at least worked then. Not a great way to fix the problem but I guess it works.

[danny berg]

Bones62,

I had the same problem with my buddy heater, it would run for 15-20 min then shut down. I replaced the regulator and now she runs just fine. You can get a new regulator from Mr. Heater's HSOforum for 5.95, which includes shipping.

If you send me an E-mail [email protected] I will forward you the instructions I got from Mr. Heater.

[augernaut]

Build a little windshield for your pilot out of sheet metal or metal flashing, fasten it onto the wire cage, and you are good to go. Mine heats my Trap Pro perfectly. I do have a sunflower for really cold days though (-20ish)...

[slabberknocker]

When you guys are running the 20 lb tanks to your buddy, to you have the filter hooked up on your heater. In the manual it says to screw on a filter that catches oil and does not glog up the pilot. They had a bunch returned beacause of it. If you use the 1 lb all the time you have nothing to worry about, but the 20 lb will glog them up without the filter.

Hope this made sense.

Slab

[Bones62]

Sorry, I've been away for a few days. I have only used 1 lb. tanks with the Buddy. I will check into replacing the regulator. Thanks for the info.