mr heater / sunflower question - moving tank outside

[Bigbartguy]

hope this isnt too ignorant - I have a Sunflower heater and would like to use a hose and leave the tank outside of my portable.

Is there some kind of stand for these? I dont quite see how the heater head unit will sit by itself. thanks for your help!

[Bob Horn]

If you have the style of heater that screws on to the tank you won`t be able to use a hose. You have to have the heater/cooker style that has a stand for them.

[art]

Actually you can do it. I did it with mine. You'll most likely need a special brass fitting that adapts the sunflower to the hose. You can get them at most bait/hardware/outdoor stores. Just make sure you get the right one and get the right hose to fit your tank. I built a stand to hold the heater by using some heavy gauge wire and bending it to hold the sunflower and stand right on the ice or floor.

[Braidy]

That's exactly what we've done. I have a double heater and made a small square tubing frame that the heater mounts to and also the control valve. I plumbed mine using a propane quick connect for a "wrench free" connection.

[Bob Horn]

I think it would be safer and easier to just buy a heater/cooker. Why take all the time trying to rig something up? You should be able to get one on sale now that season is towards the end.

[bturck]

three years ago I went to Office Depot and got one of the plastice milk style crates. they now use these for file storage. anyway the 20# cylinder sits in very nicely giving me a stable base in or out of the house, no tipping over. I ran some heavy wire from one side to the other and through the tank. when i pick up the tank the crate comes right along. works very well. Bill

[G_man]

I did just about the same thing for my 5 lb tank. I put a portion of an old blanket in the bottom to act as a shockabsorber and I used bungy cords to hold the tank in the crate.

[art]

I did it because I didn't want 2 sunflowers in the gear pile. I already had one and for a $1.00 piece of heavy gauge wire, and you might already have something laying around in the garage, and the cost of the adaptor, and about 10 minutes of my time bending the wire, I was good to go. Besides, in addition to being a cheap SOB it was fun to do it myself. I don't know for sure but I assume you would need an adaptor for the cooker style to go on a hose as well?

[Bigbartguy]

I think I'll try rigging something up. It'll give me something to fool around with this Spring (that gap between ice fishing and walleye opener can seem a bit long!)

[TRITC]

art,

FYI, the heater/cooker comes ready to receive the hose. I'm not gonna tell anyone to go out and spend more money, but it is nice to have the heater/cooker (especially for the cooker part).

TRITC

[art]

TRITC,

Thanks for the info. I'll have to keep that in mind when it's time to upgrade. The idea of being able to cook on it is appealing. I usually just bring the grill along for lunch or dinner. I guess that's one more thing to bring along in the gear pile so the heater/cooker is making more sense all the time.

[Ed Carlson]

A RAM electronics ball mount system with the rail clamp would work well. I seen a tank mount Mr Heater rigged this way last season on a Frabill XL-Twin and it was sweet.