big buddy heater - year 2

[minneman]

who's got em, and, how do you like them if bought after recall?

[Dano2]

had one last year and loved it. used it in our perm, and kept it warm on the coldest days. I never had problems with mine, but returned it anyway because of the recall. The wife gave me another one this year for an early christmas present, unfortunetly, I haven't even been out yet, not brave enough I guess due to all the snow and warm weather, but I have had it running in my garage, and it works great. Only thing I dont like about them, is they seem they could be fragile with all the plastic.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I had mine fired up on halloween, no problems. Look forward to another warm and toasty year on the ice!!

[Muskieguy]

Used mine to heat my 25 foot camper during Deer season. Worked Great!!! No problems!!! Some fumes at start up time but no fumes after that. I haven't tried it outside yet, but inside the camper worked great!

Muskieguy.......

[booshy]

This might be obvious, but don't get snow on the face or around the igniter area when trasporting. I have taken the sunflower for granted and snow doesn't phase those...I will just have to make sure to cover well in the fish house or get a carry case for the Buddy

[Dano2]

I just took an old long sleeve shirt, tied the arms together, closed the neck area up, and use it as a cover. works good.

[minneman]

Ok, reports sound good! Merry Christmas to me, I picked one up w/out hose and...filter?? I figured id see what the instructions said and then come to you guys for the rest.

So, what hose do you use? sounds like there are 3 to choose from according to the inst. in your opinion, which would be the best? (I havent looked at any of them yet) I wont be using the 1-lber's

Thanks!

BTW 97.00 at L&M in DL

[huntnfish]

I picked one up a few weeks ago and have only used the one pounders and haven't been impressed. I have used it twice in my 6x12 doublewide and I have to have it on high all the time which really sucks the propane and doesn't get the house very warm. After I ran out of one pounders I switched to the tank mounted Mr. Heater sunflower and had it on medium and had to turn it down. I am going to get the filter that is recommended and hook it up to a 20 pounder and see if that will keep it a little warmer or it will be going back and I will just use the cooker. I do like the quietness and not having any fumes but the heat output has been dissapointing so far.

[tomfromblaine]

The filter won't help you get any warmer, did you have the fan going? I've noticed that even though these units can produce a good amount of heat it does seem localized, acouple of computer fans mounted at the ceiling would really help out.

[AQUAJOE]

I agree in with huntnfish. I think the performance is rather weak and eats up the 1 lb tanks. All I am trying to heat is a Voyager. I was out for 9 hours burnt up 4 1 lb tanks. The temp was 10 and it barely took the chill off.

So far I am not that impressed.

[Dano2]

huntnfish. Have you thought about putting a wall mount in that house? Sounds like that would be the deal their for something of that size, just curious.

Guy with the voyager, are you talking about the BIG buddy or the regular? If your talking the BIG buddy heater, I wonder if there is something wrong with yours. I used mine in a 5x8 uninsulated house last year on the coldest days, and it kept things pretty toasty . In my Frabill 2 man, low does the trick easy when above zero, but maybe I wear more cloths then others too, who knows. seems these heaters, both the Big and regular buddy heaters are very inconsistent from one to the next. I have heard people say they love their buddy heater and have never had a problem, then the next person has had nothing but problems after trying even a couple differnt ones out.

seems the manufacturer needs to get a handle on their QC.

[Pistol Pete]

I have a big buddy, purchased end of December last year. What the deal with the recall?? I haven't heard of it.

[minneman]

Pete, do a search, its been a topic from way back.

As to the heat output, Im banking on the fact that you guys with problems are Not using a hose and tank...? That the minimal presure in the 1-lb tanks is not enough to reach the 18000 btu's...?

Who's using a hose, does it work properly?

[huntnfish]

Minneman, I am hoping that the low heat output is because of the one pounders. I am going to give it a try with the hose and big tank this weekend and hopefully the results will be much better. The heat output is the only problem that I have with the heater.

I did have the fan on when I was fishing both times. I am going to pick up one of those tent fans tonight and try that to get some of the heat down to the floor.

Dano, a wall mount is out of the question as the walls on this house are canvas, although I did think about rigging up a mount for it but decided to try the big buddy instead.

[AQUAJOE]

I have the big Buddy.

[get-the-net]

minneman,

I'm using a Big buddy with a 5 foot hose and either a 10 or 20 lb tank. I have yet to be cold in my otter lodge aside from one trip that I'll explain below. I usually have it on high when I'm setting up, but not long afterwards I turn it down to med or low.

I did not buy the filter or the quick-connect ends, because I was told they were a waste of time and money. Be careful, the first two hoses I purchased had manufacturing defects that wouldn't allow the internal valve to release. Make sure you try out your setup before you go out on the lake. I didn't and was stuck with one pounders that day with less than ideal heat output.

Other than that, I love my Big Buddy.

[TeddyBoy]

I have the Big Buddy and used it last Saturday when it was about 10 degrees. I put it right in the sled of my Frabill and adjusted it between lo, medium and high all day. I also turned the fan on periodically. Although, it didn't heat up enough to make us drip sweat, it did keep us warm enough to be able to fish in our sweatshirts most of the day. I will say that it made a huge difference to put it in the sled rather than on the ice in front of us. I bet if you had a floor in your shack it would work better to heat the whole shack. We never had to change out any of the 1 lb cylinders either. However, I will be sure to bring some with me this weekend anticipating that it will soon run out.

[AQUAJOE]

I wonder if there is something wrong with mine then?

Teddy how long were you out on Saturday? I was out 9 hours and burnt through 4 1 lbers. U had it sitting on the ice infront of us.

[TeddyBoy]

Quote:

---

I wonder if there is something wrong with mine then?

Teddy how long were you out on Saturday? I was out 9 hours and burnt through 4 1 lbers. U had it sitting on the ice infront of us.

---

AquaJoe,

I was out 7 hours. I had mine sitting in the sled kinda between us. I would turn it up to high and when it got warm enough, I would drop it to medium. Then if that started to get cold, I would turn on the fan. Sometimes, I dropped it all the way to low. I don't know how much gas is left in the (2) 1# tanks. I will be going out on Friday morning and will see how long it lasts. Like I said before, when we had it on the ice in front of us, the shack didn't get all that warm. Once we put it in the sled, it worked really well. We also made sure that snow was packed around the outside of the shack so it didn't allow a lot of air infiltration. This made a big difference.

[AQUAJOE]

I will try that Ted. Thanks for the info. I had mine on the ice on high with the fan on the whole time.

[smmurphy]

I just picked one up and used it for the first time Sunday. It worked great. My boys and I were in my Brand New Eskimo Lodge and it kept us nice and warm. No coat or gloves in the house and neither one of them complained once about the cold.

[jiffypop]

WITH THE BIG BUDDY, IS IT NECCESSARY TO HAVE EITHER A 1LBER OR A HOSE AND TANK ON BOTH SIDES, OR WILL IT RUN CONNECTED ON ONE SIDE? DEBATING BUYING ONE, COULD BE THE DECIDING FACTOR. HOW LONG DO BATTERIES LAST FOR THE FAN? THANKS

[wolfman-k]

I just got one today for a Christmas gift from my wife! I was going to go buy one myself, so she told me to open a present early. I bought a fan in a pet store that's used for travel kennels, and it runs on two 'D' batteries, I figured the extra circulation will help keep my Otter double-wide toasty! I'm going to set up for the first time on Monday up on Mille Lacs.

[get-the-net]

jiffypop,

Good questions. No, you don't have to have a tank on both sides if you have the hose connected. It will indeed run off of only one side. However, if you are only using the 1# tanks, you'll need two to make it operate correctly.

I fished three days a week every week last winter and only replaced the batteries once. Those D cells really last.

[Dragon Fish ll]

I am about to get one today but after reading all about last years post on the big buddy Im wondering if I should. I pressed up the good and bad on the mr heater an gave me a option which to me to the FM forums an there was a whole lot of negative reports on this Unit. I just got a 1060 Clam. Will the mr heater big buddy do the trick in a 6x10 portable and what about in sub 0 temps. Any up to date info would be very welcome, to me and from last years reports to many others.