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Buddy Heater question

calli4120

By calli4120
in Ice Fishing

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calli4120 Collaborator

calli4120

Posted
Posted

I'm going to be picking up a Big Buddy heater soon and was wondering if there is any difference between the portable big buddy and the tough big buddy heaters besides the color?

Has anyone had a bad experience with the tough buddy?

I will be fishing out of a fish trap guide so I would think that this would be more then enough heat for me.

Thanks in advance,

Adam

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Squirtis Contributor

Squirtis

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Don't have a Big Buddy, but the standard size and the Fish Trap Guide. I manage to arrange my ice fishing trips with my work buddies on the coldest days of the winter and the little buddy has kept up fine in the Guide, so i think the Big Buddy will be pretty darn toasty.

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calli4120 Collaborator

calli4120

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Quote:

Don't have a Big Buddy, but the standard size and the Fish Trap Guide. I manage to arrange my ice fishing trips with my work buddies on the coldest days of the winter and the little buddy has kept up fine in the Guide, so i think the Big Buddy will be pretty darn toasty.

I borrowed a little buddy from a friend last year and it did a really good job of keeping us warm. I just really like the option of of the fan and also being able to hook up a bigger tank if I need to.

Do you fish around Eden Prairie? I haven't lived down here long and never really fished any of the lakes. I usually end up fishing north of the cities with my brother when I go but with the price of gas I have been thinking about spending more time on the ice close to home this year.

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Squirtis Contributor

Squirtis

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Yeah I do. A friend of mine told me about one of the lakes in the sourthern part of the city and I fish that about once a week, pretty good crappie action and a few pike too. We'll have to hook up sometime and go out there.

Curtis

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DzNuts Contributor

DzNuts

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If its the one I'm thinking of, it has some trout stocked in there also. Tried it once last year, I'll be back there again this year.

My Big Buddy does great. Rarely do I ever have to set it on high. Just a couple minutes when I first put up the shack.

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Tripleplay Community Regular

Tripleplay

Posted
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I also have a FT Guide and have always used a Buddy alone in it. I vary between the 1 lb throwaways and a 10lb pancake (12 ft hose) based on how far I'm schleppin' the house onto the ice. Usually I'm fishing in my bibs and that is it as the Buddy is plenty big enough for the Guide. I've had a couple of days where I wore the coat but not too many.

This year I added a Big Buddy to the arsenal since I needed more heat in my deer stand. It may hit the ice a few times just to see how the fan works in heating the house but it seems pretty big for the small space of a Guide.

Deer hunting partner had a new Tough Buddy and I agree that the only thing I could see different was the heavier grill although I didn't confirm that it had the fan as well.

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mojocatt Contributor

mojocatt

Posted
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I have both the Buddy Heater and the Big Buddy Heater. Although I just purchaced the Big Buddy last weekend, so I can't say much about it.

The Buddy heater worked great in my Trap Scout at all times, but was not quite up to the task in the 5600 after sundown.

I managed to damage the threads on the Buddy Heater using the cheap bottles at GM (in my humble opinion), and excessive bottle swaps. The Coleman bottles still work fine though (go figure?). I also seem to notice I get headaches when the Buddy has been running on a low bottle, and suspect it does not burn very well on low pressure, giving me a CO headache**.

So I'm going to give the Big Buddy a try in the 5600 this season, I suspect it will do the trick after sundown. Also I'm getting LP hoses for both, to cut down on bottle swaps, to have more consistant LP pressure and to spend more time fishing and less time messing with 1lb bottles.

**but in defense of the Buddy Heater, I think I am more prone to CO headaches that most people.

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Eric Wettschreck Grand Master

Eric Wettschreck

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For the fellas that are using the big buddy. If you hook this bad boy up to a 20lbr do not make the same mistake I did. Drop the few bucks and get the in-line filter. I was a cheapo and didn't use a filter. My pilot oriface plugged up at night on the lake and Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!

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JigginIsLife Experienced

JigginIsLife

Posted
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anyone ever have a problem with the little buddy heater working for like 10 mins and it going out... i had this happend to me on the coldest night out prolly around -12 or -20 something like that anyways was it the cold or what, i know there was no air in the lines.

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DzNuts Contributor

DzNuts

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Quote:

anyone ever have a problem with the little buddy heater working for like 10 mins and it going out... i had this happend to me on the coldest night out prolly around -12 or -20 something like that anyways was it the cold or what, i know there was no air in the lines.

It's most likely from the 1 pounders freezing up. That's why alot of people talk about going to 11# tanks.

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hoggs222 Veteran

hoggs222

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Well. I posted before about the tough buddy heater and said no problems. I went to fire it up yesterday and nothing. It hasn't been dropped, etc. It worked fine last year the 2 times I used it and now nothing.

I tried to bring it inside, nada. I think I'm going with the big buddy or sunflower heater.

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McGurk Grand Master

McGurk

Posted
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If you are using an external tank and a hose (5' or 20') it takes a LONG time for the LP to get to the heater. It took me about a minute of holding the switch down and popping the igniter to get the pilot light to go. I am using the same filter I used last winter, though, but once I got it going it seemed to work fine and had plenty of output.

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reelemin Mentor

reelemin

Posted
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Quote:

Well. I posted before about the tough buddy heater and said no problems. I went to fire it up yesterday and nothing. It hasn't been dropped, etc. It worked fine last year the 2 times I used it and now nothing.

I tried to bring it inside, nada. I think I'm going with the big buddy or sunflower heater.

Have had a similar problem - check to see if the line from the tank came undone from the ingniter. take off the bottom plate and find where the line goes to the ingniter, mine often came undone at this point. ended up putting some electrical tape around and it has held for a yr now.

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reelemin Mentor

reelemin

Posted
Posted

Quote:

Quote:

Well. I posted before about the tough buddy heater and said no problems. I went to fire it up yesterday and nothing. It hasn't been dropped, etc. It worked fine last year the 2 times I used it and now nothing.

I tried to bring it inside, nada. I think I'm going with the big buddy or sunflower heater.

Have had a similar problem - check to see if the line from the tank came undone from the ingniter. take off the bottom plate and find where the line goes to the ingniter, mine often came undone at this point. ended up putting some electrical tape around and it has held for a yr now.

Also check the lines for spiders or webs. They will often nest in the lines and plug things up

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hoggs222 Veteran

hoggs222

Posted
Posted

The flame comes through, but just flickers straight up when I hold the pilot button down. When I go to switch over to low or high, it dies.

I am using a 1# tank. I will check the connections at the igniter. I did try blowing it out with the air compresser.

Thanks,

I'll let you know if I can get it started.

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zamboni Grand Master

zamboni

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Quote:

The flame comes through, but just flickers straight up when I hold the pilot button down. When I go to switch over to low or high, it dies.

I am using a 1# tank. I will check the connections at the igniter. I did try blowing it out with the air compresser.

Thanks,

I'll let you know if I can get it started.

Hold it down for a good minute, maybe 2

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