pilot light on heater

[jflo21]

I've had a buddy heater for about 3 years and this year the pilot light will not light. I have a longer gas line that is hoooked up to a 20# tank. Does anyone have any ideas? Is it the longer gas line?

[89Bronco]

I have a 3-year-old buddy heater and have the same problem as well. I run mine right from the 1lb. cylinder. It lights up in the house (warm temps), but it will not light up in the garage (cold temps). Tried different tanks, full tanks, etc. Same ??? as jflo....

[rmrakt]

It may take a long time to purge the air out of that long line.....I have a 12 footer and it took better than 5 minutes to get gas to the pilot for the first time this year. Use a match once in a while instead of the ignitor to see if you get any indications of gas. Be patient and good luck!

[WalleyeWacker10]

Last year I returned 2 Big Buddy heaters that had pilot light problems right from the factory. I my opion they have a big problem?? The gas is alot dirtier in the 20lb tanks so you are suppose to use a filter that they sell. Maybe yours is dirty or has a bad thermo couple?? I'm no expert...

[Craigums]

It takes a while with the setup that you have...Start it out with a 1# tank with your 20# tank running also that way when it gets going really good you can cut off the 1# tank and just run off the 20# tank....then save the rest of the 1# tank for next time out

[DzNuts]

I also have a problem with my pilot lighting, and I strickly use 1 pounders. Glad to hear I'm not the only one that got hosed. I should order a new piece and see if that works out.

[tonyjor]

I had this problem with mine last year. What I did was took a pipe cleaner from the craft box and reamed out the pipe where the pilot lights. Must've been carboned up because it's worked like a champ since.

[fdr01]

mine does this to it will light but the pilot is more like a lighter,mabey i'll try the pipe cleaner.fdr

[pathogen]

There are a couple of things to take into consideration here. The first one has been mentioned and that is that the gas can take a LONG time to get from the tank to the heater. When I went out the first time this year, I was ready to give it up and about that time the pilot light lit. I only have a 5' hose but it took probably 3 full minutes before gas reached the heater. I knew it wasn't the heater because one pounders started immediately. The second thing to remember is that if you use a hose, ALWAYS be sure you are using the recommended filter, and replace the filter yearly. The assumpion by most people is that the gas coming from the tank has impurities, but the fact is that the gas pressure squeezes impurities out of the hose itself and that is what the filter catches. These impurities are of an oily nature and will mess up your heater's orifice. I'm not saying Buddy heaters are fool-proof, but I think quite a few problems can be solved with a filter and/or patience.

[Everclear]

Mr. Heater tech service will instruct you to take a q-tip and rubbing alcohol and scrub out the tube where the pilot light is. You will need to get all the way in... approx. 2" this will clean out any build up or obstructions that may be inhibiting gas flow. If you are using a gas line without it's own regulator you will need to use the filter mentioned earlier or you will suffer contamination of your heater's gas lines. Tech service will also instruct you to always turn the gas off at the tank and let the gas in the hose be used up before turning off the heater.

[cRaPpiEMaN8265]

everytime i go out i bring one of those long bic lighters out and just turn the knob to the pilot light and hold it down there if it doesnt start just put a flame from the lighter there and she should light up... this is the only thing i have found wrong with it so far aside from it being so sensitive that it goes out very often if you just bump it.. Hope this helps

Ryan

[OldBear]

Good post. I'll try and remember this when mine starts to act up. Thanks.

[peerchking]

the biggest problem I have is if I leave it in the portable it tends to collect moisture and freeze up. So now I just take it out everytime and works fine. I did have the thurmocupler go bad. I hopeI spelled that right?

[fdr01]

hey thanks for the tip i did this and it does work like a champ

[rmrakt]

what tip worked?

[wally2]

When I had this problem a friend told me to vacuum out the tube where the pilot comes out. It worked great.

[fdr01]

actually i used the q-tip with alcohol and i blew it out with compressed air at work.i dont know mabey i just need to keep it in the basement instead of the garage.but just in case my boss hooked me up with a old style heater its big,its black and has a little wand in front of a shield that moves up and down,its kinda cool but i like my buddy with the co shut off and the tip over shut off

[DzNuts]

ADVICE:

Clean them before you go out for the first time this year. I spend a 2 hours banging my big buddy on the ice trying get mine working. Finally get it running but not until just before we were all so cold we were about to head home.