big buddy heater question

[iceman16]

i got the big buddy heater when it was on sale at FF. used it for the first time today on mille lacs and the wind was howlin to say the least. i had the 2 1 pound tanks on there and they ran out. i put two new ones in and fired it up. after about 2 minutes it shut off and we couldnt get it to fire up again. i was talkin to a buddy on the way home and he said he heard that after running them for a while they shut off is that true? if so its goin back in the box and gettin a different heater. thanks for any info.

iceman

[The_Duckslayer]

From what I am swwing on this site a lot of folks swear by them and a lot of folks swear they will neveh have another one of them. I got one last year that the igniter did not work on. It seemed kind of tempermental trying to get it going with the butane lighter. I took it back and got a different one at it has not failed me yet. Other than that don't know what to tell ya. I got my son one for his birthday and I sure hope that it works as well as the second one that I got. Have a good one. Take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

[GatorBait]

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i was talkin to a buddy on the way home and he said he heard that after running them for a while they shut off is that true?

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That tells me that it's turning off because it has a low oxygen shut off system and that your area of heating needs more ventilation. So that would be one main reason as to why it's shutting down. Not sure how much ventilation you may need, but you may want to experiment with this. I have one under the tree that I got on sale at FF too, so I hope this doesn't cause major probs in my Voyager or Perm. But, I'm totally sick of the sunflower's, just a pain imo.

[iceman16]

it was running on almost 4 hours and never turned off. and it was off for like 5 minutes while we were finding the extra tanks. i was bummed it shut off at like 3:30 right when the fish started biting and i was markin alot on the lx 5. i had the sun flower as well and couldnt turn a deal like that away.

iceman

[DzNuts]

Iceman, would the pilot light come on when you held it down but wouldn't stay lite when you let off of the button? Have you been able to turn it back on since?

[Scott K]

I got one of these heaters and used it for the first time yesterday, it heated the house up pretty decent, but the wind would keep blowing the pilot light out. If its windy I will bring the sunflower heater next time, but if its not windy, I will be bringing the buddy heater.

[slipperybob]

When using disposable 1# tanks sometimes you have to unthread them and then shake'm some and twist them back on. (Don't know if shaking some is bad or good for it.) Not sure if it's possible that some fuel debris may clog up the valve and causing pressure to not come through the unit. Use to use lanterns and portable stoves that this happened to during camping. Since then I'm sticking to Coleman #1 disposables...seem to have less problems with them and longer fuel burn time.

[Scott K]

I have ran into that with cheaper off name 1lb cans, I stopped buying them, I only use the coleman 1lb cans, I havent ever had problems with them.

[terryt]

I have used one for three years now and never had a problem, but i use a 20 pound tank. these heaters also have a tip over switch in them so if you were trying to lite it while it was tilted it will not stay running.

[iceman16]

when i would go to start it up again the pilot light wouldnt even go back on alittle flame would burn out for like a second every 5 trys. i havent uced it sence.

iceman

[redrocketangler]

iceman, i've used one for 3 years and its got its quirks like everything. it always seems to work much better if you keep your one pound tanks warm, my guess is they were cold from sitting in the sled or outside. I just set mine in front of the heater when its getting low. you can tell its gettin low by the sound, its one of those things youll pick up after watchin it all day. I also agree that coleman tanks do seem just a little better.

[Michael8129]

Doesn't it seem maddening that you have to keep stuff warm that was intended to keep YOU warm? Regulators in Propane equipmnet of any kind are notorious for there finicky operation... Look at the wall of propane parts at the store at all the replacement regulators...They work then they don't then they work again. MY big buddy seems to work fine on both bottles and 20 lb tank .. althouhg very finicky on a new 20 lb tank till it is going for awhile ...seemds to shut off for no good reason then finally it stays on till I want to shut it off. It all seems strange because I have never heard of a regulator for your natural gas going bad and that stays outside on the side of my house all friggin winter IN THE COLD

Michael

[fishrman]

Where were you storing your extra tanks? I found that if I put my spare tanks on the bottom of my house or anywhere they get really cold...when i go to use them the gas doesn't expand fast enough to keep the heater going for too long. Try keeping the tanks off the ground. It helped me.

[Eastwind]

iceman16,

My Big Buddy would always shut down on me in cold (really cold) weather, especially if I ran it on high. Imagine, wanting to run it on high during extremely cold weather, eh? My friend, a geek who figures stuff like this out all the time, explained that my tanks were freezing due to a combination of the rate that I was pulling gas out of them and the air temp. He reccomended that I keep the doors that close over each tank open and allow the warmer, heated air in the portable a better chance to warm the tanks. It definitely works better this way. Also, if you get the heater away from the canvas wall of the tent and keep the wind from blowing on it, the tanks are less likely to freeze up. If you see the tanks freezing up and you have it on high, just turn it down to medium for ten mimutes or so and this will also help. Of course, buying the adapter hose and using a 5#, 10# or 20# propane tank will also solve the problem. I would have hoped that Buddy Heaters would have addressed this problem in the three years since I bought my unit. This can't be good for their future repeat business.

[iceman16]

i had the extra tanks in the tub of my fish house. when i took the old tanks off there was frost and snow all around them and then i put the new tanks on they must have been cold. i will test them out this weekend and see if thats the trick and leave the doors open and the extra tanks in a warmer location. thanks for all your help thats why i love this site.

iceman

[slipperybob]

That's one thing that I notice about the Coleman 1# tanks is that I have far less frost build up on them. The frost will show up on the tanks just due to liquid vaporizing into a gas. The process draws some heat and the tank iself get cooler. It's kind of like sweating, it cools the body surface down, but that's a different kind of process.

[Dahitman44]

I have heard of tons of problems like this. My little buddy can't keep up in the cold so I bought a bigger one a couple of years ago and I like many other people had to return it.

Now I bought another Big Buddy but have not tried it yet, since I have been in my Perm. House. We are talking about trying it soon -- we will see -- hope it works better than what you guys are seeing.

[Weed Shark]

What is happening when the pilot flame goes out when you let off the button to turn it up to high?

[Where's Walter?]

Hopefully you bought your heater new. There was a recall about 3 years ago. I suggest you get a hose and use a 10-20# tanks. Save the 1# tanks for the lantern.

[Scott K]

Also if you convert to the 20 lb cyl use a filter, the 20 lb cyl arent always as clean, this will prevent future problems!

[Weed Shark]

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Hopefully you bought your heater new. There was a recall about 3 years ago. I suggest you get a hose and use a 10-20# tanks. Save the 1# tanks for the lantern.

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Thanks for the help everyone, I'm noting your suggestions. Funny, I bought it as an alternative to my bigger tanks. I just contacted the company. There's never been a recall for my Portable Buddy Heater (MH9B). They mention a recall for a Big Buddy Heater (MH18B).

[Fishing_Rookie_123_]

I bought a reconditioned Big Buddy for very cheap from the Bargain Cave and the thing would shut itself off every time I put it on high. I called customer service and they told me that they had changed the regulators at some point and then quickly realized that this was a mistake and went back to the old regulators the next year. By checking the serial # of your heater, they can tell if it is one of the models with the messed up regulators. They are sending me a brand new heater upon reciept of the serial # sticker from the broken heater.

Try calling the customer service # on the back of the heater. I had very good luck doing this.

[Fishing_Rookie_123_]

Just found this too:

Question:

Has there been a recall on the Big Buddy heaters?

Answer:

In 2004 Mr. Heater issued a recall on certain Big Buddy and Tough Buddy heaters. Following are some facts about the recall and guidelines for determining whether the recall affects your heater.

This recall was initiated because the valve on the propane heaters can leak, posing a fire hazard if an ignition source is present.

The affected Big Buddy heaters (Model MH18B) were sold between September and December 2004 at a number of sporting goods and hardware stores throughout the United States.

The affected Tough Buddy heaters (also Model MH18B) were sold between September and December 2004 at Lowe’s home center stores.

This recall does not apply to Mr. Heater Portable Buddy MH9B or any other Mr. Heater product.

Only heaters in a certain serial number range are impacted by this recall.

Your heater IS AFFECTED only if both of the following two statements are true:

The only serial number is between MHC 000001 and MHC 294431

The serial number does not have a yellow overlay (highlighting) over the serial number and the letter "R" following the serial number

Your heater IS NOT EFFECTED if any of the following is true:

Its serial number is MHC 294432 or higher

Its serial number is MHC 748000000001 and higher.

Its serial number is MHC 748100000001 and higher

If you believe that your heater is affected by this recall call the Mr. Heater Customer Care Team. Affected heaters will be replaced at no cost to you.

If you need help in determining whether your heater is affected, call the Mr. Heater Customer Care Team.

My heater is in the IS NOT AFFECTED (by the recall) category, but they are still replacing my heater with a new one.

[DzNuts]

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What is happening when the pilot flame goes out when you let off the button to turn it up to high?

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Tighten your thermocoupler where it connects to the red knob (it's on the inside that you have to tighten)

[slipperybob]

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What is happening when the pilot flame goes out when you let off the button to turn it up to high?

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That's happened to me on occassions and I let the pilot light on for 30 secs to 1 minute. Then turn knob to light up the plates.