Buddy Heaters?

shawn

shawn

running dog lackey of the oppressor class
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Mar 13, 2005
Location
Raleigh, NC
Anybody have one? I've been thinking for several years about getting one to use in our camper in the winter, but haven't ever pulled the trigger. The camper has a propane furnace, but the fan is loud, it uses a lot of propane, and the temperature swing between shutoff and restart is pretty wide.

It looks like they make them in at least three sizes -- a little one, a medium, and the Big Buddy. I'm looking at either the medium or the large. Anybody have any feedback on how long they'll actually run on a 1lb bottle in an enclosed space? I'm sure it's heavily dependent on outside temperature, but in some of the reviews I'm reading, people are talking about getting 4hrs on a single bottle. If I've got to get up in the middle of the night to replace a $3 propane bottle, that defeats the purpose.

Also, can anybody tell me for sure if they'll run on a regulated propane source? We've always got plenty of propane in the trailer. If I could tap into the existing low pressure vapor system without modifying the heater, that would be perfect.

Lastly, any thoughts on the fan on the Big Buddy? How loud is it? Does it do a decent job of circulating warm air? Is it worth an extra $50 vs the medium size Buddy Heater without a fan?
 
We have a big buddy... Love it! Very quite but it will suck down a little bottle in about 4 hours. I need to get the big tank adapter then I will be good to go
 
I have the big buddy heater and it will run you guys out of the trailer even on low.
The fan is nearly silent and will run a few nights on a set of batterys.
It will not run on low pressure but the hose kit is cheap and I have yet to empty a 20 lb tank on it so I'm sure it would go more than a weekend on a 20 lb.

BUCKEYE PERFORMANCE INC. 828-779-2242.
 
Pm Jason w. about it. We use his all the time in cold weather and with the big buddy on low it usually lasts all night in a big tent or a popup. That paired with a good bag makes it plenty comfortable in 30° weather. If you want more heat for longer they do make a kit for it that will let you run off a bigger tank.

sent from my jeep on some trail in the middle of nowhere
 
We have a couple of Big Buddy Heaters...one from Northern on sale, one off E-bay NIB..Love them...used them @ Veteran's ride in camper shell & KW Sleeper on low...If real cold..crank on high and then back down to low...I actually use the roof vent on sleeper as thermostat..have to purge out some heat on low...or turn off for a while...
Both have 20# tanks w/ adapter hoses also from Northern. They have spots for the small tanks on each side..keep one small spare tk in each heater for spare in case 20# tank runs out..use D batteries for fans...haven't replaced batts yet...bout 2 years now...part time wheelers tho..
:)
 
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Have you looked into a pelonis disk heater or even an fan-forced. We picked up a small one at wally world and used it this weekend at ure and it worked really good in our bedroom as the furnace doesn't really make it warm enough and we had to turn it down cuz it got so hot in the room but the heater was still cool to the touch. Just a thought as it was only like $14.
 
I looked up the owner's manuals. That helped.

The Big Buddy has a quick-connect that is capable of being connected to a low-pressure (11" WC) propane vapor system. The regular, medium buddy heater just has an adapter hose that screws directly into the cylinder port. So it only takes an unregulated line. No idea if you can modify/remove the regulator like you can with some propane grills.

I could always wire up a plug to run the buddy heater fan off the camper batteries. It takes 6V DC... just need a voltage regulator to step down from 12V.

Joe... no idea about the pelonis heaters. I'll look into that. Are they just electric space heaters, or....?
 
Shawn, yes it's just a small electric space heater. I insisted we get something to help warm up our room since the cargo area stays toasty. With dogs & toddlers, we tried this one since the unit itself stays cool - for the price & size, I was impressed!
 
For the Buddy heaters, they also have a 120v plug in/6vdc transformer made just for the Big Buddy heater fans...go over to Northern...take a look...heaters, hoses, in line gas filters, etc. ... plus all the other stuff there...my wife hates that place just like 4whl parts...I'm on the frequent buyer plan @ each store ..
 
Off subject... can't help with a Buddy Heater, or a noisy furnace, but your thermostat may have a little gadget inside it called an anticipator. It will allow you to adjust the cycle time of your furnace. I just discovered the thing on mine this past weekend. Adjusting it to narrow the cycle time made a huge difference for us. Didn't know if you knew about this or not. :)
 
I have found that the big buddy(two small tanks) will go all night on low, 4 hrs on high with two tanks. We picked up the hose for the grill tank, lot cheaper this way too and I can run it on high all night without getting up.
 
Just bought a Big Buddy. My Buddy heater took a dump after many years. This one has a 4000, 9000, and a 18000 BTU settings. IT's 22* here right now, and it has been running all night on the 9000 BTU setting. Temp in my living room is 72*, that is my living room, Kitchen open, and a small bedroom and bathroom door open. I am running it off of a big tank, not the 1 pounders. I used my Buddy heater in my RV, my pop up, my old RV, the Van and even the Jeep Truck I used to pull with. I have never got cold. I think it would be a great investment for your camper/hauler. It will shut off if low O2, and has a tip over shut off too, so if the dogs get frisky or the kids bump it, it will shut down. Bottom line, I love it. $119.00 +tax as Wal-Mart
 
If you use a 20lb grill tank, make sure you put a filter in line. The Buddy heaters dont like the oil in propane. Ask me how I know.
 
Anybody ever plumbed in a propane quick connect?

I think I'm going to add one under the kitchen sink in the trailer and feed the buddy heater off of that.
 
Ive installed quick connects for natural gas heaters at work ..they look just like an air hose fitting ..we order the fittings and pre crimped hoses from mcmaster carr they have them for natural gas or propane .They work well for what your wanting to do !
 
The buddy heater was a huge success.

I bought a Big Buddy and the extension hose for a 20# tank. Used it last Fri night at Uwharrie. Pulled in at about 1:30AM. Outside temp was in the low 30s, trailer inside temp was in the low 40s. Cranked the buddy heater on High and turned on the furnace. By the time I got the kids out of the truck and in bed, it was in the 60s. A minute or three later, I killed the furnace and turned the buddy heater to low. Did not run the fan. It kept the trailer in the low 70s all night, running on two 1# bottles. Not sure how much fuel is left in them. I figure it ran for about 6-7 hours non-stop.

The big buddy has a non-regulated quick connect on one side. That can be used to connect it with a special hose to a 20# tank (hose has a regulator at the tank), or you can remove the regulator (or buy a different hose) and plumb it to the 11" WC (1/2psi) system that's already in the trailer. Then it just runs off that indefinitely.

The regular buddy heater does not have a quick-connect. The extension hose for it goes from the plug where the 1# bottles attach to a 20# tank, and uses the internal regulator to reduce the pressure to 11" WC.

Oh, the extension hose smelled horribly when it came out of the box. Not sure if it had some kind of protectant on it or what. But I wiped it down several times and left it outside for a couple of days to air out. No problems now.
 
Oh, I also bought mine at Northern. The price in the store was $20 or $30 more than the web price. I showed the cashier the web price on my phone and she marked it down for me when I checked out. No big deal, but probably worth checking both prices before you buy.
 
We love ours! We bought it for camping, but is nice to have if power goes out as well.

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk
 
Was in Tractor supply last week, they had the Big Buddy heater on sale for $99.

glad it worked out for you Shawn
 
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