Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

[fishrdan]

Hey Guys, I'm breaking down and buying a heater to keep my family warm while camping. The night time temps go into the low 30's and I need to figure out which Mr Heater to buy, Buddy or Big Buddy. Our tent is a 10-20' and the regular Buddy says it will work up to 200sqft, but I would hate to buy the smaller one and have it perform poorly.

From your experiences, how much area will a "Buddy" heat up and what were the temps when you were running the heater? I'm only looking for the heater to maintain 50-60* in the tent.

Thanks!

 

[rbh]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

Whats a buddy/big buddy??
Last time we needed heat in a tent we used a Kerosun/kerosene heater.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

The little one won't do much, and for the most part the big one won't be great either. The problem you run into with propane in a tent, or any semi enclosed space, is that it gives off a great deal of water vapor as it burns. What you end up with is condenstion on the inside of the tent, sometimes it can almost be like it's raining with the water dripping.

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

I own a big buddy heater. Does OK, probably will heat up your tent fairly well.

There are short comings to this unit though;
The built in fan is a joke. Better to just avoid putting in the D batteries (don't need to use the fan to use the unit) to save some weight if you are hiking into camp.
That being said the other problem is the heater just won't run long on the two one pound tanks that make it portable. They run out of gas quick, and even worse can ice up choking your vaporization rate. If you are still considering this, it would be best if you got a 6+ foot adapter hose, and run it off a 20lb grill bottle for uninterrupted service.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

Whats a buddy/big buddy??

The little one won't do much, and for the most part the big one won't be great either. The problem you run into with propane in a tent, or any semi enclosed space, is that it gives off a great deal of water vapor as it burns. What you end up with is condenstion on the inside of the tent, sometimes it can almost be like it's raining with the water dripping.

It's pretty dry in the desert here, so hopefully condensation isn't going to be an issue. I know what you are saying though, I've been in tents (without a heater) and bumping the tent in the morning sends down a rain shower...

I own a big buddy heater. Does OK, probably will heat up your tent fairly well.

There are short comings to this unit though;
The built in fan is a joke. Better to just avoid putting in the D batteries (don't need to use the fan to use the unit) to save some weight if you are hiking into camp.
That being said the other problem is the heater just won't run long on the two one pound tanks that make it portable. They run out of gas quick, and even worse can ice up choking your vaporization rate. If you are still considering this, it would be best if you got a 6+ foot adapter hose, and run it off a 20lb grill bottle for uninterrupted service.

I was wondering how good that "D cell" fan would be, not so great eh? I read somewhere that the Big Buddy will run from 6-12 hours, which I thought was fine. But, I just looked up the owners manual and it says 3-12 hours, I'm not sure if that's going to cut it. The 20# tank is an option since I have a spare, but it would be PITA hauling around that big tank around.....

 

[wlg]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

I have a buddy and I think it does a great job. I use it in the basement or garage. I have the 6' hose and 20 lb. bottle. The throw away bottles just don't cut it. I have seen smaller bottles like 5 / 10 lb, but don't know where to get them.

 

[superbenk]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

We got the regular Buddy for our 10x10 tent last year and it worked really well for us. Temps were down into the mid 40s and it took the edge off. Sleeping bags did the rest. We ran it off the 1lb tank and got 4ish hrs out of it. Got a popup at the end of the season so now it helps me heat the garage & workshop in the winter while I'm working.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

It's pretty dry in the desert here, so hopefully condensation isn't going to be an issue. I know what you are saying though, I've been in tents (without a heater) and bumping the tent in the morning sends down a rain shower...

You're right, where you are at it may not be as much of an issue. I camp year round in all types of weather and when its cold (freezing or colder) I bring the wood stove, but we frequently have very wet and humid conditions.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

You're right, where you are at it may not be as much of an issue. I camp year round in all types of weather and when its cold (freezing or colder) I bring the wood stove, but we frequently have very wet and humid conditions.

Wood Stove!!! Now, that would throw out some serious heat. What type of tent are you using, canvas hunting tent?

I saw a guy using a Zodi tent heater for their canvas hunting tent and they said they were toasty warm all night. It's a pretty nice concept as it recirculates the warm air in the tent, so you are not trying to constantly warm cold air. I wished I could find one of those, but they are out of production right now, can't buy one.

We just have a family tent, not really made for cold conditions. It's more of a 3 season tent with a lot of ventilation through the roof/fly, roof is almost all mesh with a fly covering it. I try to clamp down the fly tight to limit the amount of warm air that escapes, but there's only so much that can be done.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

I use one of these

http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/ense...utfitter+Tents,+Stoves+Accessories|USA&rid=20

 

[mscher]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

We have the smaller buddy heater. It heated our 4 man tent great in 27 degree fall weather. I don't know how warm it got, but I would have to call it "toasty".

I'd suggest the larger one for the tent size you using. Get the conversion hose for the 20# tank, or you eat one of the small cylinders in a night, easily.

 

[captmello]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

Sounds like a good way to die of carbonmonoxide poisoning. How do you guys vent the tent and keep the warmth in?

 

[superbenk]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

Sounds like a good way to die of carbonmonoxide poisoning. How do you guys vent the tent and keep the warmth in?

They are indoor safe. They have oxygen sensors that will shut them off if the oxygen level gets too low.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

Nice tent ondarvr!

mscher, How big was that 4 man tent (10x10?) and do you know how much propane the Buddy heater used each night?

I'm really wary of carbon monoxide poisoning, I'd rather freeze than get poisoned. Even though the "Buddy's" have a low oxygen sensor, I was thinking of getting a home C02 detector, just to be safe. The one I was looking at was something like $30 and would show the percentage of CO present, not just going off when the "you're going to die"... CO is the main reason I wanted to get a Zodi, it doesn't introduce any CO into the tent.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

Nice tent ondarvr!

mscher, How big was that 4 man tent (10x10?) and do you know how much propane the Buddy heater used each night?

I'm really wary of carbon monoxide poisoning, I'd rather freeze than get poisoned. Even though the "Buddy's" have a low oxygen sensor, I was thinking of getting a home C02 detector, just to be safe.

A CO (carbon monoxide) detector would work a little better than a CO2 (carbon dioxide) detector.

 

[halfmoa]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

That zodi heater looks neat. Too bad they're no longer available. I was thinking of building something like that for my wood burning stove I made for my M 1950 tent. Great idea and inspiration!

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

That zodi heater looks neat. Too bad they're no longer available. I was thinking of building something like that...

A couple days ago I saw a used Zodi's go for $200 + shipping on Ebay

I looked into making a "Zodi like" heater using a huge aluminum heatsink, an inexpensive Coleman propane single burner stove, a bilge fan, couple hoses, etc. etc.. The propane stove would heat the heatsink and the fan would pull the warm air out. I bet it would have worked fine, but it wasn't worth the time and money. I wasn't sure if the 10K BTU output of the stove would handle the tent's size, even though it would be recirculating the tent's air. There was bound to be some efficiency loss using the heatsink, so I ditched the idea.

I found that Northern Tool has the Big Buddy heaters on sale for $99.99 (smoking price), but ordered it from BPS since I have a couple gift cards,,, had them price match Northern Tool.

 

[mscher]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

mscher, How big was that 4 man tent (10x10?) and do you know how much propane the Buddy heater used each night?

I'm really wary of carbon monoxide poisoning, I'd rather freeze than get poisoned. Even though the "Buddy's" have a low oxygen sensor, I was thinking of getting a home C02 detector, just to be safe. The one I was looking at was something like $30 and would show the percentage of CO present, not just going off when the "you're going to die"... CO is the main reason I wanted to get a Zodi, it doesn't introduce any CO into the tent.

I think it's about 10'x10'. A 1# propane canister would last about 6 hours on high. When it runs out a tent gets cold - quick, so unless one wants to get out of a cozy sleep and be futzing around replacing canisters, a hose to a 20# tank, would be more better.

I have never owned a tent, that I would consider "airtight" and the Buddy heaters are rated for use in occupied areas (they will require"x" small amount of ventilation), but using a carbon monoxide detector, if one is concerned, is do-able.

If there were problems with carbon monixide poisoning, with these heaters, they would not be selling them as such, assuming they like to stay in business.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

Thanks for the info mscher, that gives me something to compare. I have at least double the tent volume, but lower temps, so I'm hoping 2- 1# bottles make it through the night. Guess I'll find out........

 

[mscher]

Re: Mr Heater, Buddy or Big Buddy

Thanks for the info mscher, that gives me something to compare. I have at least double the tent volume, but lower temps, so I'm hoping 2- 1# bottles make it through the night. Guess I'll find out........

If you have a gas BBQ grille, you can use the tank, with an adapter hose, that runs $10-15.