theboondork's RV blog

Mr. heater buddy heater

10/17/2022

There's a lot to be thankful for when you click the pics.

Sun setting near Montevista Colorado.

Today was a chilly, cloudy kind of day, the kind of day that makes it hard for solar panels to do their job. But I haven't found a way to change the weather, even though some people feel they can. Being a boondocker that lives on sunshine, I have found life easier to deal with when I make my life fit the weather and not the other way around.

So when there's a substantial lack of sunshine for several days, I have to do things that don't require much electricity. And for me, one of my biggest electric draws is my 17-inch Asus laptop. So if I were anticipating several days of cloudy weather, which at this time I'm not, I would put my 17-inch laptop away and get out my 13-inch Asus laptop.

My 17-inch laptop has plenty of computing power to work on images and render video quickly and easily. But it uses tremendous amounts of energy, up to 16 amps, while rendering video or sharpening images. Moreover, its battery lasts only half an hour because it's getting old.

My 13-inch laptop is the exact opposite. It's pretty slow working on images; rendering a video takes forever. But it will do most jobs using two amps an hour, and its battery lasts about five hours. So it's my go-to computer when facing a few days of clouds, and I'll work on pictures when the sun comes out.

My other big electric user in the Lance is the factory furnace. When the Arctic Fox was almost new, I put in a propane radiant heater which used no electricity and sipped propane. I considered it one of the primary reasons I could boondock comfortably for long periods. But even though I haven't tried it, I think the Arctic fox's radiant heater is too big, physically and BTU-wise, for a camper the size of the Lance.

So I dug out my tent heater, the Mr Heater Buddy radiant propane heater, which uses no electricity. I'm now experimenting with keeping warm utilizing a combination of the Mr Heater Buddy radiant heater and the factory furnace to see how they both work.

The only reason I'm even considering using the factory furnace in the Lance is that it has the quietest factory furnace I've ever heard; it's a whisper and not annoying at all. But, of course, only time will tell if it guzzles propane or not.

The Mr. Heater Buddy heater, so far, seems to work great. Of course, being a radiant heater, it uses no electricity, so it makes no sound; the only question is how much propane will it use to keep me comfortable? Right now, I'm using it with the screw on 16-ounce bottles of propane I had left over from my tenting days. But I already have the accessories I need to hook it up to a normal barbecue style 5-gallon propane tank. I reckon, spending this winter using both of these heaters will tell me a lot about what kind of heating I need in the future.

Theboondork

The cranes landings can be ugly, especially after the graceful job of soaring that they did to get here, but it always seems to work without them breaking anything....But graceful it is not !

Sunset at San Luis Lake wildlife area

10 Comments

JUDITH

10/17/2022 08:17:04 pm

I will be interested in your research on the Mr Buddy, having bought one for emergencies only in the winter. I will be using only canisters. I'm real vague on what you can have in an enclosed space and what you can't. On the other hand, having grown up with open gas fired space heaters when I was young and I don't remember anyone dying but we stayed warm, I'm pretty casual about doing myself in that way....just mostly concerned about blowing my neighborhood up. I am fine with my outdoor propane grill. I guess they just spooked me finally with the all the warnings.

Tom

10/17/2022 08:59:03 pm

Even though I haven't used the Mr. Buddy heater very much, I've used another kind of propane residential heater in the Arctic Fox even before I became a full-timer. So I've had eight or nine years of using a propane radiant heater that uses exactly the same principle of heating that the Mr. Buddy heater does, and I've used it at 10,000 feet, and I've used it at sea level with no problems at all.

Since the Mr. Buddy heater has an oxygen sensor in it, which will turn it off if the oxygen gets low the only other problem is carbon monoxide, carbon monoxide is why you're supposed to crack open a window a little bit to let in fresh air. But I think there are very few RVs that are air-tight so its not something I've ever worried about. Plus, I believe all RVs come with a carbon monoxide detector, and you probably have one in your house which will warn you if carbon monoxide starts to build up.

Here's a video you can watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vqyfOq0D-8
it shows a guy running his Buddy heater in his RV testing if there's any carbon monoxide buildup.

One thing that I've always said, and I've been doing this with every RV I've ever owned, I never sleep with a propane heater going in an RV. I will use a little electric space heater while I sleep when I'm plugged in, which isn't very often, but never a propane heater. Blankets keep me warm at night, and I turn on the heater when I wake up in the morning.

And remember, everything nowadays comes with lots and lots of warnings. There are warnings on candy bars, and there are warnings on that stove you cook with every day; most warnings, on most things, are there to keep the lawyers and the insurance companies happy. I try not to let warnings ruin my life.

Tom

OFM

10/17/2022 09:21:59 pm

During my testing for an LPG heater the only thing I found to concern me was the clearance to clear the front of the heater in my very small trailer.

That four square inches of open air hole needed turned out to be leaving my dining room table window cracked 1/16 of an inch is all. I think they are a good way to go in general myself.

I sure am missing getting rolling soon.

10/17/2022 09:46:49 pm

I think the average RV door, even when properly closed, leaks more than enough air to satisfy a radiant heater. As you found out, cracking a window, doesn't take much.

I was considering taking the radiant heater out of the Arctic Fox and putting it in the Lance since I love that heater so much, but after using the Buddy radiant heater on its lowest setting, I could see that the one in the Arctic Fox would be over-kill, with way too many BTUs even on its lowest setting.

You should be able to get on the road fairly quickly after your operations, but since you're going to be in the area, this would be a good opportunity to spend Christmas with the grandkids.

Tom

10/17/2022 09:56:54 pm

My rent runs out on Jan,7 and that gives me time to get new glasses for my modified eyes and verify them for accuracy. So I imagine I will just ride the rent until then and hit the road RUNNING.

10/18/2022 07:53:34 am

That sounds like a plan. I assume by then you will have a serious case of itchy feet, hitch itch, and all the other itches folks get when they've stayed in one place too long. I get those itches when the Denver weather starts getting cold.... Of course that could be athlete's foot, but whatever it is it goes away when I set my GPS to SOUTH.

Tom..... It's 37° in Denver this morning and I'm starting to itch all over, and that's not toooo much fun.

Larry Worsham

10/18/2022 06:19:22 am

In my past life I have pulled a few bodies out of RV's of folks that have died of Carbon Monoxide poisonings from using radiant heaters or gas stove tops to heat.. I have one in my trailer and do not sleep with it running. When boondocking I set the furnace to come on at a reasonable temp and lite the radiant when I get up, start coffee, and get back in bed till it warms up. I have detectors and crack windows but remembering those incidents keep me from running the radiant all night.

10/18/2022 08:18:29 am

I agree Larry, you've definitely made the right decision. I've never slept with any propane heater going and have no intention of ever doing so. I just don't trust things like that when I'm sleeping.

But when it comes to radiant heaters in general, when I was stationed in Japan, even though I never saw one in this country, it seems like everyone in Japan had portable radiant heaters in their house, that they would move from room to room as needed. So I figured with that many people using them they must've achieved some record of safety.

Of course I have a carbon monoxide detector, I assume all RVs come with them. I also never leave any kind of propane heating device running when I'm away from the RV. That plan wouldn't work in Colorado because my water pipes would freeze before I got back from the grocery store, but I'm able to make that work because I stay away from places that get too cold in the winter.

Tom

10/18/2022 09:10:57 pm

Thanks to everyone for their answers. I live in an old leaky house....ask me about the heating bills. But at least I live in a warm place, mostly. Well, year before last rocked me with several days of hovering near zero. An anomaly, but they do happen. So the Mr Buddy is for emergency use. And probably not at night, when I'll be hunkered down in my 50 year old down sleeping bag which was once rated to -20. Maybe not so good now, but boy was it a doozy camping outside in the winter - instant warmth. I did drag it out during that bad cold spell. I think I'll live with the Mr Buddy. I'll just have to do the canister thing ahead of time, and not when I'm freaked out. Hooking things up is always fraught for me. So thanks again to everyone!

10/18/2022 09:37:43 pm

A lot of us live in old leaky RVs, most RVs are not airtight under even the best of conditions so keeping one warm when it gets really cold, I'm talking Colorado cold, is difficult and expensive.

Yeah I remember that cold snap Judith, I was in Arizona and it didn't get all that bad there, but yes you need to be prepared for anything. Down sleeping bags are the warmest, but they start to lose their insulating ability when they get damp from moisture or from sweat. I use a thick down comforter myself and I attribute that comforter to my ability to stay warm in the camper on the coldest of nights, without using any heat.

If you're not going to use the Mr Heater Buddy radiant heater for long periods of time, it might be best if you do stick with the 16 ounce bottles, that's the most expensive way to do it, but it's also the easiest with less things that could go wrong. So far with my limited use of the 16 ounce bottles, I seem to be getting about six or seven hours of use from one bottle with the heater set on its lowest setting, which is all I need in the Lance.

Maybe you should set the Mr Heater outside, screw in a 16-ounce bottle, and light it up just to see how it works. After you see it working, you'll probably feel a lot better about it. When you first screw in a new 16-ounce bottle, it takes a lot of clicking the sparker to light the pilot light, if you've ever lit a hot water tank pilot light at your house, you'll know what I'm talking about. You might have to click the sparker for a minute or more to get it to light the pilot light. But if you leave the propane bottle screwed into the heater, the next time you go to light it, it lights much, much quicker.

Tom

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Mr. heater buddy heater

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