Anybody Here Use a Mr Heater Portable Buddy?

[Buck62]

This looks like a decent alternative to electrical heaters or a replacement for an old propane furnace/heater in some older model trailers.

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-MH9B-Porta...e/dp/B00005LEXI

[Al V]

yes i have used one in an emergency with lill-trill in sub freezeing weather. burning the heater inside the produceds tons of condensation on walls it was bad . with vent and window cracked open. bruning propane produces a lot of water vapor so if you use it other rthen taking off a chill they are not really worth it

[bonnie w]

Just reading the Mr. Heater site, and unfortunately in Canada they are only allowed for outside useage. bah humbug Ok, ok like one could say who's to know? Who says we have to comply, I don't see Heater Cops out there. On the other hand maybe there is a legit. reason that Canada has ie: unsafe

[dsheets70]

Yea these work great. I have one I purchased at campingworld. Theyre terriffic. I also bought the propane cylendar hose so I can hook the front cyllendar up to the heater and use it outside as well. The directions state that they will not work well at high altitudes though. I have not had mine above 5000 ft. But the directions say that they will not work above 6500 feet due to the oxygen depravation switch. Which si built into these to prevent them from burning all of the oxygen in the environment.

[Robert Williams]

Yea these work great. I have one I purchased at campingworld. Theyre terriffic. I also bought the propane cylendar hose so I can hook the front cyllendar up to the heater and use it outside as well. The directions state that they will not work well at high altitudes though. I have not had mine above 5000 ft. But the directions say that they will not work above 6500 feet due to the oxygen depravation switch. Which si built into these to prevent them from burning all of the oxygen in the environment.

I own two of the smaller one, the big model uses two small propane bottles, for what I believe is two burners. I have not used one in my 16 Scamp, but when camping during cooler weather, I take one along, in case my electric heat quits or there was a power outage. As I type this, the two heaters and extra bottles are stored inside my home, in the event of an ice storm, as our friends in the mid west and west have been experiencing. I also have a fireplace at home, but I got the heaters for the rest of the house during a power outage.

They do work well, have electric start. The little bottles last about 6 hours, depending on the heating levels.

[Donna D.]

Here's a couple of prior discussions about the Buddy heater and others:
heating a 13' trailer with?
Colman portable Cat heater, which one ?
Mr. Heater Buddys on sale!, half price!
Wave 3 Heater install, with bonus Storage!
Heating my Trailer! (Minit)
help! furnace won't ignite w/ battery=3 a.m. blues
Is it common?

That should keep you busy for a while Buck

[Tom Trostel]

We carry one on board as a backup heat source, but we've never had to use it in the trailer. However, several times its come in handy when the campground shower room was too cold. Seems like the state park system likes to save money by setting the hidden thermostat at 50 degrees.

Tom Trostel

[Kurt in BC]

but burning propane creates C02 (carbon dioxide) is there not a fear that these running inside the trailer will cause oxygen levels to drop to some dangerous levels?....affixia comes to mind

[drews60]

but burning propane creates C02 (carbon dioxide) is there not a fear that these running inside the trailer will cause oxygen levels to drop to some dangerous levels?....affixia comes to mind

I have one and have used it in my pop up and my U Haul. Must provide ventilation by cracking open a vent, window, etc.

Mr Heater has an oxygen detector that shuts the unit off, if necessary. See info directly from Mr Heater:

http://www.mrheater.com/productdetails_ext...id=41&id=24

[Patty S.]

I have a Dynaglo heater, as I took the old furnace out, but I have not used it yet.

[JOE DRISSEL]

I used mine this past weekend for 6hrs on 1 bottle of gas. More than enough heat for 13' Scamp. I have a combo c/o-smoke detector and it has never gone off. I will not sleep wth it burning, but while iam awake i like it hot.

[Chris B]

We just purchased one at Camping World a couple of weeks ago on sale. Glad we had it because the desert was cold . We borrowed one from a friend last year and found that it was more than sufficient. We also purchased the hose so that we can hook up to a refillable exterior propane tank and not use the throw-away propane containers. Since we already had a small tank for our barbecue, we use it and set it outside of the bathroom window and run the propane hose through the it. The heater sits on the floor of the bathroom. We keep the window and the fantastic fan hatch cracked open and are plenty warm. We boondock alot and like the fact that there's no drain on the battery.
Chris

[David & Leslie]

Greetings from So. Texas where we travelled in search of sunshine ... been raining now for 4 days . Happily, we are in a State Park where sites have power so our little cube heater is working o'time.

When we don't have power, we use a wonderful little Coleman catalytic heater which runs on one propane cylinder (seems to last a long time, too) and adds virtually no weight or space when packed away. As cautioned by others here, we do NOT run it when asleep; also must keep the hatch & a window cracked to help keep down the condensation. In the final analysis, it is a great way to easily keep the chill away, and we've been really happy to have it on some of those colder desert nights. Take care all - L 'n D

[BobB]

We have a Mr Heater Portable Buddy Model#MH9B. I use it to heat my garage (workshop).
So far, I have only used it with one# propane cylinders, although I do have a 12' hose for connecting to a 4 gal DOT tank. I think it's rated about 6500 btu.

If you are going to use this heater in a travel trailer, you should do so cautiously. Instructions say to make sure you have 9 square inches of ventilation, a little more than cracking a window. Clearance in front of the heater should be 24". Use only Hi and Lo settings, nothing in between.

Without identifying the persons involved, this is the heater involved in a travel trailer fire a couple years ago. The heater went out during the night. A fire was started when the ignitor button was pushed because the heater had leaked propane into the surrounding air. The instructions say not to push the ignitor button if there is an odor of propane. You have to be very careful!

[Pete Dumbleton]

but burning propane creates C02 (carbon dioxide) is there not a fear that these running inside the trailer will cause oxygen levels to drop to some dangerous levels?....affixia comes to mind

Burning LP is very efficient and produces very little in the way of CO or CO2 in the unvented heaters designed for catalytic or ODS use -- However, they must have some ventilation; even the Coleman Black Cat (3KBtu) requires something like ten square inches of ventilation -- I usually crack my door and kitchen windows each a bit to provide some cross-ventilation when I use my 6KBtu Empire ODS heater; I also leave a roof vent partially open to exhaust the hottest, most vapor-laden air.

That's because burning LP DOES produce H2O as water vapor at the rate of one ounce of water per 1,000 Btu per hour, so the condensation must be dealt with over the long haul.

[cvesbach]

I bought the smaller model last week after learning about it on this forum. We just bought an 84 Uhaul and could not wait to take it out. We went to one of the most beautiful places in NM last weekend (the San Mateo Mtns) and a cold front came in, must have been in the teens. We were grateful for the Heater Buddy. We cracked a window and the vent and ran it until bedtime. We were toasty and the happiest campers around. I really like the design of this heater, it is really sturdy and stable and I like the safety features (low Oxygen and tip). We are seriously considering pulling out the Uhaul furnace (and storing)-we could use some extra storage space and don't expect that we will be hooked up to electricity much.

[BobB]

Sorry, I gave the wrong rating for Mr Heater Portable Buddy. The high setting is 9000 btu and the low is 4000, at least that's what is printed on the back. I used mine today in the garage with the 12' hose and 4 gal DOT tank. Very satisfactory!

[Kurt in BC]

u can sell the furnace to me!! I need one for my Boler!!

- Kurt