heaters once again- be careful,..

[hollis]

2 years ago  I was using a Little Buddy Heater to heat my 12x20 workshed. It was cold and very.very  windy so I left it on connected to a 11 lb tank,as I planned to work out there later in the day,.The shed is very insulated and weather stripped  and  once it get warm it stays that way for quite a while. I guess I did a good job on the weather stripping as the Little Buddy Heater will go out if I leave it on for many hours. So even on this windy day which I thought would force air into micro cracks to supply it with enough air, would have kept it on/longer  but it still shut off which is nice to know that this safty feature  works,..HOWEVER  a friend came over to get a tool and we went out to the shed (thats when I discovered it had gone out) and I left the door open for a little while (again very windy so I thought plenly of air was vented) and then we went in,..in a moment the door blew shut behind us,..we walked to the end of the shed, I took the tool off the hook and handed it to my buddy and walked out,..I could tell the air still wasn't that good but we were there for I'm guessing less than a minute,..as we were leaving my friend said "Gee I'm a bit dizzy" ,..I felt it too,..we went inside  the house and it lasted for 15-20 minutes before it went away. So I'm guessing that despite having that big door open for a while on that windy day it created an air dam/pocket and didn't vent nearly as well as I thought,.. possibly from that same wind. And #2,.yes it shuts off when the air is gone but by then I think you might be in trouble if there isn't a vent for good air to get to you,. #3 Perhaps a percentage of that low o2 burning still has carbin monoxide in it,..I can't think that low O2/high carbon dioxide made us dizzy that quickly and lasted for a while. Thats one reason why I have been looking at vented shelter heaters (I have a post about same here)  BTW in my work shead I got one of those little propane heaters from Northern Tool co, that has a little 3" vent pipe that I now use to heat same shed. I like the clean air it leaves,.I have a little vent that I can open for combustion air,..seems to work well but I even have a gas detector in the shed just the same. For my ice shelter I'm going to try a Zodi heater,.I'm hoping that it'll work,..I like the fact it won't have all the moisture that unvented heaters produce also,.I'm not against the Little Buddy Heater and may bring it to take some chill off if I need it but I don't like running it for long periods ,.I just want to say don't run one zipped up in a very tight shelter,..maybe that drowsyness is not cause you  ate too much  and got up extra early,..

[missfishylicious]

never hurts to remind folks of that one   be safe everbody

[The Clam]

Hollis - That was the carbon monoxide that made you feel dizzy.  It is nasty stuff, you can't see it or smell it, but it'll take you out in no time if your not careful.  We've used a 2 burner coleman in the shanty for years with no problems.  Last year one of my buddies picked up this one burner heater/stove.  It was a windy day so we fired it up to warm up.  We always crack the zipper for fresh air when we fire up the stove.  Well let me tell ya, this thing put out heat like a space heater.  About 10 minutes later, we,re fishing and BSing and all at once we noticed our eyes started burning and we started getting real dizzy (more so that usual).  Needless to say that piece of crap will never see the ice again.  

[hollis]

I think the wind was a big part of the problem,...on that day the wind was roaring,..took your breath away (reminded me of the other day around here) the door is BIG and I had it open for more than 30 sec,...a long time if you had a door that size open on a house that small,... on a cold day the temp would drop a lot,. would have thought it took out any gas that might be in there.
In hindsite, I remember on a  less windy day on one of our apts,.I did my usual "test" to check for air leaks/weather stripping where I fill up the unit with theatrical smoke and then "pressurize" the unit with a fan /blower ,..in this way you can see any escaping air (at least the more significant ones) and plug them,.. usually when you are done,  you open a door /window the smoke clears in a little while but on this moderately windy day the smoke stayed for a long time,..I think if everything is just right you have a pressure that negates a small vent like you might have had in your shelter,..thats why I'm playing with this Zodi heater,..hopefully I can make it work.....

[longlake1]

I also used a Mister Buddy heater in my fish house and my sinuses were raw after a day of ice fishing.  I have bought a new vented 12,000 btu stove from Nu-way Stoves and it works great.  Check out their website at www.nuwaystove.com.  This is extactly what I was looking for.  Can't wait for thick ice.

[mngonefishing]

i mainly use my coleman lantern for light and heat. never had a problem. on a real cold day i will bring along a mr buddy. had to open the zipper some.

[hollis]

I (too) now have my NUWAY stove in my shed. I like it,.I did install a 3 inch damper to shut down when I leave,..also the 3 inch pipe has a bit excessive draft depending on how cold it is,..so I sometimes stop it down (a LITTLE) I would still have a CO detector in the unit,...note be careful in your shelter though,..the outside gets very hot!

[hollis]

I should say that for my ice shelter I have modified a ZODI heater,..I hope it'll work as expected,..seems to do it for now in the backyard but the contraption does take up a fair amt of room,..(a 20 gal trash can size) if thats not a problem to get onto the ice I think this will work fine.