Little Buddy Heater

[flywatersmallie]

Anyone use one of these heaters? I picked one up today for like $40 during one of the deer hunting opener sales. Just running it in my basement (have to play with the new toys) it seems to throw a fair amount of heat out. It states 3800 BTU/hr on the box. I should think it will heat my Clam Kenai nicely without taking up a ton of room. Any thoughts?

[greenbackhunter]

I use mine to heat my yukon. Works great. Put it on a piece of carpet or up on a milk crate... will help keep the ice from melting, and condensation from forming .

[tight_lines]

I have one and use it in my Frabill Refuge. It heats up the shanty real well. I usually only have it on for 20 minutes as it gets too warm.

[wallydiven]

Works perfect in my Trekker II

[CMMahy]

I use a standard Buddy Heater on low (4000 btu) 90% of the time to heat my Fish Trap Pro, only on the extremely cold days do I have to turn it up higher than that. The Little Buddy should have no problems keeping you warm in the Kenai, as they're a similarly sized tent. Good Luck!

[Soozookie]

Flywater, I have a clam kenai, and run a lil buddy heater. This thing will flat make you sweat in there. I run on low pretty much all season except for those real windy bitter days. Never havent been able to keep me warm. I think you made a good purchase.

[flywatersmallie]

Thanks for the replies all!

Soozooki, thats exactly what I wanted to hear! I didn't think it was going to be an issue as the Kenai isn't a huge shelter but you just never know. Nice to see someone using the exact same setup as me.

I was thinking the regular buddy would have been overkill, turns out I was right. And with the size of this one, it won't take up too much space in already tighter quarters. With the flasher out in front of me too, I wanted to keep a heater's footprint as small as possible. I'd like to keep it so I can use the door without moving anything. I don't think that will be a problem after sitting in there last night with the flasher, heater and various other stuff. I think it will work out just fine!

[da man cave shack]

I use one to heat my 7X11 permy an can get it close to 90 in there so you should be good.

[icemanwoody]

It will work great i use mine in my eastman's 4 man pop up, and night fish for crappie all night long in a t - shirt, heat it up and shut it off tell it cools down or keep it on low bring an extra bottle if you do that though.
I have slept on a cot in there many times just turn it on low once it gets warm
   
woody

[Greg2ha]

I bought one last year because it is smaller than my buddy heater and I have a one man. The only issue I have
is getting the darn thing to light. I wait the 30 seconds and let off of the button slow and it still goes out. I'm
not sure if I need to adjust something or what.

[Gamalot]

Lets set the record straight here so we all know what heater we are discussing. Mr. Heater makes 3 portable heaters that run on the one pound cylinders.

The small or little one is also called the camp buddy and it has a single tank with an angled, round element. The Mr. Heater Buddy unit is a single cylinder square unit with a square element and high and low settings and the Big Buddy is a double tank unit.

Most of us with pop ups will do great with the Buddy single tank and rarely ever need the high setting. For a large shelter you might want the big buddy that pumps out more BTUs. I think the little buddy will do fine for heating a small one man trap but I would recommend the Buddy model 9 times out of 10. You can hook up the Buddy to have a grate on top and warm up a nice hot meal while you are fishing and getting warm. Search here for some threads on cooking with your Buddy heater. 3000 BTUs will probably get the job done but I would rather have one that can cook and can crank out 3,000 BTUs on low and 9000 BTUs on high for when the wind is whipping strong.

If yours keeps getting blown out from the wind then search the threads for a pilot light shield and make that simple mod. If it will not fire up then you probably need to blow some compressed air through it and quit using the 20 pound or refilled tanks that have junk in them. Mine has been good for 7 years and never skipped a beat until I refilled some 1 pound tanks or used a 20 pounder with the hose. The one pound, store bought cylinders are a pretty clean fuel. I can afford $2.99 for a day of trouble free heat on the ice. I can keep my Buddy running in a blizzard with the pilot light shield I made.

I'll bet better than 90% of us who use Mr. Heaters have the Buddy size and it is more than enough.

[wiskeyfish]

Hey flywatersmallie



   Just make sure if you run it on anything bigger than one pounder to use a filter or a hose with a regulator on it. Or else its going to muck up your heater.


Wiskey

[Lifeguard]

Actually Mr. Heater makes 3 heaters in the Buddy series.  The "Little Buddy", the "Portable Buddy", and the "Big Buddy".    The Little Buddy is 3,800 BTU, the Portable Buddy is 4000 or 9000 BTU, and the Big Buddy is 4000, 9000, or 18000 BTU.

http://www.mrheater.com/ProductFamily.aspx?catid=41

[flywatersmallie]

Hey flywatersmallie



   Just make sure if you run it on anything bigger than one pounder to use a filter or a hose with a regulator on it. Or else its going to muck up your heater.


Wiskey

Appreciate the feedback! I won't likely ever run it on anything but the 1lb cans. trying to keep weight and footprint to a minimum. Also, I work outside, I am used to the cold and wet (I run a year round window cleaning business). Was looking for something to take the edge off for the most part and make those -15 days fishable. I can't work in them as my solution freezes at about -3, if I am off, I might as well fish!

[Bigwally]

My buddy heater puts off a lot of heat, and I love it...that is when its work correctly.  I also have troubles with light mine, but olny at times.  Sometime I cant get the piolt to light, it just sparks and nothing else.  I have also had problems with it going out with no wind at all, and then not lighting at all after that, just sparking.  I have been told that lack of oxygen will cause them to go out, and that would explain why it wouldnt re-light.  I was told to open one of my top vents in my shack and see if that helps.  Ive had this happen and gotten home to fix it and it will light right up.  I just pulled mine out to start it up and make sure it was going to work for this winter and I bet I had to press the igniter button 25 times before the pilot light stayed lit.  But like I said when it works they are awesome.  I know of another guy have the same trouble as me and last year he tried doing several of the fixes that are on some of the other threads here. 

[campfindit2]

Bigwally if your heater wont light chances are there is some moisture were the spark jumps. I learned the hard way if you put the heater uncovered in a sled behind a showmobile its done for the day. As far as it going out and not relighting I believe there is a time delay when the units safety switches have been tripped. Also along with the O2 sensor there is a tip over sensor, I shut mine off more than once simply by kicking it going to check a tipup. The heater never actually tipped over but the bump was enough to shut it down. I would get back from my flag to find the heater out, I was thinking the door opening let a breeze in blowing out the pilot, what was happenning was in my effort not to burn the flip over door, I would sometimes bump the heater.

[Ryderr]

Hey flywatersmallie



   Just make sure if you run it on anything bigger than one pounder to use a filter or a hose with a regulator on it. Or else its going to muck up your heater.


Wiskey

I was at Walmart looking for a Mr Buddy and an associate came up to me and told me that. Where can you get the filters?

[Bigwally]

Yeah I know they have that tip over sensor, and have had mine go out from bumping it aslo.  But mine sometimes in dry weather like in the house without being outside for over a week sometimes still wont lite.  There has been sevral times it has went out after its been running for an hour or longer, without anyone touching it and its sometimes its a real pain to get it to start back up again.  Im not wanting to talk bad about them bacause I really like mine, just a few problems.

[JES_934]

I have a Little Buddy and wouldnt trade it for the world. Have tried other heaters and came back to the Little Buddy everytime. Keeps my 1-person clam t-shirt toasty!

[flyfisherman83]

use mine and lov it after frying the side of my hut when it tipped over i a made a redneck box to keep it safe from the sides of my hut

[the fishing gene]

I'm with you bigWally, I bought one a few years ago and it would go out for no reason and I'd have a hard time lighting it. I brought it back and they said they had quite a few come back for that. I got a new one and it seemed to work for that season but the next season I had the same trouble. It seemed to run good with a new bottle of propane but after the bottle was about half empty it would start to act up, so went online and bought a new regulator for it. Seemed to help for a bit but wound up with the same trouble. Last year I saw they said "Improved" on the box and I bought another one and this one works like a charm lights in 2 clicks and runs like a champ. I think there are some lemons out there and I had 2 in a row - third was a charm.

[MitchMeyers92]

what would you guys recommend to heat a clam tamarack 6x6 hub? I'm thinking either little buddy or portable buddy but not quite sure

[flyfisherman83]

little buddy would do the trick no problom im sure

[ice dawg]

I would use a portable buddy since the wind can make it hard to heat a 6x6 shelter around here.

[Bigwally]

My hub style shack is about 6X6 and my little buddy heats it just fine.

[Lobes]

I swear by the Little Buddy. Got one a couple seasons ago and I use it the most after about mid-January. They throw an amazing amount of heat.

                                                       
NBG

[Greg2ha]

Got my Little Buddy heater out tonight and put new tank on it and after messing with it for about an hour and a half only got it to
light off 3 times. The pilot lights everytime and when I let go of start button it goes out. I try to let it out easy and it still does it.
Any ideas?

[Gillfisher]

Got my Little Buddy heater out tonight and put new tank on it and after messing with it for about an hour and a half only got it to
light off 3 times. The pilot lights everytime and when I let go of start button it goes out. I try to let it out easy and it still does it.
Any ideas?

Make sure the pilot light is hitting the thermal couple. If it is you need a new thermal couple.

[Rebelss]

Also, blow out the ceramic element with an air compressor on lower pressure...they collect a lot of dust, and you can use some emery paper , (NOT  sandpaper) to clean the end of the thermocouple and flame sensor. That should get ya up and running. My two are on their 7th years, never had a problem yet. It all comes down to how ya take care of your stuff.

[Greg2ha]

Mine is like brand new I haven't even gone through a tank yet with it. I'll tear into it and check it out. Thanks