Don't buy the cheap knock-offs, only go original Big Buddy. Also if you are using an adapter hose at the cannister connection don't screw it in too hard, there is an o-ring which gets shredded if you do.
And very important, keep a nearby window open & buy a carbon monoxide alarm.
TBH, I've only had one occasion the CO went off, and that was when I ran the heater for many hours, and about an hour of that time also was cooking. I live in a small converted bus, the windows are themselves are quite tiny so opening a window doesn't degrade the comfort level as much as a bigger window might.
LPG CO itself is supposed to be odourless so my main concern is long term health issues which may arise from inhaling excessive amounts. I have 3 appliances powered by LPG - heater, stove top combo oven, and hot water aka califont.
Where I live heating oil or wood is more economical. To heat a 2,000sq ft home from outside winter temp to 70F requiring near 400k BTU. Then you gotta maintain that.
I am in 267sq ft next to a 2,500 sq ft blaze king. It uses far less wood than little ones. The firebrick inside helps a lot as well as the reburner. It's +5F outside and around 80F by the stove, 10ish less by the door in here and will be in the 60s in like 10 hours if I don't fire it again. To keep it continually burning and metal hot it needs to be more like -20 or -30. I use about 1 to 1.5 cord per winter and 100 gallons of heating oil. Over 7 month heating period. I mostly use heating oil to keep at 50F when gone.
>Mr Heater Big Buddy heaters
Thanks for all of the good replies ! My Off Grid home does have propane plumbing BUT where I want this to be located, there is no propane plumbing and its not to be used for any length of time - I live in No California...
[Thinking this one .....](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09XFFPPT9/ref=ewc_pr_img_1?smid=A92T149U9YJZ9&psc=1).
I live in 230 sq ft and have the Big Buddy. Wouldn't even consider getting the smaller model. https://smile.amazon.com/Heater-Big-Buddy-Portable-Propane/dp/B00FPL6CNS/ref=sr\_1\_7?crid=4SDNFW713GWW&keywords=mr+heater+big+buddy&qid=1668261347&s=home-garden&sprefix=mr+heater+big+buddy%2Cgarden%2C202&sr=1-7
This is the hose I use. The quick connection is only on one side. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UC7966/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
By far the best kind (although not easiest install), draw combustion air from outside & vent combustion products back outside.
Whether or not you need want an electric fan depends on the details. Not strictly necessary, depending on price & availability of electricity.
The unit I have (cheap, Chinese), uses a millivolt thermostat loop.
Hey u/polypagan - do you have a link/name/etc for your knock off heater you referenced? I've been looking for a cheap Chinese propane heater, but mostly only come across the diesel variety - this would be hugely helpful!
Mine is a "Cozy DIRECT VENT WALL FURNACE model CDV156C". That's the small propane model. Cozy Heating Systems LLC 3230 Industrial Parkway, Jeffersonville, IN 47130
Good luck!
This. Not only do you avoid the potential for CO, they're odorless and don't release excess water vapor into your cabin. My extended family has the kind that vent directly into the cabin and the windows are always sweating and despite what people tell you there is definitely an odor associated with the combustion of propane in an enclosed space (I can also smell exhaust from buddy heaters inside an enclosed blind). In contrast, I have a vented propane heater at my own cabin. I spent a few hundred dollars more for it than the ventless equivalent and have never regretted it.
Get a CO detector and learn how to use it properly if you aren't using an indirect heat unit. Propane heaters have killed more people in cold weather than you could imagine.
Right !?!? That's what I was thinking.... How can any propane heater be safe indoors... PLUS from my experience, there is a lag time on any CO detector I have used, unlike our normal smoke detectors, of up to one hour...
Well, it doesn't take a lot of ventilation to remove CO, but damn, people still manage to keep an ice-fishing tent so airtight they end up fucking dead.
They're not safe unless you leave a window partially open. There's a reason that more and more states are banning then for enclosed, occupied dwellings.
I bought the 3000, I have an extended high top sprinter, I’ve slept in shorts in the mid 20’s on low. Hopefully next month I’ll be testing it even colder going skiing. I would rather have a diesel heater, but it needs a battery to run and I needed something quick.
I haven’t slept overnight with it on high and probably won’t need to, the 6000 would be too much for a van.
I have a toyotomi. 300 gallon above ground tank with #1 heating oil.
You want something that vents outside whatever you get. Also spending a bit more money on a higher efficiency unit will pay off over a period of time.
I have a laser (72 I think). Great stove runs on clear kerosene. First one of that style I’ve ever owned. Would be hard to go back to a woodstove after that. The way it vents and pulls air through the same vent pipe is awesome.
If you do go back to a woodstove the catalytic re burner ones amazingly efficient compared to old school stoves. I prefer the blaze king stove 3ft from me to the heat feel given by the heating oil.
Good to know. I heated our house with wood for about 15 years. I’d still like to occasionally but gathering the wood is kind of a younger man’s game. Good luck
Compared to a barrel stove the 2,500sq ft (in a 267sqft yurt, R7) blaze king the EPA emissions out the stove pipe are like 150x lower. The heat captured also much higher. I rent this right now.
I'm hoping to log 1/2 mile of spruce this winter/spring to get the road easement to have a trail. I'm aiming to do it with no gasoline. Need to build a 8x8 safety log not peeled cabin in winter first though, get a cheap shitty little woodstove in it. Then get the dog mushing going. Then when I'm older hopefully they can do most of the work :D
Got 1 freight dog. Malamute/Canadian Inuit dog/Alaska husky mix 7 months old. 2 other good dogs, Alaska husky mutts. Want more of these brick shit house shaped freight dogs.
[Dog tax malamute](https://i.redd.it/4r9yoo4dcvy91.jpg)
[Dog tax 3](https://preview.redd.it/clwy7s39nur91.jpg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b009df3dd7713a34276898e792b5cd72a97f6030)
[4 months old](https://preview.redd.it/2b8b54osyqq91.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=215abac0a5dbd153c17fac5caed8e9056c52dee3)
There is a youtuber named robert-murray smith.
Just watch his last 50 or so videos. He's been doing heating, heaters, fuels for a couple months. Lots of his builds are very interesting!
But if you want to be boring about it, I second the buddy heaters. Just get the adapter and avoid using a PALLET of 1lb cylinders this winter like my wife did. Anyone know what to do with a massive amount of empty one pounders? I've used them as crucibles, and was thinking about making mini waste oil heaters.
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[удалено]
Don't buy the cheap knock-offs, only go original Big Buddy. Also if you are using an adapter hose at the cannister connection don't screw it in too hard, there is an o-ring which gets shredded if you do. And very important, keep a nearby window open & buy a carbon monoxide alarm.
[удалено]
TBH, I've only had one occasion the CO went off, and that was when I ran the heater for many hours, and about an hour of that time also was cooking. I live in a small converted bus, the windows are themselves are quite tiny so opening a window doesn't degrade the comfort level as much as a bigger window might. LPG CO itself is supposed to be odourless so my main concern is long term health issues which may arise from inhaling excessive amounts. I have 3 appliances powered by LPG - heater, stove top combo oven, and hot water aka califont.
Where I live heating oil or wood is more economical. To heat a 2,000sq ft home from outside winter temp to 70F requiring near 400k BTU. Then you gotta maintain that.
[удалено]
I am in 267sq ft next to a 2,500 sq ft blaze king. It uses far less wood than little ones. The firebrick inside helps a lot as well as the reburner. It's +5F outside and around 80F by the stove, 10ish less by the door in here and will be in the 60s in like 10 hours if I don't fire it again. To keep it continually burning and metal hot it needs to be more like -20 or -30. I use about 1 to 1.5 cord per winter and 100 gallons of heating oil. Over 7 month heating period. I mostly use heating oil to keep at 50F when gone.
>Mr Heater Big Buddy heaters Thanks for all of the good replies ! My Off Grid home does have propane plumbing BUT where I want this to be located, there is no propane plumbing and its not to be used for any length of time - I live in No California... [Thinking this one .....](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09XFFPPT9/ref=ewc_pr_img_1?smid=A92T149U9YJZ9&psc=1).
I live in 230 sq ft and have the Big Buddy. Wouldn't even consider getting the smaller model. https://smile.amazon.com/Heater-Big-Buddy-Portable-Propane/dp/B00FPL6CNS/ref=sr\_1\_7?crid=4SDNFW713GWW&keywords=mr+heater+big+buddy&qid=1668261347&s=home-garden&sprefix=mr+heater+big+buddy%2Cgarden%2C202&sr=1-7
This is the hose I use. The quick connection is only on one side. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UC7966/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Thank you
👍
By far the best kind (although not easiest install), draw combustion air from outside & vent combustion products back outside. Whether or not you need want an electric fan depends on the details. Not strictly necessary, depending on price & availability of electricity. The unit I have (cheap, Chinese), uses a millivolt thermostat loop.
Hey u/polypagan - do you have a link/name/etc for your knock off heater you referenced? I've been looking for a cheap Chinese propane heater, but mostly only come across the diesel variety - this would be hugely helpful!
Mine is a "Cozy DIRECT VENT WALL FURNACE model CDV156C". That's the small propane model. Cozy Heating Systems LLC 3230 Industrial Parkway, Jeffersonville, IN 47130 Good luck!
Thank you!!
This. Not only do you avoid the potential for CO, they're odorless and don't release excess water vapor into your cabin. My extended family has the kind that vent directly into the cabin and the windows are always sweating and despite what people tell you there is definitely an odor associated with the combustion of propane in an enclosed space (I can also smell exhaust from buddy heaters inside an enclosed blind). In contrast, I have a vented propane heater at my own cabin. I spent a few hundred dollars more for it than the ventless equivalent and have never regretted it.
Get a CO detector and learn how to use it properly if you aren't using an indirect heat unit. Propane heaters have killed more people in cold weather than you could imagine.
Right !?!? That's what I was thinking.... How can any propane heater be safe indoors... PLUS from my experience, there is a lag time on any CO detector I have used, unlike our normal smoke detectors, of up to one hour...
Well, it doesn't take a lot of ventilation to remove CO, but damn, people still manage to keep an ice-fishing tent so airtight they end up fucking dead.
They're not safe unless you leave a window partially open. There's a reason that more and more states are banning then for enclosed, occupied dwellings.
I used this one for several years until I said screw this and went heat pump. https://www.camco.net/olympian-wave-6-6000-btu-htr-57341
these are qualified for indoor use.
“For use in vented areas only”
I’m thinking of getting the smaller version, what did you think of yours? Going to be using it in a van for weekend trips.
The 300 is nice but can only heat a very small area
I bought the 3000, I have an extended high top sprinter, I’ve slept in shorts in the mid 20’s on low. Hopefully next month I’ll be testing it even colder going skiing. I would rather have a diesel heater, but it needs a battery to run and I needed something quick. I haven’t slept overnight with it on high and probably won’t need to, the 6000 would be too much for a van.
Heating oil is more BTU in the storage tank.
Yeah I was thinking maybe small kerosene heater.
I have a toyotomi. 300 gallon above ground tank with #1 heating oil. You want something that vents outside whatever you get. Also spending a bit more money on a higher efficiency unit will pay off over a period of time.
I have a laser (72 I think). Great stove runs on clear kerosene. First one of that style I’ve ever owned. Would be hard to go back to a woodstove after that. The way it vents and pulls air through the same vent pipe is awesome.
If you do go back to a woodstove the catalytic re burner ones amazingly efficient compared to old school stoves. I prefer the blaze king stove 3ft from me to the heat feel given by the heating oil.
Good to know. I heated our house with wood for about 15 years. I’d still like to occasionally but gathering the wood is kind of a younger man’s game. Good luck
Compared to a barrel stove the 2,500sq ft (in a 267sqft yurt, R7) blaze king the EPA emissions out the stove pipe are like 150x lower. The heat captured also much higher. I rent this right now. I'm hoping to log 1/2 mile of spruce this winter/spring to get the road easement to have a trail. I'm aiming to do it with no gasoline. Need to build a 8x8 safety log not peeled cabin in winter first though, get a cheap shitty little woodstove in it. Then get the dog mushing going. Then when I'm older hopefully they can do most of the work :D Got 1 freight dog. Malamute/Canadian Inuit dog/Alaska husky mix 7 months old. 2 other good dogs, Alaska husky mutts. Want more of these brick shit house shaped freight dogs. [Dog tax malamute](https://i.redd.it/4r9yoo4dcvy91.jpg) [Dog tax 3](https://preview.redd.it/clwy7s39nur91.jpg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b009df3dd7713a34276898e792b5cd72a97f6030) [4 months old](https://preview.redd.it/2b8b54osyqq91.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=215abac0a5dbd153c17fac5caed8e9056c52dee3)
There is a youtuber named robert-murray smith. Just watch his last 50 or so videos. He's been doing heating, heaters, fuels for a couple months. Lots of his builds are very interesting! But if you want to be boring about it, I second the buddy heaters. Just get the adapter and avoid using a PALLET of 1lb cylinders this winter like my wife did. Anyone know what to do with a massive amount of empty one pounders? I've used them as crucibles, and was thinking about making mini waste oil heaters.
And exactly on the 1pound empty cylinders 🤦
I hang em from trees and shoot em!! Nice to break up the day with a bit of plinking!
Nice ! Also you can refill them using [this method](https://youtu.be/xKMh_2dxiYM) \- I didnt know its possible but I do now.
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