Regarding the Mr. Buddy Heaters. My wife and I have been using them for 20 years inside a truck camper, old Airstream and even big tents. We never sleep with one on. They do have a slight odor, but we always leave a window and roof vent cracked for air flow and have never had issues. We've used them when outside temps were at or even slightly below freezing as well as above that as needed. Obviously, if one is having to spend long periods inside a rig or if the temps are way below freezing, a Mr. Buddy is likely not the best choice. However, our practice is to use them to take the chill of in the evening prior to retiring or first thing AM as we get dressed, eat and ready to go out and explore. They have low oxygen sensors with an auto shutoff switch should they get knocked over. I've seen a few videos on Youtube where a 3rd party ran tests with them. They are one option among many as long as one is aware of their limitations.
Intech RV
- Thread starter jingram
- Start date
dreadlocks
Well-known member
Ive had Buddy Heaters too, then I got a wave heater.. the Wave Heater is worth it over a buddy you should upgrade, they dont smell at all, are far more efficient and I sleep with mine on all the time.. they do need fresh air so they dont consume all the oxygen of course.
My Intech is fitted with both Wave and Propex, I use either, or both.. each have advantages/disadvantages and heat in different manners, combined they do really well for a big trailer..
My Intech is fitted with both Wave and Propex, I use either, or both.. each have advantages/disadvantages and heat in different manners, combined they do really well for a big trailer..
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the wave heater used in a more permanent or fixed installation? One of the reasons we liked the Mr. Buddy was due to it's portability. We would use it in our '71 Airstream, a backroad popup truck camper and also, on occasion in a large tent. Is there a portable option with a Wave Heater?
dreadlocks
Well-known member
okay, your wrong... just attach the feet to it, but IMO having it bolted to the wall makes me sleep better knowing it cant be knocked over..
Wave3 is the largest anyone should be installing in any of the smaller flyers, they put out plenty of heat.
Wave3 is the largest anyone should be installing in any of the smaller flyers, they put out plenty of heat.
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Well, there you go. Nice looking unit. I will check them out. Last question is whether one can use them with the 1lb canisters or do they require a hose connection to a tank.okay, your wrong... just attach the feet to it, but IMO having it bolted to the wall makes me sleep better knowing it cant be knocked over.. You cant attach a 1# bottle directly to it, but a 20# bottle thats outside where it should be is fine.
Wave3 is the largest anyone should be installing in any of the smaller flyers, they put out plenty of heat.
dreadlocks
Well-known member
You cant attach a 1# bottle directly to it, needs a regulator.. but a 5-20# bottle thats outside where it should be is fine.. also much cheaper to run w/refillable containers.. UHaul refills my 30# container for about $15, 30x 1# Coleman containers would cost me $150 if I got em on sale.
Keeping leaky reusable LP containers inside a camper with an open flame is how you go boom, another problem with the buddy heaters.. Wave heaters have a heat activated valve you have to warm up before it runs on its own, if the flame goes out it cuts off the fuel supply unless you manually hold it open.
Keeping leaky reusable LP containers inside a camper with an open flame is how you go boom, another problem with the buddy heaters.. Wave heaters have a heat activated valve you have to warm up before it runs on its own, if the flame goes out it cuts off the fuel supply unless you manually hold it open.
Thanks, that's what I thought. I've used the Buddy with hose attachments to reusable 1 or 2 gallon propane tanks located outside of our rigs. Otherwise, only the small 1 lb non reusable "green' ones. Of course, those little one lb units are nasty from an environmental perspective if tossed in the trash.
dreadlocks
Well-known member
My 30# bottle keeps my Dual Tip Out Discover heated in October for about a week, so it dont take long at all to make any of the little bottles more of a pita than they are worth.. but in a fully hard sided pursue a little 11# bottle thats popular for overlanders would likely last even longer than my 30#..
Safety wise storing your LP tank outside always and never having reason to bring high pressurized tank into a sealed environment is always the best recourse, they all have over pressure releases so if your trailer gets oven hot these things might vent out on purpose to keep from exploding, except there's no air ventilation so now its a primed bomb.
Safety wise storing your LP tank outside always and never having reason to bring high pressurized tank into a sealed environment is always the best recourse, they all have over pressure releases so if your trailer gets oven hot these things might vent out on purpose to keep from exploding, except there's no air ventilation so now its a primed bomb.
I have two 30# bottles on the Airstream for hot water and refrigerator. Rarely ever use the gas furnace if not hooked up to shore power. At this stage, I'm not interested in splicing another propane connection inside the trailer from the big propane tanks for a wave heater or something similar, although that option exists.
dreadlocks
Well-known member
yeah those Suburban LP Heaters you find in most commercial campers will suck a battery dry overnight PDQ.. they draw ~10A, thats why I installed the Propex furnace in my Intech, it pulls only ~1.4A for the smaller unit, 1.9A for the larger... they are much more battery friendly if you want a furnace that uses external air for combustion..
Ive only had my trailer plugged into shore power once, when I was camped at my dads for his 60th birthday.. its all boondocking here.
Ive only had my trailer plugged into shore power once, when I was camped at my dads for his 60th birthday.. its all boondocking here.
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For now, I'm holding off on any more major updates to our 49 year old Airstream as I explore alternatives. We've had it 15 years and it's in very decent shape with upgrades done by a previous owner 16 years ago and we really enjoy it. However, I no longer take it very far off paved roads. My interest in this site is driven by an interest in finding an alternative that is close or a bit smaller in size and better suited for washboard and dirt than the Airstream. From watching various discussions with a similar focus on this site, it's apparent the pickings are slim, as the majority of choices not up to the task. Unlike a few talented souls I've seen on the various threads here, I have neither the inclination nor the skills to buy a "stick" built box and then repair or rebuild it as it self-distructs over time. Having said that, I am aware that just about any rig being towed down the road will need attention and repair, I just don't see the point in buying one that starts out handicapped.
dreadlocks
Well-known member
oh thats cool you got a classic airstream.. I can see how an airstream would be hard to take off paved roads..
Camping in colorado is not like it was when I was a kid, getting a whole or most of an improved campsite to your self anymore is just not happening.. more demand than there is availability with my generation having kids and all the growth here... Dispersed boondocking is the only way to go, I know spots real close to real far that are never blown out.. away from the metro masses with their subarus and mall crawlers, all terrains are required to gain access and you might not cover a lot of miles but it takes quite a bit of time.. pre-covid I only would do campgrounds (w/reservations far in advance) like once a year because my oldest is a social butterfly and loves playing with the pack of pre-teens roaming camps, also gave friends and family who wont boondock a chance to group camp.. honestly I hate it.. loving that I can just do dispersed camping all the time now.
I questioned the durability of about everything, even the venerable airstream for where I wanted to go.. thing was I was going these places with a basic rugged all steel cargo trailer just fine, but we were tent camping and tear down and setup was getting old, especially with kids to entertain.. I like Intech because its basically just a cargo trailer, they coulda glamped it all out with furnace and electric awnings and a bunch of silly stuff but they took a simple cargo trailer design, made it even better with a welded aluminum structure over steel, put nice torsion axles on it that ride great when you go in heavy and come out light, they made it into a good solid base anyone can customize to their needs.. I didnt have to rip out a crappy power hungry furnace I didnt ever want in the first place, or a toilet i never wanted, they just provided the basics so it was good to go off the lot, I added what I needed from there on a really solid build.. replaced very little.
I've got the ability to build my own trailer from scratch, but to build what I have now woulda taken me so long my kids woulda moved out by the time I really started using it heh.. I dont have the time, I can work in short, fast, hard bursts with the way life is.. mebe when I'm retired hopefully something like this would be a few month project isolating myself in the garage with a mountain of materials and no other obligations.. but not today.
Not really had many issues, my fuse box had a defect pretty quick that was one of the best warranty experiences ever (free upgrade).. one of the speakers started cutting out because a bad crimp I fixed myself in a few mins, this year the deadbolt on one of the doors broke, I think by my toddler, on a standard RV handle everyone uses and its a common issue, can fix it for $30 or upgrade to a keyless system now.. gonna do the latter.
Camping in colorado is not like it was when I was a kid, getting a whole or most of an improved campsite to your self anymore is just not happening.. more demand than there is availability with my generation having kids and all the growth here... Dispersed boondocking is the only way to go, I know spots real close to real far that are never blown out.. away from the metro masses with their subarus and mall crawlers, all terrains are required to gain access and you might not cover a lot of miles but it takes quite a bit of time.. pre-covid I only would do campgrounds (w/reservations far in advance) like once a year because my oldest is a social butterfly and loves playing with the pack of pre-teens roaming camps, also gave friends and family who wont boondock a chance to group camp.. honestly I hate it.. loving that I can just do dispersed camping all the time now.
I questioned the durability of about everything, even the venerable airstream for where I wanted to go.. thing was I was going these places with a basic rugged all steel cargo trailer just fine, but we were tent camping and tear down and setup was getting old, especially with kids to entertain.. I like Intech because its basically just a cargo trailer, they coulda glamped it all out with furnace and electric awnings and a bunch of silly stuff but they took a simple cargo trailer design, made it even better with a welded aluminum structure over steel, put nice torsion axles on it that ride great when you go in heavy and come out light, they made it into a good solid base anyone can customize to their needs.. I didnt have to rip out a crappy power hungry furnace I didnt ever want in the first place, or a toilet i never wanted, they just provided the basics so it was good to go off the lot, I added what I needed from there on a really solid build.. replaced very little.
I've got the ability to build my own trailer from scratch, but to build what I have now woulda taken me so long my kids woulda moved out by the time I really started using it heh.. I dont have the time, I can work in short, fast, hard bursts with the way life is.. mebe when I'm retired hopefully something like this would be a few month project isolating myself in the garage with a mountain of materials and no other obligations.. but not today.
Not really had many issues, my fuse box had a defect pretty quick that was one of the best warranty experiences ever (free upgrade).. one of the speakers started cutting out because a bad crimp I fixed myself in a few mins, this year the deadbolt on one of the doors broke, I think by my toddler, on a standard RV handle everyone uses and its a common issue, can fix it for $30 or upgrade to a keyless system now.. gonna do the latter.
I've had the Airstream down a fair amount of washboard roads but eventually decided it's aging bones don't need the grief. Over the years, with the exception of the Oregon Coast, we've avoid campgrounds whenever possible. Have spent a lot of time in the high desert of eastern Oregon but that was with a FWC on an F250. Probably took it a few places a truck that large didn't belong. Had 2 FWC popups on that truck over a 20 year period but sold the truck and the latest one last year. Before the FWC set up, we slept in the back of an '88 Isuzu Trooper or used a tent. Lately, it's getting to be where we prefer towing something that we can set up as a "basecamp" and then go out exploring for the day. Of course, as many on this site have found, finding something that is up to the task is a challenge. Always tradeoffs. I am looking forward to seeing details on the 2nd generation Intech Discovery.
dreadlocks
Well-known member
My discover's only struggles in back country so far have been height, its like ~11ft high or something at the top so Ive taken alot of branches, I mounted an antenna to it but broke it off almost instantly.. however most mining and forestry roads are cleared for big vehicles, thats more issues getting it off the spurs and into a nice spot.. I imagine big trucks w/bed campers have same issues to contend with overgrown trails.. This is where the smaller Flyers do have the advantage clearly, if your determined to get down an overgrown trail definitely bring a chain saw or two.. with the ladder rack you could mad-max it and have someone on the roof with a pole saw hacking away as you inch forward lol.
The Jack it comes with has bitten me more than once trying to get into a tough spot, for like $90 you can get a nice jack for it that retracts flush so driving across ditches wont bottom that out.. I also worry about the angles too sometimes with ditch like obstacles.. Ive been throwing firewood logs in em to get across, but I'm at the point where I wanna get some nice long metal traction boards I could use as a bridge (like these), along with that flush jack so those kinda things wont be any hassle.. with both of those on hand I think I could get this trailer just about anywhere I dare if I use my head and can pick good lines.. the tandem torsions super flex right over all sorts of things w/out deflecting the trailer much, with 4 indy wheels it floats right over stuff you'd think would send it flying into a tree.
Radios and a well trained spotter (my wife been spotting me wheeling for decades) are pretty much required if you wanna test the limits of anything that large.. I'm often driving totally blind trusting in her completely.
The Jack it comes with has bitten me more than once trying to get into a tough spot, for like $90 you can get a nice jack for it that retracts flush so driving across ditches wont bottom that out.. I also worry about the angles too sometimes with ditch like obstacles.. Ive been throwing firewood logs in em to get across, but I'm at the point where I wanna get some nice long metal traction boards I could use as a bridge (like these), along with that flush jack so those kinda things wont be any hassle.. with both of those on hand I think I could get this trailer just about anywhere I dare if I use my head and can pick good lines.. the tandem torsions super flex right over all sorts of things w/out deflecting the trailer much, with 4 indy wheels it floats right over stuff you'd think would send it flying into a tree.
Radios and a well trained spotter (my wife been spotting me wheeling for decades) are pretty much required if you wanna test the limits of anything that large.. I'm often driving totally blind trusting in her completely.
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The rumor is now truth, the Discover is back on their website as a single axle set up, and it now has an indoor kitchenette rather than the external slide out. I'd prefer external as cooking inside a RV is not preferable in my opinion, not sure why they did the change to inside.
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