Mr heater buddy heaters in tents overnight

[Happy Joe]

Low oxygen sensor,.... Offhand, I dunno what oxygen percent the thing shuts off,.

Me neither but some devices with "oxygen sensors" will not function or will only function erratically at around 9000 feet elevation...this varies by individual device with little consistency even within a brand/model (have seen a few that functioned erratically at 6,000 feet , actually 6,187 ft.).
I see much paranoia about CO and a bit about CO2; just educate yourself about the appropriate venting required (takes a small bit of googling) and use appropriate ventilation. Why live in fear?
Personally I am a fan of a good sleeping bag, appropriate ventilation and no heater (except, perhaps temporarily, to reduce the cold shock when entering and leaving the bag).

Enjoy!

 

[General Automag]

If you're worried, then don't use one. We've been using propane heaters in tents for years for winter camping. Just make sure you leave a tent flap rolled up and partially open before you go to sleep. Before the Mr. Heater "Buddy" heaters, we were using the one and two-burner simple heaters that you mount onto the top of a propane tank. We typically set up a larger tent such as the family Coleman style of tent and start the propane heater just before bedtime. We typically are at 65-70 degrees in the tent with a tent flap partially open. when the outside temperatures have ranged from 15 degrees to the mid 30's. Of course bring a good sleeping bag and some type of pad to go under it. Again, we've experienced no problems whatsoever.

 

[JandDGreens]

I was going to say the very same thing. Those new wave heaters have very specific instructions that state to do just that. I have a Little buddy but never can use it because of the high elevation here in Colorado. It is a nice little heater below 8,000 ft. Maybe Moab?

 

[Happy Joe]

I was going to say the very same thing. Those new wave heaters have very specific instructions that state to do just that. I have a Little buddy but never can use it because of the high elevation here in Colorado. It is a nice little heater below 8,000 ft. Maybe Moab?

Take it to higher altitudes and try it... Some work well at 10,000 feet others do not.
We typically camp between 9,000 and 10,000' and less than half the, untried, buddy heaters usually have problems .... not certain if working at higher altitudes indicates a deficiency in the oxygen sensor (pilot light/thermocouple) or not... (use adequate ventilation).

Enjoy!

 

[MattJ]

Take it to higher altitudes and try it... Some work well at 10,000 feet others do not.
We typically camp between 9,000 and 10,000' and less than half the, untried, buddy heaters usually have problems .... not certain if working at higher altitudes indicates a deficiency in the oxygen sensor (pilot light/thermocouple) or not... (use adequate ventilation).

Enjoy!

Yep - see page 4 of the owner manual:

 

[JandDGreens]

The air is just to thin above 8,000 ft. it works fine in my garage here in Denver but would light for just a little while and then go out not worth a darn up where we usually camp. I am hoping to buy a Propex furnace for my trailer some day. It would be perfect for a tent as well.

 

[jk6661]

I just ran across this: https://www.amazon.com/Blackcan-Cam...g+Mat+with+Automatic+Hot+Water+Heating+System

Never seen anything like it. Thoughts?

 

[HNewman]

For what its worth I used a buddy heater a lot in my van and really enjoyed what I got for the price. I could get good and warm in a few minutes and then turn it off to sleep and warm up again in the morning. Although sometimes I passed out before shutting it off. I always left a small crack in my roof vent. I also had a co2 detector for insurance (it didn't ever go off). I camped a lot in very cold weather and had no problems with heating the van. However in the high Rockies above 8000ft or so it was not reliable and at 10,000ft it became mostly useless.

 

[MattJ]

I'm halfway through my testing of many ways to heat a tent at night. So far, two failures. I was wondering if I could use my Optima Yellow Top auxiliary battery to power a propane tank heater all night. But the inverter shut down after six hours when the voltage dropped below 11.0 volts. So I tried two electric blankets (5Ah, 55w each) and they drained the battery in five hours. So I've decided that the idea of using the Yellow Top for anything isn't going to work.

Next I plan to try the Mr. Heater Buddy with a 1lb tank to warm the tent, then switch to an UCO candle overnight. I'll report the results back here.


Isn't this stuff fun?

 

[MattJ]

Wow, Heating a propane bottle. Had no idea BuddyHeater needed so much pressure.
Just how cold of environment are you tent camping in anyway ?

Well, propane freezes at -305F, right?

I actually had trouble getting the Mr. Heater Buddy to light with the 20lb tank even when it was just 20F. I was using the Mr. Heater 10ft extension hose, so maybe that also made it difficult for the propane to build the pressure necessary to light the heater. But when I left a 1lb tank outside overnight in 20F weather, I was still able to light the heater after a few clicks of the igniter.

When using the extension hose, the propane tank needs to stay OUTSIDE the tent. And I hate churning through so many disposable 1lb propane tanks (I don't refill them, although some people do). So I wanted to test the tank heater blanket as a possible solution.

 

[chet6.7]

I'm halfway through my testing of many ways to heat a tent at night. So far, two failures. I was wondering if I could use my Optima Yellow Top auxiliary battery to power a propane tank heater all night. But the inverter shut down after six hours when the voltage dropped below 11.0 volts. So I tried two electric blankets (5Ah, 55w each) and they drained the battery in five hours. So I've decided that the idea of using the Yellow Top for anything isn't going to work.

Next I plan to try the Mr. Heater Buddy with a 1lb tank to warm the tent, then switch to an UCO candle overnight. I'll report the results back here.


Isn't this stuff fun?

Fun and expensive,I just bought 2 group 31 Northstar batteries and a Honda 2K gen,I have not got anything mounted or wired yet.
I hope to run the gen for a few hours in the evening and then run on battery power through the night,hope to get 6 hrs on the batteries running 2 elect. blankets.
How many AH's is the yellowtop? I have thought about getting a UCO candle as well,looking forward to your report.I think beeswax candles may be the way to go.

 

[MattJ]

Fun and expensive,I just bought 2 group 31 Northstar batteries and a Honda 2K gen,I have not got anything mounted or wired yet.
I hope to run the gen for a few hours in the evening and then run on battery power through the night,hope to get 6 hrs on the batteries running 2 elect. blankets.
How many AH's is the yellowtop? I have thought about getting a UCO candle as well,looking forward to your report.I think beeswax candles may be the way to go.

The most frustrating part of my experiments so far is that I can't get the math to work. The electric blankets were rated at 5Ah/55w and the reserve capacity of the Yellow Top is supposed to be 68Ah. But the Yellow Top drained from 12.5v to 3.3v in just six hours at 20F. Below is the tag for the tank heater blanket. I used an inverter and it shut down in six hours when the Yellow Top dropped below 11.0v. Maybe the inverter itself consumes more power than the device that is using it? The Optima website lists the C20 reserve capacity of the Yellow Top as 55Ah. I really thought I could power the tank heater or the electric blankets all night with no problem, but I failed. Can anybody explain why?

 

[CSG]

I've wondered about using the little Mr Buddy in my LC but, so far, just dress warmer. With an old Nuptse down jacket and my sleeping bag, I can stay quite warm. It's the getting out of the bag in the early AM that sucks...

 

[Heakle]

Get a 12 VDC electric heat throw blanket from Amazon and put it inside your sleeping bag. The one I have has a 30 and 45 min shutdown feature that I have never used at more than 30 minutes. It pre-heats the sleeping bag, Large 2 person, for the entire night at below 30 degree nights. I just wired a marine 12 VDC outlet to the top of my JK and plug it right in. I also have a Genesis dual battery set up. Using the throw for 30 mins at bedtime then 30 mins before getting up never took the accessory battery below 11.8 volts.
Just my 2 cents.......

 

[MattJ]

Get a 12 VDC electric heat throw blanket from Amazon and put it inside your sleeping bag. The one I have has a 30 and 45 min shutdown feature that I have never used at more than 30 minutes. It pre-heats the sleeping bag, Large 2 person, for the entire night at below 30 degree nights. I just wired a marine 12 VDC outlet to the top of my JK and plug it right in. I also have a Genesis dual battery set up. Using the throw for 30 mins at bedtime then 30 mins before getting up never took the accessory battery below 11.8 volts.
Just my 2 cents.......

Yes - that's another good option. By the way, Genesis just introduced some great 12v extension cables (20ft long) that wire directly to the bus connects on the dual battery system and can be mounted anywhere in the vehicle interior. The original 12v outlets in my Jeep run directly to the cranking battery, which isn't helpful.