I want a Mr. Heater Portable Buddy for use inside our all-electric townhouse in case of a power outage. If the power goes out, so does the heat pump.

This is labelled an "Indoor-Safe Propane Heater" and would be used only in emergencies, not as an auxilliary heat source or instead of running the heat pump. Can anyone recommend it?

--Craig

I think I'd treat that "safe for indoor use" as a safety feature you try never to use... that is, I wouldn't leave the thing running and go to bed. Be suspicious of it. By a carbon monoxide detector and have it around while using the heater. If everything works as designed, you're ok, just extra cautious. And if something goes wrong, you won't die in your sleep.

I looked at those a while back for hunting and was about to order one, but then I found out they don't work above 7000'. Something to do with the built-in oxygen sensor. That may not be a concern for you in PA however.

Regards, Vince

Well, I will throw my .02 in. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I really don't see the difference between this and hundred of open flame heaters that were in use and still in use in lots of houses in rural Oklahoma. I have one in my garage that I use in the winter and some of my fondest memories of growing up were sitting in front of the one the three my grandmother had in her house, playing cards and listening to the wind howl outside...knowing I was warm.

I use a similar product in my hunting camp, a coleman Black Cat heater..same catalytic principal...the Mr. Buddy is a better design and more expensive. I use mine throughout the hunting season, it will run for 6-7 hours on a 1 lb can...and here is a shocker...I run it while I am sleeping, but then again...there is no way that where I am sleeping is airtight..it's a converted 48' refer trailer, so no worries about the CO poisioning, and most times we crack a window in the other room to be sure.

Using it in your house in a small enclosed area might not be advisable...but depending on how big and airtight your house is...I wouldn't think twice about running one in the winter in mine...once again...I know it's not airtight and I don't think the volume of CO that this little thing can put out would be dangerous...but then I'm not a doctor or anything. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'm liking that suggestion. Thank you.

I have one. It's great. I have no problem with using it in a single room, and the O2 sensor is sensitive enough that it shuts right down if the air goes bad.

It whips through fuel, though, you will need a few cases of the propane tanks to make through a 72 hour blackout.

I wonder if the "Coleman Black Cat Portable Heater With Electronic Ignition" would be a better choice for emergency use?

The heater I buy would be used if and only if a power outage knocks out our heat pump in the winter. No heat would mean cold, unhappy people and pets. This is just so that we wouldn't have to find a pet-friendly motel in the middle of a winter storm.

-- Craig

Cases? The closet barely holds our winter coats, let alone cases of propane fuel.

-- Craig

Well I know it's cheaper and if we are strictly talking emergencies it might be the way to go. We have a fireplace here so if we have a power outage, I don't use it to heat a large area, but it has kept the room in our hunting tailer..roughly 10 x 8..comfortable when the temperatures dipped into the low 30's.

As far as a case of propane...you can buy an adaptor so you could hook it to a 20 lb tank..although if storage is a problem...you can figure conservatively 6 hours on a 1 lb canister.. so you would need 12 for 72 hours of continuous use..easily stored, but I won't suppose to know how much space you have to deal with. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

A case of propane fuel is about the size of a case of 1 liter soda. Not that big.

You are correct, sir. I could jam it in somewhere around here.

Now I'm thinking about the Coleman BlackCat Portable Catalytic Heater. I've read several good reviews of it at epinions.

Reviews of the Mr. Heater Portable Buddy seem much less positive, overall.

-- Craig

Twenty-pound tanks are out of the question right now. We live in a townhouse development and there is very little storage. Barely enough for your winter clothing.

I, too, have been thinking of getting one for a van I'm putting together. Cabela's has (or had) them on sale for a while now. They're listed to heat an area of about 200 sq.ft., which is about the size of a van interior. I'm not sure how they'd do in a larger house.
I have to tell you that I heard that propane should never - under any circumstances - be stored inside your home. I'm told it's a gas that's heavier than air, so that if the container leaks, this stuff will pool around ground level just waiting for an ignition source, like a furnace or water heater, to ignite it - with catastrophic results. They really can be a bomb waiting to happen. - Dave

P.S. - Have you ever considered a kerosene heater? I have two 'just in case.'



I find I really like mine. They're simple and reliable. There's still the problem of storing fuel. I keep (so far) eight 5-gallon cans of kerosene in my garage (with an additive in them to keep the fuel usable). Each heater holds about 2 gallons of fuel and will burn about a day on that much. One thing though, you might want to borrow one to use a time or two to see if you really like them before you buy. Some people swear by them, others at them. I understand your storage issue, can you add an outbuilding at a later date?

Edited untill I learn how to spell - Dave <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Ok, I just found their website -

Mr. Heater

They list quite a few heaters, including the Portable Buddy and the larger Big Buddy, rated at heating 400 sq. ft., and it says 'For Home Emergency Use.'

For some reason, I'm getting a better feeling about buying one of these Coleman Catalytic Heaters.

They seem very portable, utilitarian, versatile, and inexpensive.

-- Craig

I got the Coleman Black Cat catalytic heater.

I used it twice in a tent, being careful and all that. It generates a very decent amount of heat, but depending on tent design, it may or may not warm the tent up that much.

I bought it after a camping trip where my girlfriend was very, very cold during the night. Since she won't invest in good gear, I had to buy the Black Cat for the "psychological effect". She finds it's helpful, so hey, good buy.

I guess such a buy is an investment. You don't use it very often, but once in a while, it comes in handy. It's also useful for emergencies in the winter.

In regards to camping though, don't count on the thing to make the tent very warm. If your girlfriend wants to get good gear, I would go that route instead.

Bye!

The only camping I do is in front of our TV set. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

And that is exactly where I'd use the Coleman BlackCat, in our living room. We have a nice flat slab of black slate in front of our almost useless fireplace. The fireplace is functional but so tiny it's basically decorative. I'd put the heater on the slab of black slate.

-- Craig

In this case, run to the nearest Coleman retailer store near you! <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Go, go! And don't bother with the electronic ignition, get the cheaper model you can light with a match or a lighter.

My girlfriend and I are going camping this weekend and she bought the Coleman Black Cat catalytic heater for a 3-5 person tent with only two people in it. Will it be enough? I am manly and of course do not need a heater when camping but just in case it were to get to cold is there any cheats to keeping the tent warmer, other than the obvious. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Craig, if your fireplace is functional but too small, have you ever considered replacing it with a larger one? Is it natural gas or propane? I'm thinking a propane one, with a big bottle of propane on the premises would be a nice and self-contained source of heat. I'm not sure about natural gas fireplaces. I don't know much about natural gas service, and if or how often they go down in an emergency.

Is that just to save money, or does the electronic ignition leave something to be desired?

I ask because my wife likes lighting candles, and not much else that requires matches, so she would want electronic ignition.

-- Craig

Not in townhouse development. The occupants are not allowed to alter the interior configurations.

Otherwise, I agree with you one hundred percent. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

-- Craig

Boy, in that case, the only thing I can think of is drain everything that holds water and then go 'visit' some friends! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Craig, would you ever consider something like this...?

Alpaca stove

It's a kerosene stove/heater.

"Alpaca Kerosene Cook Stove (Item # TS909)

This Kerosene cook stove utilizes innovative heating technology to provide operating costs that are 1/3 the cost of conventional gas camp stoves. Easily capable of boiling several gallons of water in minutes, this stove will provide you with additional canning capacity and the comfort of knowing you will have cooking means should an emergency situation arise. Also Great for camping!

* .9 gallon fuel tank
* 18 hours of cooking time / tank
* 8,500 BTU heat output
* Blue Flame adjustable fiberglass wick
* Easily boils gallons of water in minutes
* 13" diameter x 13" tall
* Replacement wick available

Operating cost is one-third the cost of conventional camp stoves.

Camping, Hunting, Fishing, Boating, Picnicking"

Yeah, it was to save money. I'd rather use a match or a lighter to light the Black Cat up... Use the rest of the money to buy a small knife, or another survival whistle perhaps? <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I'd consider it, but our power usually isn't out for that long when it has gone out. If it went out long enough to think about cooking meals, we'd probably bug out to my sister's place, 20 minutes down the road.

She also is safely outside the Red Zone (AKA the Dead Zone) for our local nuclear power plant. We're right in the center of the Red Zone.

-- Craig

Being a SAK collector, I'm well supplied with those. Have several Spydercos around, too.

Note the the Mr Heater Buddy is designed for indoor use and has a low O2 cutoff. The cheaper catyltic heaters are not designed to be used indoors. CO is colorless, oderless, tastless and deadly. Whatever your choice, please be careful.

Be Safe,

JimJr

Indeed I shall be careful. My quest to be immortal would come to a crashing halt if I did something stupid and got myself killed. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

-- Craig

Hmmm...I have this compulsion regarding redundancy on certain safety items.

Even though we live in Fla. (and often gripe about how hot it gets) we do have a few days (every few years) that find us using heat of some sort, generally the electric strip heaters in the air conditioning system.

That said, we also have a kerosene heater that is a back up.

As others have indicated, flow through ventilation is good for the life expectancy.

Not to be content with the existing smoke detectors, I also installed two carbon monoxide detectors. The batteries are changed 1-2X per year and recycled in other 9V appliances as they still have some life left in them. This unit does not have a low O2 cutoff, but even if it did, I still would install the carbon monoxide detectors. Hey, in your case Craig, you could take them with you when you leave the current domicile.

And yes, watching the soft glow of the kero heater reminds me of visiting my grandmother and being intrigued with her kero heater (more years back than I care to think about).

Regards,
Comanche7

I know this is an old post but I'll throw my 2 cents in any way. I bought one used it in my 14ft Shasta trailer one weekend when it was cold, I bought the adapter to use a 20 lb tank, ran the hose outside through a opening in the floor set up just for that purpose. I did have a window cracked and had no problems. As far as heating a town house, I doubt it would do it.

Just my opinion.

Shadow Out!!!

I use one every winter. I used one (with an external tank) to keep some baby chicks warm, I used one in a tent (really) on a cold cold night with my son. I've used one in a trailer at a long accident investigation, and I've used one while in the garage working on something.

All in all:
They are good, they burn fuel faster than I'd like.
CO Readings are low to none.

This heater uses a ruby crystal matrix to catylze the combustion products so that CO is not generated. If the ambient O2 level falls below 19.5% or so, then the unit senses this and extinguishes itself. In this sense, it is far safer than their other products. In fact, it is the only non-CO emitting propane heater I have found on the market.

I used mine with a 20 lb propane tank out hunting elk; first time in the back of my big suburban, with the window cracked. It was snowing and nasty at the time and still I got so hot with the thing cranked all the way down I had to kick off the sleeping bag and shut if off a time or two. The next year I towed my trailer up and used it in there and it kept up, but just barely, with a big storm that came in. I had ice on the windows on the inside, but I was warm enough not to be uncomfortable.

They are susceptible to fouling, and I found out the hard way that the oil that gets in a bulk tank can run up the line and get in the screen and then the thing is done for. If you are going to use bulk propane with it, you better have an oil trap in the line somewhere or it'll foul for sure.

Hey benjammin

Thanks for that advise on installing a oil trap, I'll do that before this winters camping trip. I only used my 20 lb once, haven't tried the heater since, hoping it's ok though.


Shadow out !!!

On our land, we have enclosed deer stands which are about 5 ft. in diameter by 6 ft. tall with slotted, windowed openings.

When it is cold out, we use small propane heaters inside. We've got Black Cats...and Mr. Buddys. I *MUCH* prefer a Mr. Buddy, if I want to be warm without having to practically sit on top of the unit.

My 2 cents.

Harley

I have no idea how this slipped by me, but it did. We have used both Mr. Heater, and Mr. Heater Big Buddy heaters while boondocking in our motorhome, and love them. I ruined the Big
Buddy by running it off of a refillable 5 gal bottle without a Mr Heater in-line fuel filter installed, and ended up with two Mr Heaters to replace it. All have a built in low oxygen sensor, which will shut the thing down before you croak. But, not trusting to little gizmos like that, we never went to bed with them burning. The Big Buddy was our favorite, since it had a battery (four D cells) operated fan, which really helped to spread the heat around. It worked fine to heat the front end of our 32 ft motorhome, I have my doubts as to how effencient it would be in a home or appartment...

I have two Coleman Black Cat heaters that we use for ice fishing.

They work OK, but IMO, the legs are flimsy and seem likely to break.