Softopper and Mr. Buddy Heater

Out herding cats in the snow are we?

 

Misread your post. Thought you were talking about the different heaters. Mea culpa

 

I hear ya. It’s pretty simple though. There’s no oxygen sensor. When oxygen decreases (from combustion and bonding with carbon to form CO) the pilot flame decreases in size. This flame impinges on the thermocouple which shuts off the fuel supply if the pilot flame gets small enough.
I should also add, I keep a portable battery powered CO alarm nearby. Buddy has shut off several times and the detector has never tripped or showed dangerous PPM

 

We go out regularly in single digits to high teens. No heater needed. If it's super cold I might head up a thermos and put it by my feet just to establish some quick heat.


Another option is to grab a DC heated car blanket. Just rig up a low V switch for it. That will help take the edge off if needed.

But my take on cold weather camping is I like to be comfortable even if all fuel and energy sources are drained, just in case.

Good luck op

 

Well i can understand that but shit happens. I recently had a CAMPLUX pilot light go out (I know it wasn't in an enclosed space) and the whole thing caught on fire due to a mechanical failure. If the thing tips over and shuts off or if it shuts off due to low O2 thats a good deal.. im still not comfortable with leaving stuff like that on while sleeping. Better to get warm, shut flame off and go from there

I know this doesn't have anything to do with this thread but I found it super interesting and hopefully other people do as well

Podcast Radiolab - bit flip

 

So says the China Manufacture!

 

Best response so far! Thanks!

 

Been tested several times. It turns off when knocked over.

 

I have 3 I know but your comment was informative!

 

I have 2 of these heater buddies. The square one and the tall circle one and 2 old school kind that do not turn off unless they run out or you turn them off.

 

As a lab dude - low oxygen does not correlate with toxic levels of CO.

Realistically these things do not generate any CO - unless they are damaged. You might or might not know if the catalytic heater is damaged. Chances of a CO generating heater are very low, but it's so cheap and easy to insure yourself against those small chances.

If you run one, get yourself a battery powered CO alarm. Because it diffuses so rapidly into a closed space and the required air exchange would kind of ruin the point of a heater in the first place, the CO alarm is the only safe way to run one in a camper or tent.

 

^^This^^

 

I don’t know what it is with propane heaters but they all give me a headache within just a couple minutes of using them. It’s not CO, but the smell of burning propane messes me up for some reason.

 

I used one of these Coleman heaters in the back of an S-10 pickup. It was early 90's and I got caught in a crazy stupid blizzard somewhere along I-80 in Wyoming and my wife was 6 months pregnant. I had Leer fiberglass topper and put the sliding windows wide open. With a sleeping bag and sweats we were just fine and it was rather cozy. It also doubled as a rather bright night light.

 

Us old dudes know how to do it! Good Info!

 

DC heated car blanket at: https://www.batterychargers.com/en/products/accessories/1222u-12v-heated-blanket [Long-haul Truckers with sleeper cabs use these; bought mine at a Truck-Stop store]
Low voltage protection at: https://www.batterychargers.com/en/products/accessories/129-12v-battery-guard-2-outlet
​

Mostly I use the blanket with the engine running to pre-heat my sleeping bag and then turn it and engine off when I crawl in.

 

I've tried it- as others noted it's way too much heat for that small area and even on low it quickly becomes unbearable. I bought one of the Coleman Blackcat heaters that screws onto a propane bottle to try but it also gets too hot (Coleman's Peak 1 division used to make a small catalytic heater for backpacking that screwed onto the butane cartridges but they quit making heaters as too many stupid people were killing themselves and their families were suing). Looking for something even smaller I ended up buying a heater that screws onto the butane cartridges (ex.

Mrinb Mini Gas Heater for Camping, Outdoor Heating Camping Stove, Propane Butane Tent Heater with Stand, for Fishing Hunting

https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Outd...unting&qid=1600361949&s=sporting-goods&sr=1-1)- yep, still gets too hot. I will run it for a short time before going to bed to warm everything up then in the morning fire it up again before climbing out of my bag. The other problem I found is that it gets too hot for the carpet above the heater; that's particular due to my setup though.

Kovea used to make what they called a table heater that used butane cartridges and looked like it might work but they discontinued it; they still make one called the Cupid (https://expeditionportal.com/gear-bag-february/).

Overall, for the back of the truck, I've abandoned my search for a gas heater. I'll continue to use the small heater to warm the back before bed and in the morning but that's it. When I had my Westfalia I ran the Buddy heater overnight a couple of times when it was really cold (connected to an 11# tank outside if the bus); I just made sure the windows were open enough for good air exchange, I had the heater behind the front passenger seat (where I couldn't accidentally bump it) and I kept a CO detector near me. On a related note, in addition to your own respirations, butane and propane give off a lot of moisture that you'll need to deal with that. If you have access to power, i.e. in a campground, a small electric heater works best.

Without a heater, make sure that you have very good insulation beneath you as your bedding gets compacted by your body weight reducing the R value. Use an appropriately rated sleeping bag and add layers as needed; it's not backpacking so carrying a heavy wool blanket, down comforter, etc. isn't really an issue. Cut heat lose through the huge heat sinks surrounding you- the window glass. I have Reflectix panels cut to fit my windows. If it's really cold I'll also tent a wool blanket above me to further reduce the area I'm heating. Wear nonrestrictive thermal clothing to bed, especially a hat. A Nalgene bottle filled with hot water and tossed in the bag before climbing in will not only warm it up but ensure that you have non-frozen water available in the morning. When I was in Boy Scouts we'd toss one of those pocket hand warmers in the bag with us. These days I keep a couple of those disposable hand warmers in the truck during the winter. And one last tip- ThermoCare back pain patches- put one of those over your back and it'll help keep you warm all night.

 

I run a heat buddy just like yours and it's great on Low just cycle it from on/off to not heat anything up. Then infront of your heater have a cheap .98 clay plant pot infront of it to retain the heat longer.....an old logging trick my great-grandfather taught me when we were deer hunting 15 or so years ago

 

So the clay pot grabs and retains the heat? I guess its the same principle as building a camp fire against a rock wall in a survival scenario. Very Cool!