Lets talk camp heaters..

[trudinator]

Originally Posted by Tomscat

Holy cow you are much tougher than me!
But I've camped in 112 degrees in the desert in a tent with 4 kids and no AC... It's a dry heat and Arizona women like it hot! LOL!

Yeah...112 is still 112. Dry or not. We'd die in Wisconsin at 112, because the humidity would be sky high as well.

[dalford]

Originally Posted by D-mo

mr buddy heaters have a habit of blowing out when outside .. as they are basically designed to heat an indoor area .... you could use it tho under an awning ... or in outdoor confined areas ... but you have to be away from the wind ...

d-mo

What I have seen in reviews is the pilot blows out sometimes in the wind. These units don't cycle on off but just have low-high settings. If used outside I guess I could deal with relighting the pilot if I turned it off for some reason, also why waste gas. If it were cold I think it would stay on until I was ready to retire for the night.

[Pooneil]

I have curious about Buddy heaters. Is that in fact a pilot (a constant flame to ignite a cyclical burner) or a small but conventional burner that serves as the ignition source for the radiant heater? I am curious because catalytic heaters don't have a constant burner but light from a sparker and stay hot with no further need for an ignition source.

[tanddc]

The Flame is a safety flame. It does not keep the heater flame going but is against a sensor just like a pilot light. If the flame goes out or tipping causes it to no longer heat the sensor it shuts off the gas flow

[D-mo]

basically these units are designed with a pilot light to prevent the unit causiing a fire if it was tipped over . It the unit is tipped over .. the pilot light goes out ... thus extinguishing the and cancelling the porpane freed to the radiant fire board. Thats just about it.
Now im not saying these are bad heaters ... but they do have a habit of going out in the wind. I have been using these heaters exclusively for the last 7 years ... when ice fishing .. and they are great heaters ... but do not do well in windy conditions .. as they simply go out and are very hard to restart.
In my opinion ... it would be best for the o.p to go to a sunflower style radiant heater .. no issues with it blowing out ... no 1lb canisters to deal with, and no issues with connecting them to large bottles of propane ... as the buddy style heaters require a special filter to be installed to sort out the impurities that will clog the lines of the heater.

d-mo

[tanddc]

The pilot light also goes out if CO2 levels get to high. That is why it is rated for indoor use.

[dalford]

Originally Posted by D-mo

basically these units are designed with a pilot light to prevent the unit causiing a fire if it was tipped over . It the unit is tipped over .. the pilot light goes out ... thus extinguishing the and cancelling the porpane freed to the radiant fire board. Thats just about it.
Now im not saying these are bad heaters ... but they do have a habit of going out in the wind. I have been using these heaters exclusively for the last 7 years ... when ice fishing .. and they are great heaters ... but do not do well in windy conditions .. as they simply go out and are very hard to restart.
In my opinion ... it would be best for the o.p to go to a sunflower style radiant heater .. no issues with it blowing out ... no 1lb canisters to deal with, and no issues with connecting them to large bottles of propane ... as the buddy style heaters require a special filter to be installed to sort out the impurities that will clog the lines of the heater.

d-mo

D-Mo, thx for the input. I assumed, shame on me, that once lit if the pilot light blew out it would be re-ignited by the main burner. I am going to try one anyway as I will primarily use it on cool/cold nights outside at the camp ground or as a back side heater when around a camp fire. If it is windy, I'm staying inside...