We needed to get out and camp a little so we went to the Auburn dam club above Cabelas in Hamburg. (my sister has a place there) It is beautiful but there are not campsites. The ground is very uneven, there is no electric and a manual, centrally located water pump that doesn't have a hose connection. I apparently have gotten very spoiled lately.
Leveling up wasn't a problem and the water was fine, but the electric... that stunk. The battery on the camper was close to being dead even though it was plugged in for the last two weeks. (don't know why) When I turned the lights on, the carbon detector beeped right away. It was went down to 46 that night and a little heat would have been nice.
Normally, we use an electric ceramic heater and turn the furnace on (set low) as a backup so that if it gets to cold for the electric heater, the furnace will kick on. No electric for the ceramic heater and the batteries dead so the heater fan won't run. We stopped at Cabelas on our way there (just because it was there) and among other things, I looked at the Buddy and other heaters. They run on propane but I have two things I don't like about them. I'm concerned about properly venting them and I don't like that they don't have a thermostat, they just keep running on low or high all night.
I'm hoping the only problem with the battery is the water level but any other suggestion for heat would help?
We have boon docked over 2 nights and managed to run the furnace both nights.( therm.set at 55 ) Battery conservation is a must. as is a strong battery. Autozone auto parts will load test your current battery for free.
As for the buddy heaters I believe they have an oxygen depletion sensor that will shut them down.
Mine is made by Dyna-glo and will shut down. A 1lb bottle will not last the night. (from experience)
I would invest in a 2nd battery and parallel it to your existing battery when needed.
Good battery maintenance is a must. Recharge after each use, do not leave on the charger after it has reached a full charge as this will boil the water away. I have been very successful with leaving my camper plugged in at home and letting the inverter maintain the battery. The one in my camper is designed to maintain the battery by cycling on and off. similar to what we do with our cars.
if you plan on dry camping more, i suggest having 2 12v deep cycle RV batteries or 2 6v golf cart batteries.
this should get you thru at least 2 nites of furnace usage.
but, you also should consider a small inverter generator. if you don't need juice for a microwave or hair dryer, then a 1000w one should be fine. i have a Honda 2000 that i got off of Craig's List for only $600. that's a lot but it does it all and only weighs 50lbs. i only have to run it a couple of hours a day and you can hardly hear it. and neighbors don't even know i have it running.
the only other way to recharge without hookups, is to invest in a solar system. a lot of pup owners have them to recharge their batteries.
I have a Buddy and like the heat it throws. I use it at night and mornings after we are up. But have never used it while we are sleeping. It is said to be safe and I sure it is but I just will not feel safe with a flame of some sort burning while sleeping. This is my own belief.
For the pros of using it are as follows. It has the oxygen sensor as mentioned and as a backup to that most pop-ups and hybrids have a CO detector. I would never use a propane heater without a CO detector.
I also have the buddy heater and have used it over nite. As was said the one pound canister will not last all nite. You will be waking up around 2am to change bottles! Not one to wake up at that time of the morning shivering and mad I looked for a way to fix this.
I purchased a propane tree from the local big box store along with a 10ft hose to connect to the Mr. buddy heater. I now can run the heater through out the nite on my 20lb tank on the camper or take along an extra and run the heater, campstove (we don't use the one in the camper) and any other accessories that generally run on the 1lb canisters. If I remember correctly you can hook up to 3 devices to the propane tree.
Running the Mr. Buddy heater at nite has never really been a concern to me. I feel there is enough ventilation in the camper to compensate. I mean come on if the temperature is getting that cold in the camper there has to be some sort of ventilation!!!!
Just my 2 cents!!!
[quote author=MatthewinGA link=topic=108.msg2278#msg2278 date=1295197908]
Hi All,
After the "big freeze" in Atlanta this past week. I am in need of a dual purpose heater. I would use this as an emergency back up for the house (bedroom) as well as camping (PU) if the electricity went out.
Does anybody have a Coleman ProCat heater that would like to give a review?
Thanks.
That Coleman ProCat only puts out 3,000 btu at max whereas the regular MrBuddy heater puts out 9,000 btu on high, even 4,000 on the low setting. Much more heat and probably very little in cost difference. More importantly, the ProCat is a catalytic heater, derives it's heat from a chemical reaction. The MrBuddy is a total different animal ... it is a radiant heater, and the latest technology for this type heater at that. The MrBuddy radiant heater has an open flame and burns it's fuel over a ceramic cube which in turn gets very hot causing all the fuel to be burned with an efficicency something like 99.99% clean burning. Considering the danger of CO posioning, the MrBuddy is a much safer way to go, however ... with an open flame one has to take great care where it is placed and that nothing gets draped over it - fire is the big danger.
[quote author=MatthewinGA link=topic=108.msg2280#msg2280 date=1295201271]
Nice review, thank you.
I just found out on another page about the 3000 Btu's. My little fan blower puts out 1500w about 5000 Btu's.
My wife is just so afraid of the "scary monster with flames", I just cant seem to get her to understand what the difference is...
Tell her that Flyfisherman told you to divorce her ... no ... wait, better not.
That MrBuddy heater would have heated your bedroom there during that ice storm ... then I bet she would have loved it!
I've used a MrBuddy for over ten years and have slept many a night with it keeping things comfortable. With that type of portable L/P heater it is probably as safe a heater as you'll find. Just be careful where to set it, make sure the face of it where the heat comes out is not butted up against something. Keep it away from curtains and such, where nothing is subject to be placed on top of it. With a little common sense precautions it will serve you well.
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