mr buddy fail

[VanLifeCrisis]

Coldest day of the year, and it wont work. Had to retreat to my sisters.

Works for 5 min normal then dies out, if i cut it back the pilot light surges, if i turn it up it fades. I have filter, hose, 20 lbs tank, all pretty new...maybe 1 month. Just filled it recently. Its like there isnt enough pressure or gas feeding through. I tried opening the value slowly but didnt seem to work.

Guess its little tanks again

 

[Stargazer]

Similar thing happened to a friend. The filter was bad. Try changing it. Good luck!

 

[LFM]

That's what i'm thinking too. If it was the old style tanks I would also suspect an over filled propane tank. Are you saying the small tanks work?

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Couple of questions:

How cold are we talking?

Whereabouts are you?

Is the lpg locally sourced, or did you bring it with you from somewhere else?

Lpg need not be pure propane. It can be a mix of propane and butane. They have approximately the same amount of btu s per gallon, but propane works down to minus 40 while butane only works down to freezing (32).

A tank with a fair proportion of butane in it will provide very little gas when it gets cold.

Regards
John

 

[James AKA Lynx]

These also have a CO2 censor that cuts off the heater when to much.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

A friend told me the filter on his needed to be replaces last year after only a couple months use.
Hope you get yours working today.

 

[PastTense]

You could get a backup unit (the simplest, cheapest model).

 

[owl]

What I have discovered after using Buddys for three years is, some propanes for some reason dirty up filters faster than others. I try to vary where I buy my propane. These heaters are also prone to the venturie stopping up with dust or dirt easily. In the owners manual it shows how to disassemble and clean. May also be on youtube, everything else is.

 

[rverscorner]

It could be a partly plugged pilot orifice. Mine did the exact same thing ... I posted a how-to on my website with picture etc. as I disassembled it, cleaned the pilot orifice and put it all back together. This is the Little Buddy heater but should be similar to the Big Buddy.

http://www.rverscorner.com/Little_Buddy_Heater.html

Les Doll
www.rverscorner.com

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

Thanks for the suggestions. I did some testing, and it works with the lil bottles, so im thinking the culprit is the tank, hose or filter. Some people online were saying it could be a safety feature in the hose that stems the flow if too much propane goes in too fast. I had shut the tank off while traveling, and reopened that night. So i unhooked the hose from heater and tank, then hooked it all back up. I carefully turned the tank valve till i heard the gas and pressurized the hose. I turned on the heater and let it run, then opened the valve on tank the rest of the way.

It seems to be working now, thank God. I still have the little ones as back up now tho.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Just wondering...does that filter also act as a regulator or do you have one on your hose??
Don't have a Buddy, but thinking about one.

 

[James AKA Lynx]

The filter is separate and usually before regulator, tank side.

 

[rverscorner]

The Buddy heaters have a built in regulator inside. No external regulator is needed.

 

[Zil]

If you use a separate tank with a hose. You need a pressure regulator at the tank. Not needed for the one pound cylinders. If you use the separate tank with a hose, the filter needs to be after the hose before the heater. Some newer hoses do not need the filter. I would use a filter any way.

 

[owl]

rver is right, Zil is wrong. I have been running a 20lb tank on mine for three years without a regulator.