We have a 2000 Jayco Eagle 10...no furnace. We primarily boondock and are considering purchasing a Mr Heater Buddy to help extend our camping season a bit. It doesnt have a great run time off the little propane tanks though. You can however purchase a hose and fitting that will run it off of a 20lb tank. Inside we have the hook up for the stove that we never use. It has a connection that is similar to a air line fitting. Has anyone attempted to or found a connection that will allow me to safely run the heater buddy using this line connected to the 20lb tank? Or is this just a bad idea?
And....some people say they are safe inside. I chatted with a propane expert...he says, "don't do it".
I have used a Mr. Heater attached to 20lb bottles for years. It keeps the pup quite warm. I do have carbon monoxide and propane detectors in mine. I think I got them at Home Depot.
If you haven't purchased the buddy heater yet, I suggest the Big Buddy Heater. It has 3 heat settings and a quick attach for the propane i assembled a hose to connect mine to the stove quick attach.
You can buy varying lengths of hose if your stove one won't work. I have a 5 foot hose that I connect mine to a small 4 or 5lb tank which is much better than the 1lb bottles. Make sure to get a filter if you go this route. Some of the hoses leach something the messes up the buddy heaters but the filter stops that. I have used mine for quick heat up in the our old pup but I wouldn't sleep with it on, just don't feel comfortable with it while sleeping. I also use mine in the garage in the winter and it's great. I agree, get the big one. You can always turn the big buddy down to a lower setting but the little ones you can't turn any higher.
I use a Propane Tree. This makes having an extra 20# tank very helpful. I put a Lamp on top. Than hook up a stove and run a hose into the Pup by where the door Velcro. I also have a board to put the heater on and use a bungee cord to make sure it can't fall over. I have no fear of using it in the Pup because the only time I got the carbon monoxide and propane detectors to sound off was when We were camping in 25-30 degree weather and I was running the furnace, Stove & Mr Buddy heater. I shut down the stove and sleep fine for the next 3 nights.
If you hooked this up to an inside stove quick attach .... you would be running the heater on low pressure, wouldn't you?
Both buddies operate at low pressure (past their regulator) but the bigger buddy has a quick disconnect that bypasses the regulator, uses low pressure input right to the burner. One can use this hose that has a regulator at the propane cylinder and hose with quick connect http://www.mrheater.com/12ft-big-buddy-hose-with-regulator.html If ya use this hose with the big buddy, you can add the matching quick connect for your situation to supply reg low pressure to the big buddy http://www.mrheater.com/sporting/12ft-big-buddy-rv-hose.html
Yes, the quick attach bypasses the regulators that the bottles screw into. If you use the quick attach from a 20lb bottle you need a regulator at the bottle. If you use the hose with a 1" fitting screwed into where the bottles go, you don't need the regulator.
Thanks for all the feedback. We camped this past weekend, night time temps were in the mid 50s. I can't see us camping in temps much lower than 50 degrees. My buddy lent us his little buddy 3800 BTU heater. It warmed the camper up to about 78 degrees with the unused bunk curtained off. A little too hot for me, but the wife was happy happy happy. So was the dog, he just wanted to hang out in the camper. The wife an I were actually able to spend an hour and half by the campfire without have to babysit mr. bark at the wind...which, for those who know my dog, is unheard of. I hooked my buddy up with a wireless router and some networking help when we returned from our trip, in exchange he let us keep the heater. A coworker is going to 3D print me a base mount that fits the in floor post mount for the kitchen table, it will be super sturdy. Very happy with this for the time being.
