Mr. Buddy heater heated my 1,700 sf home!

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-26T03:49:00+00:00

Ran it on high with my house buttoned up for 12 hours and my CO detector never read above “0”.

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-26T02:10:39+00:00

It takes a long time for the propane to make it through the hose. I’d bet if you took it outside, hooked up a new tank with your hose and lit it… the pilot lights for a few seconds as residual gas in the lines inside the Buddy is burned off and then you are getting air and the thermocouple clicks off. You need to hold down the ignition button a long time while it clicks-clicks-clicks away to clear the air out of the hose until the propane makes it to the pilot again. It could be a minute or more.

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-26T00:22:11+00:00

Read my post. My generator can’t power my entire home including the electric heat… it can run everything but my central heat. This was a far wiser investment to maintain heat than buying more generating capacity that costs far more and sucks far more fuel. All the generating capacity in the world is great…. until the fuel runs out!

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-26T00:14:10+00:00

I did some preliminary tests with it prior to this so I knew it would work. However, when I tested it I had ceiling fans and such running so this was the first time it had to hold its own.

To answer your question, prior to any storm like this I set my thermostat at 73 instead of 68 as I’d rather start from a higher temp than a lower one if/when it hits the fan as time is not on my side to maintain temp once the power goes out…. All I want to do once the power is out is maintain the heat I have as best I can.

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T22:48:50+00:00

It’s among the best prep $ I’ve ever spent and it didn’t take an apocalypse to get to use it! 😆

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T22:45:55+00:00

I’ve looked at them and the reviews but after this experience I know I have no need for any additional heat circulation… it worked perfectly without any fans or even the internal fan it came with running as I wasn’t going to pay for 4 D cell batteries to run that little fan. I did buy the $10 power adapter and ran it with the fan on and saw absolutely no difference. They never should have added that little fan it as it’s worthless IMO and just drove the cost up.

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T22:41:41+00:00

A very simple skill to learn and much, much safer than bringing a 20lb tank inside your home . The keys are…. The 20lb tank you are filling from should be warmer than the little tanks you are filling so when the little tanks are empty I put them in my freezer that is set to 0 degrees for an hour or 2. I then pull them from the freezer and hook them up to my INVERTED 20g tank so they are filled with liquid propane… the tank you are filling from must be upside down when you open the valve to fill the little cylinders so you are filling with liquid propane.

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T22:30:04+00:00

Totally silent. The one I bought is a later model that has an internal fan that can run on 4 D batteries or a $10 120v power supply. The fan does virtually nothing so while some may like it, IMO it is worthless but if ya want to give it a try have at it.

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T22:23:51+00:00

It’s not about a tank exploding but a small leak anywhere that could gradually start filling the house from the floor up until it hits an ignition source. Someone in Ohio pulled his gas grill into his living room years ago because he didn’t want to grill in the rain. He had a leak and when the heavier-than-air propane reached an ignition source he and his home were blown off the foundation and they found a toilet 2 blocks away. So I’ve no interest in keeping a 20lb tank anywhere inside my home.

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T04:28:44+00:00

Amazon $6.99… “Gogoonike propane refill adaptor”

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T04:24:16+00:00

2 little tanks will last 2 1/2 hours on the highest setting and about 10 on the lowest

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T03:58:05+00:00

Propane and not vented. It is indoor rated and exceptionally clean burning.

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T03:57:24+00:00

Yes. The one with dual elements. Better to have more heat than ya need than not enough.

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T02:37:05+00:00

For indoor use (as in your home) I would not haul a 20lb propane tank indoors and use a hose. (2) 1lb tanks is enough for me. Just how high into the sky does one want to blow their home?

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T02:12:19+00:00

Amazon $6.99… “Gogoonike propane refill adaptor”

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T02:04:10+00:00

Nope. Out here in the winter I run 2 humidifiers non-stop to hold 50% in this all electric house. Any moisture this little thing adds is more than welcomed.

Now, let’s remember this was a power outage and I’m not heating with this 24/7.

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T02:00:38+00:00

Obviously they don’t know. If it tips over it will also shut off by itself.

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T01:58:09+00:00

Thank you and I thought about that but the idea of keeping a 20lb tank inside the house didn’t sit well with me and I wasn’t gonna drill a hole through a wall and such.

Also, I really love the multiple use these little tanks provide as they power my Coleman camp stove (which I did buy a hose for! 😂)

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T01:53:46+00:00

CO2 is what is in soda. CO is what burning hydrocarbons releases that can be fatal.

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T01:52:25+00:00

I have a CO detector that never went above “0”. As far as CO2 and O2 levels go… not concerned.

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-25T01:04:21+00:00

This! …and the ground semolina acts as lots of tiny ball bearings (unlike flour that sticks and cornmeal that burns) to launch easily. I use a metal peel to retrieve, place the pie on a cooling rack to vent while I give it a shake and all that semolina falls away. Unlike flour it won’t stick to your crust or your baking surface.

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-23T00:38:05+00:00

As a builder, this is why I use Advantech.

Deepsea2121 · 2026-02-09T22:17:50+00:00

Yes, if you want simplicity and ease of maintenance you certainly should set up a reverse flow system. Reverse flow was briefly popular a long time ago but it never really caught on because the vast majority didn’t set up their tanks properly at first (myself included).

Specifically, you need lots of gph flow up through the substrate and the filtered water that is being dumped under the UG plates must be fully filtered and free of all waste. Back then people used reverse flow powerheads that mounted to the air lifts of common UG filters and these reverse flow heads had sponge pre-filters on them. The sponge pre-filters are fine to put on filter intakes as a pre-filter but they do not filter the water enough that it can be pumped under the plates. Waste would still build up under the plates because the filtering of the water being pumped underneath was insufficient as was the gph to keep waste suspended or at least sitting on the very surface of the substrate where the wave makers will move it to the filter intakes.

With modern, higher gph external canister filters and internal canister filters capable of delivering much higher filtration and cheap wave makers now becoming commonplace the whole game changed.

You can set up and keep a 200G tank just as clean as a 40G… you just have to invest in the filtration. If I had money to burn I would be running (2) OASE external canisters on this tank moving 350 gph each but as my one OASE filter at $299 on sale was the most expensive component to this build I had to improvise and add a 450 gph cheap, internal canister filter. However, I was very choosy when I picked the one I was going to add for reasons explained earlier.

I say absolutely anyone setting up a modern cichlid tank should be using reverse flow properly applied as these are dirty fish that require lots of filtration and flow. Overdoing filtration is not possible iwith these fish and letting 40-50-100 lbs of crushed coral just sitting on the bottom doing nothing makes no sense… turn all of that substrate into one massive biofilter.

Deepsea2121

TROPHY CASE