Advice on Portable Propane Heaters

In competition we use a canopy tent (10' x 10' Quick Shade) with wall panels. I'm looking for a propnae heater to use during the fall. Does anyone have experience with the Mr. Heater Portable Buddy or Big Buddy and how do they compare to the gas tank mount type (the round glowing metal mesh type that sit right on top of a 20 lb tank)?

Any other type that you recommend?

Thanks,

Stoke&Smoke said:

When we had a tent for comps, instead of our pop-up camper we use now, we used a Mr. Heater big buddy and were very happy with it. In fact, I still keep it in the trailer in case the on board heater fails.

Some of the tank top ones I've seen work well also, but they get dangerously hot. If wind is blowing at all and your canopy sides are down, they could burn the walls

Only downside to the Big buddy is that it has inputs for two of the small propane tanks, and I wish they had an adapter that would allow connection to a 20lb tank. A have such an adapter for 20lb to single small receptacle, but have not see one with dual outputs

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That's a bummer..........I'll check around for an adapter.

Stoke&Smoke said:

I guess I should have mentioned that we had the small 1 burner unit first, and it (1) didn't put out enough heat and (2) ran for much less time.

We used the big buddy at a non-sanctioned contest held in February, where the temp was 8 above 0 when we arrived and reached a high of about 30, and it kept us pretty toasty

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Sounds like you were at the Winter Burn-off! That's good to know that the Big Buddy worked well at those temps. I want something for Lambs Farm, which shouldn't be terribly cold. Last year it was cold and damp. I did borrow a single tank top (sunflower) for Lambs Farm last year, but I wasn't all that impressed. It did take the edge off, but I found myself by the fire pit more than inside the tent.

ZILLA said:

Zip up sides make the difference. If you only have velcro loops on the sides it's going to be very hard to heat your tent. I have a Caravan brand canopy with zip up sides and 1 sunflower heater and I cannot turn it up to high for very long, it just gets too hot inside the canopy. Before that we could use three sunflowers and have only small comphort and only if you were right in front on the heater. A better conopy is what I would recomend you invest in then the heater won't matter much.

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I do have a fully zippered wall panel kit. What I didn't like about the zippered walls was that the panels fit so tightly that it was very dificult to zip up the entry panels. Do you have the same issue with the Caravan entry? How is the durability of the Caravan tent compared to the Quick Shade. I have the Summit model, which seems quite durable.......just don't like the walls.

It can get pretty cold up here in Chicagoland..................and windy...........aka The Windy City! I bet those three sunflowers suck up the propane very quickly.


Thanks to everyone for the advice and comments.

BBQchef33 said:

The DO have a big buddy adapter for 20lb tanks... i have the 12 foot version.

the big budddy makes my trailer real toasty, only issue is it puts out tons of moisture(nature of the propane beast) and it gets real humid in there. It MUST be run with good airflow or its actually uncomfortably wet in there.

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Thanks for the information on the adapter.

Is the humidity issue related to the Big Buddy or propane heaters in general?

Thanks,