Furnace and Heater Buddy

Happy Trails,

Sometime back, in two different posts I spoke to both what may be your furnace problem and also the Heater Buddy.   I just did a search on both, using the keyword "furnace" and then the keyword "heater buddy".  I used 365 days for the MAX days to search and found both.  For those who haven’t used the search feature, it works very well.  Sometimes these post discussions end up in odd places and the search feature is the easiest way to find what you looking for.  Just like this topic of furnaces and Heater Buddy was posted under Tires, Tires, Tires.  Any way, I found both my posts and here they are:

04/18/02

I had a similar problem with my Suburban furnace. The fan would blow, the unit would attempt to light (three times) and would then shut down. With very limited knowledge of electronics, I turned to a local repairman authorized to work on Suburban furnaces. The tech said it would be best for me to remove the furnace myself and bring it in, so he could put it on a bench for testing. It wasn't hard removing the furnace from inside the sofa (2720sl), a couple of screws and color coding the wires (oops, there I go giving away my level of expertise in these matters).

Anyway, $200 later, I found out my problem was the furnace was in need of a
new ignition board.


The tech told me these boards had "the new generation of pressed cardboard circuitry" and were not that well sealed. Moisture often times will enter the board causing them to swell and break the circuit. This will oftentimes lead to much frustration, as the circuitry begins to go bad: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But eventually, the occasionally failure will "bring no delight to a cold night". Mine works great now. Just maybe, this is your problem. Not cheap, but less expensive than replacing the furnace.

Happy trails..............George

05/27/02

I would like to mention two purchases that have made our "dry camping" a much more simple process: 1) a extremely quiet, light-weight, very portable Honda 2000eu watt generator and 2) a propane heater from Mr heater, called Portable buddy.

We use the generator only to make coffee, run the microwave and charge the battery when required. We try limit our light usage to one at a time and turn the refrig to propane. When dry camping the TV is set to run on 12V. The furnace is turned off and out comes the "buddy" heater.

The portable "buddy" is placed on the top of the stove in our 2720SL. It can be operated using a standard 1 lb canister of propane. However, we use an optional 12 ft hose connector assembly, purchased from Mr. heater, which is connected to the heater and threaded through the small velcro'd flap to an outside 20 lb tank. This option is billed to heat for 110 hours. The unit operates at two settings: a 4000 btu low setting and a 9000 btu high setting. One unique feature of this unit is it's automatic "Low-Oxygen" Shut- off system. It's safe to use indoors.

Thusfar, We are very happy with both the Honda generator and our "buddy" heater. Good luck in the woods, and beware of the black flies. Boy, did I get "hammered" this past week, while chasing morels.     George

The heater buddy worked great for me, but I wasn’t at high altitude.  I only use the buddy when I’m dry camping.  Otherwise I use the hookup service.  I also, have a quartz heater along if I want to conserve on propane.  I would suggest the 12 hose and a larger propane tank.  If you could get a hose fabricated long enough, I’m sure you could take advantage of the tanks in the front of your TM.  The 1 lb canister works but is only good for about four hours.  We only had to run the buddy at the lowest setting and the trailer stayed nice and "toasty" (nights in the mid thirties).

George

Thanks a lot George, I just never got around to searching them out, plus I wanted to ask if you've been pleased since with your "Buddy", as well as if the price of $104 is too much to pay for one of them? You did answer my question tho about it being adequate to heat the TM in 30 degree weather. The hose can be easily fabricated by a friend of mine who's in that business we deal with a lot for very little bucks. (Roanoke Hose and Fittings). Just don't know about the furnace tho, if *anything's* broken on it at all, it's not a Suburban, and parts cannot be had for it at all......will require a whole new furnace. But my problem is slightly different, mine continues to blow air till it gets cut off, doesn't automatically shut down which makes me a bit nervous. Donny down at TM said he had to replace the one in his TM because of a similar situation, as well as suggested a couple things I need to try when I get a chance, but I wasn't real clear on what he was talking about......I guess once I get in there, I'll see what he was talking about then........

[glow=red,2,300]Happytrails............[/glow]

Happytrails(bill) ;D,

I will vouch for the Mr Heater Buddy Heaters, in fact we have two of them. The going price is around $100. I managed to get both of mine on sale, one for $80 and the other on end-of-year clearance for $60. We use them in our pop-up one on the table pointed towards one bunk end and the other on the stove pointed towards the other end. On high they will maintain 75+ degrees even down into the low twenties. We usually only run one at a time on low and sleep under a down comforter, or use sleeping bags. With the insulating factor of the TM one should be more than sufficent. Defintely go with the long hose rig. We use a 20# LP cylinder in a milk crate sitting on the ground and lead the hose out under the canvas. Hadn't thought about making a longer hose and running it to the spare front tank. Good idea!

Aaron

Wow wahoonc, thanks so much for the info! (I was wondering about colder weather as well). I was a little dissapointed tho about my friend not being able to help me, I'll have to go to my city's LP company to get that hose, but I do need it as my girl's disabled, and would be tripping over any hoses, and other stuff sitting right outside the camper. (Huntington's disease) With the extension, the cord could run completely under the camper with nothing in the way!  


[glow=red,2,300]Happytrails............[/glow]

Bill,
Another thing I have considered but have not acted on was putting a high pressure port somewhere on the out side of the camper where a hose could be run to it. Just using copper line to feed the port, it would have to come off before the regulator probably a tee of some sort.  This would avoid having to use an overly long rubber LP hose, they are notorious for UV damage. The Coleman upper end campers have an outside LP hook up for the "high pressure" stove. I was figuring something like that but un-regulated for the Buddy Heater. So many ideas but no time.
Aaron

Wahoo, that last post of yours really sparked an idea for me. Yes, I had thought about running copper line and all that, but I wanted something simple like a long hose. However, after what you just said about it, It made me remember I have a line already run with fairly easy access to it. My old reefer line! I had to replace my three way out with a regular "dorm" style fridge, so the line's just sitting there doing nothing. I could simply run a 5 foot hose down to the connection and that would be that! I did however purchase a thing to refill the 1lb bottles from the 20lb cyl. mainly so's I'd have gas for my lantern or grill if needed.

[glow=red,2,300]Happytrails........[/glow]

Bill,
Make sure that line is unregulated or the Buddy won't heat. I tried to use my stove port on my Niagara but it doesn't generate enough pressure. Some one tried to explain how single and two stage regulators work but I am still kind of fuzzy on it. Basically I got that ,if you have a device that requires tank pressure it will not work or work properly if the pressure is below a certain point. Don't remeber what tank pressure is. I know that at my house we have a gas pack, LP. They stepped the tank pressure down to 2 psi, then stepped it down again at the unit to something like 1/2 psi. Also I would highly reccomend that you leave a window cracked for fresh air, and add a CO detector. Never can be too safe.
As far as filling small LP tanks from the larger ones, 1) it does work, but the tanks never get as full as they were orginally. 2) We used to put the small tanks in the freezer overnight, it seemed to help pull extra LP into them. 3) It is illegal to transport refilled 1# tanks. I'm not going to tell. The only other odd issue is every now and again the valve on the 1# tank will fail and you will need to toss the tank.

Aaron

I didn't think about that, and yes, it is regulated off the tank by the regulator on the tounge. Oh well, lol, back to stage one I guess. And yes, it says in the instructions to chill the 1# tanks before filling them. The only other instructions were to leave it filling for exactly one minute. I'm not exactly sure how the regulators work, I know the heater buddy's got one on it.....so if there's two (including the one on the heater itself), it won't work? I was thinking once it was regulated already, the second regulator on the heater would be redundant.


[glow=red,2,300]Happytrails.........[/glow]

Hi Bill,
That part about the two regulators was what did not make sense to me, but that is the way it is. Apparently regulators are sensitive to input pressure too. You could splice a tee in between the regulator and the tank and extend your fridge line to that fairly easily. I don't think that the outside LP tank would be a problem with your daughter, just slide it under the camper and the hose could be tucked behind one of the arms, on the off side of the camper.

Aaron

That's a thought with the splicing thing, but haven't looked under the trailer to see where it hooks in yet. I have already gotten 2 12' lines to run it all the way to the tounge, but have to get a connector to connect them together still. BTW, my girl is Karen, not my daughter Hannah, she's just fine and turned 5 years old on the 27th of last month! (Yup, "Chucky Cheese" trip....lol) It was funny, we were out there, and ran into a guy we do business with and his family.......they were there at Chucky's for their daughter's 20th birthday!