Wee little propane heaters - comparison?

[madpogue]

We're looking to sleep in the bed of our pickup (with fiberglass topper) in a coupla weeks; it's expected to go down into the 20s-F. Looking at one or another little propane heater that runs on a 16-oz can, and I'm confusded. The two major players are the various Coleman ProCat, SportCat, etc. and the Mr. Heater Little Buddy. The Coleman heaters are catalytic, which AFAIK means no flame, but it consumes oxygen in the space. The Mr. Heater unit appears to be a radiant heater, and I _think_ that means it burns with a flame, but supposedly it's a complete burn with no CO emission.

But I haven't found a single site that compares them, wrt. efficiency, CO emission or general safety. The Mr. Heater product is self-starting, and the Colemans are a mix of self-igniting and match-lit.

So what are the advantages/disadvantages of the two types of heat, and of the different types of ignition? Anybody know of a site out there that compares them side-by-side?

 

[tommu56]

The mr buddy burns the air too the only thing that won't consume O2 will be a vented heater.
I have a rm buddy for my cabin and use it in the bathroom to take the chill off for showering.

I've slept in the back of many truck for hunting and fishing and never used a heater just bundle up it is heck getting out of the sleeping bag in the morning. (the more people in there the warmer you will be):laughing:

One of the most important places people forget to insulate is insulate under neath your body.
card board will work but stack it up about 1-1 1/2' thick.

The other thing besides the carbon monoxide problem would be some thing touching the heater and catching fire all the flames are open with a metal grid to keep you from touching but paper or nylon sleeping bag would melt for sure.

tom

 

[SPIKER]

the radiant heaters could in theory be put outside the camper ans shine though a window.

ALL of them will produce Carbon Monoxide (deadly in a confined space.) There will also be CO2 from the people sleeping in there. If they are burning cleanly you can use them under moderate conditions a sealed up pick up cap is not a good space for one though. A better choice is the radian heater placed outside shining in if you have clear glass in itl Even leaving the tail gate down with it shining in will help but will still have issues with the orderless tasteless gas slowly choking ya...

If you have electric available that will be much safer. or you can heat up a slab of steel to warm the area. also if there are a couple few of ya in there there will be some body heat to help. best bet is a GOOD sleeping bag...

also toss in a 4x8 sheet of styro-foam insulation board. works great! also takes care of the ridges in the bed, been there done that.

Mark

 

[madpogue]

Thanks for the reply, man. Yeah, I've heard the same thing about the bottom of the bed being the important thing to insulate. We're actually fixin' on blowing up an air bed, so that should do nicely.

And all the heaters I've seen, they say NOT to run it while sleeping, so the plan is to just run the thing 'til the space is nice and warm, and then shut it off and tuck in. Maybe get up in the middle of the night once to re-fresh the heat.

Any ideas for insulating the bed sides? Something that'll be safe with the heater?

 

[tungularafishcamp]

We use one of those thick blow up queen airmatress' weither in the truck bed or in the tent on the snow and it works great to stay warm. We also have the larger size little buddy (get a hose and hook it to a larger bottle) and use it to warm things up before going to bed and before getting out of the bag in the am but NEVER during the night asleep. Also get 2 bags that zip together:thumbsup:
Have Fun!!!

 

[LakeRat1]

The Mr. Heater Little Buddy is a great heater, i have 3, but i would not want to go to sleep in the bed of a truck with one of them lit. unless you had made some kind of shelf to make sure nothing get near it, it will burn 6 hr. on low if i remember right, we have 2- 8 x5 and 1- 5 x 5 deer blinds that are tight, and we have no trouble other than anything in front of it gets hot, on Low not to far out, but on High out about 3 Ft get warm, they also have a saftey tilt over switch, There is a lot of heat going up also, so you could not have it to near the top of the camper shell, be Careful

 

[tommu56]

again on the sides card board would work

We use to have a 2' plywood wide board across the truck bed laying on the cap flanges with some 2x4 reinforcement and would put alot of stuff up on there above our feet the rest would be in the cab we even had a 3rd person sleep on it one time but that guy was short.:laughing:

tom

 

[madpogue]

No need for the hose, since (shhh, don't tell no one...) I refill the 1 lb cans from the 20 lb tank, so it's the same cost to run either way.

Good to hear the positive Mr. Heater feedback. What favors the Mr. Heater in my mind is that it has both a tip-over AND an oxygen depletion shut-off. The Coleman doesn't mention whether it has these or not.

I still haven't figured out whether the catalytic heat is inherently safer, or if the radiant is plenty safe enough. I'm reckoning the Mr Heater is plenty safe; you're not hearing of fellas keeling over from them in their shanties, etc.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

We leave the tailgate open with the heater on it, glass closed so it keeps it away from s bags and such.
So did you find the trick of putting the 1lb cans in the freezer before you fill them, they get a lot fuller that way.
Rick

 

[madpogue]

We leave the tailgate open with the heater on it, glass closed so it keeps it away from s bags and such.

So the heater sitting on the tailgate, head pointed inward, is enough to heat the space? Doesn't the open tailgate let out too much heat?

So did you find the trick of putting the 1lb cans in the freezer before you fill them, they get a lot fuller that way.
Rick

Yup; what seems to work best for me is: fill it once (get about 10oz in), put in fridge (or outside on a cold day), fill again. That usu. gets me a 15-16 oz fill. CAUTION: chilling/freezing the canister can allow yout to OVERfill it (it'll bulge out when it warms up. Now (after doing that to a coupla cans) I tare weight the can before filling and weigh again after, to make sure I don't overfill. I retired the bulge-y cans I overfilled.

BTW (oh-oh, hijacking my own thread!), is your 20-lb tank a new OPD (overturn protection) valve? Mine is, and it seems like when I turn it over to fill the little can, it stops working when there about 5 lb still in the tank. I wonder if an old-style valve would allow me to completely empty the tank. I take the tank to a refill station rather than an exchange, so no loss, but...