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Mr Heater Buddy Connection To Aux Propane Port?

Well, isn’t this a thing!
rmbrowder said:
I connect the desired extension to the QD adapter, plug the QD adapter into the trailer, bleed the hose, connect it to the appliance. I also make sure to hold the appliance primer down for about one minute so the pilot light ignites (and hold it down longer if needed, Buddy Heaters are touchy about this). I’ve hooked up propane lanterns, grills, fireplaces to the QD with no problems.
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RMB, your experience is that the regular Buddy works direct from the CI’s rear gas spigot, no further filtering or regulator, with a little attention to finicky air bleeding and priming?

Edit: sorry, I see you DO use a filter. Between the gas hose & buddy?

I guess that means I should buy & test the regular “middle” Buddy with CI’s quick disconnect gas whip… another accessory I’ve never tried…
 
Seth: You can try to replicate, but… that’s what started this whole adventure. It didn’t work for me (Buddy+ CI Accessory Hose+CI side port QD= Pilot LightExtinguishment after 15 seconds. Ostensibly because it’s double-regulated at the tank and at the swivel bottle connection.

Good luck.
 
Steve and Karen said:
Seth: You can try to replicate, but… that’s what started this whole adventure. It didn’t work for me (Buddy+ CI Accessory Hose+CI side port QD= Pilot LightExtinguishment after 15 seconds. Ostensibly because it’s double-regulated at the tank and at the swivel bottle connection.

Good luck.
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Ah, but did you filter, bleed, & prime? I’m fortunate that I have a local retailer with the regular Buddy and filter, just down the road, so I can easily test.

It’s humbling, I find propane distribution confusing. So far. I guess that’s how some might feel reading my pages and pages of electrical posts here, now the shoe is on the other foot!

The real issue here is keeping my dear co-camper warm and happy as I am about to retire and want to explore shoulder season camping!
 
Well… the filter would only be for long term use and doesn’t affect psi either before or after it. Its not necessary for proper lighting and operation.

Lots of bleeding of the CI accessory hose. I even connected the screw-on at the heater with the tank barely cracked and slight + pressure, meaning there was absolutely no air in the hose. The longest pilot light I got was 15 seconds, which was possibly latent gas in the line from disconnecting the bottle. Primed for over a minute; there was nothing flowing. Normal priming with bottle takes only a couple seconds.

Every time it’s worked it’s been with one regulator; every time it hasn’t it’s been with two. I’m pretty confident that’s my stumbling block. And its in alignment with MH literature, once you get the right literature and source.

I have a Big Buddy coming and a Big Buddy hose. The male QD (to replace the regulator on the hose) is on a slow boat from Asia. So a complete test using the CI side port may be 2 weeks away.
 
Steve and Karen said:
Well… the filter would only be for long term use and doesn’t affect psi either before or after it. Its not necessary for proper lighting and operation.

Lots of bleeding of the CI accessory hose. I even connected the screw-on at the heater with the tank barely cracked and slight + pressure, meaning there was absolutely no air in the hose. The longest pilot light I got was 15 seconds, which was possibly latent gas in the line from disconnecting the bottle. Primed for over a minute; there was nothing flowing. Normal priming with bottle takes only a couple seconds.

Every time it’s worked it’s been with one regulator; every time it hasn’t it’s been with two. I’m pretty confident that’s my stumbling block. And its in alignment with MH literature, once you get the right literature and source.

I have a Big Buddy coming and a Big Buddy hose. The male QD (to replace the regulator on the hose) is on a slow boat from Asia. So a complete test using the CI side port may be 2 weeks away.
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Och. Thanks for these details. I have time to learn more about your and others’ results before preparing for Utah… Perhaps the Big Buddy will be the thing that works best.
 
From a Christmas Story: “You’re going to shoot your eye out”. I bleed the hose by depressing the hose valve pin until gas comes out. Guess what could happen if there is a nearby ignition source and proceed accordingly. The safe method is to hold the appliance primer down for 5 to 10 minutes.
 
I just went out and verified the operation on a Big Buddy. Adapter pigtail and an 8’ extension, connected to CI port, turned on tank, purged line, connected to appliance, held appliance knob down for 15 seconds, clicked to pilot, held knob down till pilot was self sustaining, turned on heater element.
 
rmbrowder said:
I just went out and verified the operation on a Big Buddy. Adapter pigtail and an 8’ extension, connected to CI port, turned on tank, purged line, connected to appliance, held appliance knob down for 15 seconds, clicked to pilot, held knob down till pilot was self sustaining, turned on heater element.
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That sounds like no regulators - did you connect to the Big Buddy’s screw-in tank port or the quick disconnect?

Thanks!
 
Thus all suddently snaps into place after Cary posted the dual regulators fighting it out. Way back in the day, I picked up one of these hoses and have used it on a couple of 1lb accessories --- and its worked perfectly well.

Now I want to get a buddy heater and try it...it works flawlessly with my Webber-Q Grill...which also has its own regulator.

EDIT: use this link as a photographic reference, not an endorsement or recommendation. A quality hose with these fittings is what I'm suggesting, not this specific hose. I still can't get photos "inline" to work. Plus, they take a lot of space and database disk space isn't free.
 
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The regulator is on the CI tank. I connect only hose to the appliance (zoom on the pictures in my prior posts. I typically use the fuel filter. I have had no problems using appliances with a regulator such as a grill or propane fireplace (both are high flow, the heaters burn a little fuel).
 

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Big buddy is certainly larger than I thought it would be!

I know its radiant heat, not convective --- how does it work when 'out in the cold' sitting it front of it like a fan on a warm summer day?

I have a solo-stove, and it is FANTASTIC for creating a mood, and making firewood last a lot longer. But it's not as good at 'throwing' heat --- I'm wondering if the two together would be a nice sucker punch on cool nights.
 
Sweeney said:
Big buddy is certainly larger than I thought it would be!
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I concur.

I was thinking of giving everything a test run today (heater + shelter) since it was cold and wet. But my plans to pick up the Backroads this morning was subverted by an "international incident" at the Rainbow Bridge. I'll have to wait for the smoke to clear. Quite literally.
 
U.S Bound from Canada. Had cleared primary and was being directed to secondary inspection. Blew up going at a high rate of speed before it reached anyone else. But there is some infrastructure damage. So I've been able to gather from standard media sources. I have a couple friends/associates who work the CDN side but haven't tapped them for information/confirmation. Buffalo airport is closed to int'l traffic. Can't assume anything at this point.
 
Yes, I've seen that now too, thanks. Our daughter in law's parents just made it out of Buffalo airport before it was shut down. We'll have them all here tomorrow, thankfully. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
 
I’ve been researching and thinking over the last few days, purchased the Kelty Backroads to use as a kitchen semi-tent, and a Mr. Heater Portable Buddy to warm it up. $50 Black Friday at BiMart, a regional store in OR-WA.

This is in preparation for a long awaited April trip to Utah parks, in company with my often freezing spouse.

I think I am going to bite the bullet and just bring sufficient 1lb. propane tanks to run on this first trip, because fueling it from a larger source means either a) getting the Big Buddy & hose to run off the CI gas outlet, or b) modifying the Portable Buddy to bypass its internal regulator to run off the CI gas outlet, or c) carrying a pony 5-lb tank/hose to run the Portable Buddy.

Steve &Karen chose “a”, I look forward to reading how it works for them!

I really want “b”, but want to see if the Portable Buddy has sufficient capacity and usefulness before diving into modifying it. I might need to go to “a” with Steve & Karen.

“c” means storing/transporting at least as much bulk as the Big Buddy. I guess that isn’t much of a choice.

By the way, “a” appears to be the only way to hook up to the CI with stock components.

I don’t know if that’s helpful to anyone else, it’s just how I’m thinking about it. It’s taken me a minute to learn about propane regulators and distribution…

Edit:
On rereading the entire thread I see that almost all my learning points were covered by others - thanks! Somehow it has taken days of internet research to understand the issues. As S&K pointed out Mr. Heater could do quite a bit better in their guidance about what works with what!
 
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Stay warm! I somehow must have ended up with a defective CI regulator or defective Mr. Heaters, regardless I feel fortunate to only need the Ci pigtail and a Coleman extension hose.
 
Just after this posted we lost power for about 8 hours --- planned by the utility --- but they never told us. The power pole in my yard needed to be replaced. So we had no heat for a couple hours, I thought it might be nice to have a backup..

Geesch! Do these things crank out the heat!!!!

I'll be doing a hose hookup to the CI later today if things go as planned.
 
I'm doing an about-face. After purchasing the middle "Portable Buddy" I've returned it for the Big Buddy. More on getting it hooked up with a Mr. Heater hose connection to the CI in a future post when I test it out!

Why the BB? When I was speaking with my co-camper (that's her in the profile pic, the one without the beard), I was explaining how afraid I was of the size of the BB. See Steve's photo in post #32. Wouldn't a PB be so much better! So I showed her pictures, then said "We'll try it out in Utah in April; it'll be great. I'll just bring 10 1-lb. propane tanks!"

Which was followed by "DUH!" and a big forehead slap. 10 1-lb. propane tanks is way bigger than the Big Buddy!

It helped that our fav retailer put the BB on sale for $99...
 
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