Big Buddy Heater

[joecool911]

Yeah, I've seen threads where people are arguing over it. May be part of the problem of whether to sleep with the heater on or not. I'm going to follow all precautions and sleep comfortably. Better off dead and warm than alive and cold. Lol.

[vineyardmh]

Some quick comments to correct mis-statements.

 

Catalytic or ceramic - the goal is to get CO hot enough that in converts to CO2 (not water).

Most fuels are complex Carbon and Hydrogen chains....and when burned, the H burns to H20, the C burns to CO2.  (No way to convert CO to H2O.) 

CO can be a fuel....read up on how to run a gas fueled vehicle on wood....so burn in in an oxygen deficient atmosphere to make CO...then pipe the CO into the engine and combust it. 

 

Next - CO has an atomic weight of 12 + 16 = 28.  Nitrogen exists as N2 ...and has an atomic weight of 28.  Oxygen - again - O2...atomic weight of 32.  All those are ABOUT the same, and due to 'brownian motion' - mix nicely and don't settle out.  So CO will be anywhere/everywhere in the air if it is being created, and it won't 'hug the floor.'

 

IIRC - the hemoglobin in the blood will suck up a CO molecule faster than an O2 molecule (it has a higher affinity)...so a 1% or 2% CO concentration can act like an O2 starved environment....causing serious carbon monoxide poisoning....and death if the blood gets saturated.  (As noted earlier...the hemoglobin grabs on...but the CO doesn't get released...so the blood can loose its ability to transport O2 to the body.)

 

Always ensure some fresh air.  Several years ago - I lost 2 friends (and they had a small baby who also died) due to Carbon Monoxide poisoning....an overly tight home (no ventilation) and a mis-adjusted PROPANE heat system.  Saving a few dollars on heat by not having proper ventilation....well, let's just say it isn't worth the risk! 

[hex0rz]

So, new years eve, me and the wife decided to watch Star Wars series as she has never seen it. I decided I'd better run the generator on the trailer for a little to give it some run time to keep it in working order. I ran it for about 5 minutes or less. I then started smelling a funky exhaust smell and shut the generator down.

 

Dummy ol' me! I forgot I have skirting on and it did not ventilate! Did not burn the skirting, but all the exhaust was under the trailer. We stayed out of the trailer for about 10-15 minutes to let the underside of the trailer air out. Okay, we go back in the trailer and did not smell exhaust fumes. So we started watching the movie and about 30 min into the movie the CO alarm starts going off!

 

So we open up the vents and doors to the trailer and exit it. I got a fan and put it under the trailer to try and push the gasses out. Took about 15 minutes before that CO detector would shut up! Needless to say, how long were we in that trailer inhaling how much of a concentration of the CO gas? The CO alarm is right at the door of the main bedroom and that correlates to being in a high spot out of the way!

 

I feel okay, but still another reminder that dangerous things can be made worse if not handled properly.

 

...and that folks, is another experience in the bag! Obviously this is a contrasting situation, since this is an engine running with less than perfect efficiency.

[Mopar1973Man]

Glad you are OK Hex0rz. Little things like that can ruin a whole lifetime.

 

Even like the Big Buddy heater I tend to still shy away from indoor burning heaters that are portable and not exhausted to the outside primary heating. I would use one if need be to warm the house up but I would rather use a fireplace than a propane heater.

[joecool911]

Well, I'm appreciative about all the warnings and near death experiences. But I still contend that with proper precautions the buddy heaters can be used indoors in an rv without catastrophic results. I've never heard of an incident with proper ventilation and a good CO detector. Any appliance that burns can be a problem. Even home heaters and water heaters. This will never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction. So another thread where division remains and on concensus is achieved.

[hex0rz]

Ehh, can't please everyone!

[MnTom]

You can come up with all sorts of horror stories about anything even horrific crashes. My best advice is to if you use the heater do just like you said you are. Use a CO monitor, crack a vent and a window for ventilation and enjoy yourself! Common sense is all that is required.

[KATOOM]

When looking into secondary heat sources, I researched just about any and all I could find.  I ended up with one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Camco-57341-Olympian-Wave-6-Catalytic/dp/B000BV01CK  Unlike other gas type heaters, this one works up to 12,000 which is something I liked since I camp sometimes in the higher altitude.

[hex0rz]

I saw the buddy heater at the local Big R a couple weeks ago. Says it was safe for indoor use. I was considering one for a little as it was darn cold in the trailer! With propane prices, it would have been better to get all the heat from the unit instead of only getting a little from a heat exchanger on a small furnace for comparison.

[joecool911]

The trailer gets a definate propane smell to it while running the big buddy. Lots of humidity too. Like getting off the plane in Hawaii. You can feel it in your lungs. Not sure it's the end all solution. But it's at least a stop gap measure.