Mr. Heater F232017 MH9BXRV Buddy Grey Indoor-Safe Portable RV Radiant Heater (4,000-9,000-BTU)

I’ve been using these things since the ‘70s. I kept one in my VW Camper to keep warm in the winter nights. I’ve used them camping. They are simple and durable with no liquid fuel to worry about. Propane doesn’t spill and stinks if it leaks. Portable Buddy This is the second Portable I’ve purchased. The first was for my aforementioned ‘76 VW camper. This one is for our family inflatable 200sqft Koala 7 canvas tent. Yes, this little gem keeps things toasty in the evenings and overnight. I get about 100hours out of a 20lb tank. Good for about 4 days running on low 24hrs/day or 10 days just evenings and overnight for 10hrs/day. We do have a wood burning stove that we’ll use during the day should we have to if we’re in camp. But normally the days aren’t very cold where we camp in the winter, usually in the mid southeast. The wood stove is a nice ambiance, but the smoke is a problem if the air pressure outside is higher than the heated air inside. Hot air is less dense (it’s how hot air balloons float) and so lower air pressure per volume. If your stove draft isn’t strong enough to overpower the difference, you get a “back wash” of smoke. Cough, cough…. Big Buddy This has two ceramic elements, each is the same size as the portable buddy. Growing up in the northeast, we used the Big Buddy. With two elements, working independently (one lit is for Low and Medium settings and both for the high setting.) you get the benefit of the two units. If you need the heat of the portable Buddy, just use the Big guy on low and medium. If the temp is going to drop well below freezing, set it on high with both tiles glowing, for those times. The high setting flexibility is good to have, while the fuel and heat efficiency of the Portable Buddy “single” is the first option. Hoping your Buddy proves to be a good friend….

The thing to know about this heater is it throws off a lot of infrared radiation, which is the primary mode of heating. It is like having a little portable Sun with you. Like if you go outside and it is cold and cloudy, you will feel cold. But at the same outdoor temperature and the Sun beating down on you on a clear winter day (if you have clear winter days were you live), you will feel a lot warmer. A fun little thing to do if you have security cameras with night vision, light this up in view of one of these security camera's at night. It is brilliantly bright and everything in the line of sight of the hot plate on it nearby is brilliantly lit up. With the naked eye at night, you will just see a dim red glow, but the security cameras will see a blindly bright light as it is in IR night vision mode and the black body radiation is primarily in the infrared spectrum. This means when you are outside, basically regardless of conditions, as long as the conditions are good enough for this to work, it will be heating you up. You can even say leave this outside your tent and as long as you are setup to let the infrared light in, it will warm up the inside of your tent and any infrared light hitting you from this will warm you up, say you are laying there in your sleeping bag. It is almost like magic as most people are used to thinking about heating in convection terms while this primarily operates in black body radiative terms. I am not saying sit out there butt naked in the snow with this being your only device to keep you warm, but it is a greet supplemental heat source to help you keep warm when you are doing something sedentary outside in the cold. The one gripe I have about this is the flame is unstable and noisy on the low setting. This works best at the high setting anyway, so probably what you want to do and just forget about the low setting. If you use this with a larger tank with a hose, you may want to plan to shut the main valve off on the larger external tank a couple to a few minutes before you are done using the heater so that there is time for a pressurized hose to purge. As this only lasts a few hours on a 1 lb tank, you can quickly end up getting into using larger tanks with this.

Right out of box had it running in a couple minutes. Very handy, easy to store and cranks the heat out. The tip over shut off I tested worked, can't test the O2 sensor. I noticed no odor when starting or turning off. I plan on using it in an RV for spot heating so I dont' have to fill up the main tank. I will leave a vent cracked just in case. Two wishes, a timer and a remote off switch. It would be perfect then. EDITED TO ADD SOME INFORMATION I had ordered this early knowing I was going to need it within a month or so. After checking it out and making sure I knew how to use it, I shut it down, remove the tank and stored the heater in my little RV on a kitchen shelf. Last Friday night I was in the area I was having to overnight for an early morning call. I buttoned the RV up, pulled out the heater, installed the can, hit the pilot button and after 30 second released it. It shut off. So I did it again, then again and then again. I got a spare new tank out and put it on and tried it again and again. Long story short I spent the night in a 17 degree RV because the heater with a total run time of 10 minutes would not work. Today I finally got in touch with Mr. Heater and after dealing with their awful phone system left a message asking someone to call. About an hour later Kyle called and I explained what had happened. I told him I had cleaned the pilot light as they suggest and nothing worked. While speaking with him he asked how I had stored the heater. I replied on it's back on a shelf. Bingo, there's the problem. He tells me how to take the back off and disconnect two wires from the tipover sensor, jump them together with a paperclip and then I was able to immediatley start the heater and it worked as it should . Apparently storing them on their back may cause the tipover to stick and not release when the heater is put upright. He i sending me a new sensor which I may or may not put in. So 2 important things, don't store this on it's back and if your pilot lights well but the unit itself won't work, open up the back, remove the wires from the little black part mounted to the bottom, jump them with a paperclip and see if it will start. Bet it does.

Nice bit of kit, works really well and when used with the refillable Mr Heater Fuel Keg, it becomes very cost effective once you get over the initial cost of setup. As a side note,,the Fuel kegs are better being imported from amazon.com as the cost from amazon uk is a rip off. There is also a brand called Flame King which, sell the 1lb propane cylinders and many other sizes too, also from amazon.com. Alvin all a good purchase and well worth it.

Easy to use, works great for taking the humidity out of the tent as well as providing perfect heat in an enclosed space. I used it mainly evenings and and in the mornings. If left on even for a short time this really can heat a place up in a hurry so with all the mesh in the tents these days which works well to provide the ventilation required the heat obviously goes through the mesh and heats up the outer part of the tent as well so you won't have to pack up the tent damp. It also works fantastic when left on all night on those below zero nights. At first I worried about oxygen deprivation or carbon monoxide build up, that was unnecessary the unit performed flawlessly and now I view it as I would a dishwasher, a necessary luxury to be sure. I built a carry case out of 3/4 inch plywood to set the unit on in the tent giving it height and and enough weight to provide a solid base and alleviate the chance of a knock down. It also raises the unit above the height of most mattresses etc and when the unit is in use extra propane cylinders can be kept inside. The carry case is open on the top and approximately 18" square. This works extremely well and for those really concerned about the chance of a spill weights could be stacked into the case. I've spent thousands of dollars on sleeping bags over the years some rating to -40 C and still felt chilled winter camping, this could have been avoided had I known...

Lo he usado en un par de ocasiones y funciona hasta ahora perfectamente.

A recent camping trip in northern Ontario put this heater to its first test. Temperatures fell to about 4 degrees C at night and it ran for about 5 hours on low burn to keep us warm and cozy for a good sleep. (Reviews have said it will run much longer but it is possible our tank was not completely full.) Tank switched over early morning and warmed the large tent up quickly. Safety features are all tested. The slightest change of level, and the flame went out and gas went off. Make sure to give it lots of free space around all sides and clearly, nothing that could drop on it as there is an open flame (well protected by a grate, but still a flame). Very sturdy in construction. Good design with easy carrying feature. Installation of gas bottle was very easy (sold separately). Would highly recommend.

El dispositivo es bastante bueno y seguro, sin embargo creo que la duración de un tanque de propano tipo camping (verde) es una tanto corta en HI posición.