Mr Heater Buddy - I ruined mine using this

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Mr Heater Buddy

I ruined mine Mr Heater Buddy portable heater check out the video to see what I did wrong and how you can prevent it.

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[dsmguy]

My name is neill, and I’m the Senior Tech at Enerco Mrheater. The oil substance is called plasticizers, this is added to all rubber to give it its flexibility. The buddy heaters are unusual in a way because they’re regulated at the unit, instead of being regulated at the fuel source (propane tank larger then 1lb cylinder). Because of this you have tank pressure in the fuel line, which ranges from anywhere around 60-190 psi depending on outside ambient temperature. That pressure squeezes and contracts the hose causing the "plasticizers" to leach out. This is the oily residue you will find coming out of the fuel lines, or possibly see it puddle up underneath the heater.

We make our hoses out of a special kind of rubber that has a very low amount of plasticizer. This is why our hoses are pretty stiff and not easily bendable. This only affects the buddy line of hoses, so this is why we designed and patented our propane fuel filter so these oils can be caught before entering the heater.

These are portable radiant heaters, designed to be used with 1lb throwaway propane cylinders, but we know we need longer run times. This is why we make accessory hoses to connect to larger tanks.

Now with all this being said the 10ft hose (F273704) is the only hose not required to use the fuel filter, unless you have a big buddy and you can get our 12ft (F271803) regulated quick disconnect hose.

Any questions related to this, just ask. I’ll be happy to answer.

[danielthompson]

Thank you for
1) not being clickbait
2) being direct and to the point
3) giving useful information

[bigginspd]

Lol, , , Easy fix and no guessing, , , I use my big buddy mh18 on all sizes of tanks up to 100 lbs and run it 24/7 throughout the winter, , , 5 months, , , I had the same problem and found the solution after I replaced the pilot assembly, , , a pain to do and do not recommend unless you really know what you're doing, , anyway been running great for 5 years now, , , the fix is simple and can be used with any hose, , , mr heater has a built in low pressure regulator so you are running high pressure from larger tanks to the heater through the hose to the heater and that is why leaching occurs and pilot assembly gets clogged, , , To fix this problem just add a low pressure regulator to the tank connection or use any hose with a low pressure regulator already installed, , , mine has a quick connect on it so I just removed it from the hose that came with the heater and attached it to another one I had laying around from a grill or lp stove, , , does not interfere with the mr heater lp regulator, , , so now the propane going through the hose is low pressure and no leaching occurs of any consequence, , , problem solved, , , hope this helps

[alanosborne]

Glad you covered this topic of using the filer. I use a Big Buddy heater in a 10 X 14 Springbar tent and connect the hose to a #20 propane tank outside of the tent.I was told by some other "arm chair experts" I did not need to use the filter. When I first purchased my heater I knew two 1 lb. tanks wouldn't be enough to get me through the night and that was when I came up with the idea of using the #20 tank. Long story short Mr Buddy strongly suggested I use the filter due to the contaminants in the #20 tank and I've been doing it for 5 years now and my Big Buddy is keppin my fat ass warm just fine!! Good job covering this issue!

[donfarmer]

I had this problem and destroyed my first heater buddy trying to clean the lines. Then figured out how to fix my second heater buddy. All you have to do is take an air hose and blow the lines out. Just put the high presure air nosel in the pilot hole and blow it out and problem fixed. My uncle had heater buddy and a propane heater that was similar to the heater buddy we did the same to his propane heaters and it worked on both. So don't throw your heater buddy away till you try to blow it out.

[williamhoenstine]

FYI - I've used propane hoses purchased from Lowe's for over 5 years as well as the filter. I replaced the filter after two years since I don't use the heater constantly during the cold months. Thanks for letting us know WHY it's important to change the filter and why it's necessary.

[PhillipLandmeier]

Yep. All this is exactly correct. The oil you refer to is the plasticizer added to the plastic to make it flexible. We tend to think of plastics as flexible. However, all plastics, PVC, polypro, nylon, etc., are very hard and stiff in their pure form. Pure PVC is rock hard. To make them flexible for things like hoses and wire insulation, a plasticizer is added, usually a pthallate chemical. The more wonderfully soft and flexible the hose, the more plasticizer it has.

Over time and under pressure, this plasticizer will leach out of the plastic as an oily liquid. If that gets into the heater, it will gum up the burners. What's more, as this substance leaches out, your hose will become stiffer. You're actually better off getting a hose that not so wonderfully soft and flexible.

The Mr. Heater filter doesn't actually contain a filter in the usual sense. It's simply an empty chamber where the oil collects by gravity, and it will fill up eventually.

As an engineer, I wanted to understand what was going on, and now you know.

[larrysheets]

I have rebuilt my buddy heater as per mr.heater instructions. The problem comes from the propane left in the hose under pressure, not the actual use. The regulator fills up with the oils, and stops working.
You can avoid the problem almost completely, by turning off the gas at the tank, and using up the trapped gas. The filter is an add on item that did not originally come with them. It's a extra safety item, not the solution. Drain the line of gas, and the issue stops.

[rockdog]

What I have found is that oil collects in the pilot light tube and the pilot light would no longer burn. I took my buddy all apart and used carb cleaner spray to blow out the steel gas line and orifice. It worked for a while and then crapped out again. Took it ALL apart and washed out ALL the steel lines with carb cleaner (and blew them out with compressed air). It's been working just fine ever since.

[andrewbecker]

Doesn't matter about hoses or cylinder size at all. ALL propane has contaminants. The problem with these heaters is when it's cold these contaminants are more prone to clumping and clogging in a small orifice. I have a little Charbroil grill with a similar regulator and it has the same problems. There is no real full proof way to stop this from happening. Those little filters and buying ONLY Mr. Buddy products will only increase cost with zero results. Dirty propane is a fact of life. You can't design a heater with multiple bottlenecks and then expect it to flow 20gal. tanks of propane endlessly without some contaminants getting into the unit. Good little heaters but they aren't designed for long term use.

[scoffroad]

I had the same thing happen as well. The oil completely filled the system from where you screw in the cylinder/filter all the way to the pilot light. I changed the fitting on my new hose and blew through with 10psi air connected with the pilot light button pressed. I was amazed at the oil that came out at the pilot light. With filter in place the heater ran 2 more years and I upgraded to BIG buddy. Great video thanks for sharing.

[forrestyoung]

A good way to prevent any issues is to turn off the propane tank first and not leave high pressure in the line. That is why the oils leach out. Not from regular use.

[JohnDavis-ssdw]

Keep using the filter anyway, contamination from the propane tank needs to be filtered.

[SnowyAspenHills]

Thanks for the heads up on this.
I have just purchased my first Buddy heater and was looking at options to have a bigger gas tank. You have saved me from damaging my heater.

[johnwyman]

Back in the 90s when I worked on propane powered equipment, during training we were taught that the compressors they use to transfer propane from one tank to another many times are worn to the point they leak compressor oil into the propane.
Whenever I broke open a Propane fuel system I found at least some oil inside. Most of the time it didn't cause any problems, but sometimes it was so clogged up I had to replace some of the components. Rebuilding them would have cost more in labor than replacing them.

[manie]

IMPORTANT NOTE: Those filters can leak fuel after a couple years at the seam. I had flames coming out of it just yesterday. It was almost 3 years old though. If you can turn them DON'T use it. It's a fire hazard.

[rodgerrugeresiliencecoach]

I switched to a steel braided hose, which from a safety perspective is also a bonus as they are virtually indestructible. Appreciate this tip!

[dresser]

This was in the instructions that came with my Mr Heater Buddy  about using anything other then their hose because of the oil issue  and about using a Filter to prevent oil and moisture . mine is about 5yrs old and still works Great  I guess it pays to read the instructions sometimes  because I don't most times

[frogknees]

I bought another brand extension hose, not a Mr heater hose. I had it for 6 yrs. and not had a single problem with oil. I thought at first it wasn't going to going to work, buy i learned it takes a few minute for the gas to get through to the burner .Once it gets started it work great.

[craighanson]

You can disassemble the pilot orifice and burner orifice an simply blow out the oil and reassemble and the thing will work.