Equipment failure

[FishingSteve]

Okay my buddy heater and my new Showdown fish finder quit on me this weekend. I don't know what went wrong with the Buddy heater, but no fire means my daughter was cold and had to call it quits early.
I have also became very dependent on my new Showdown, it acts like the transducer is disconnected, I will let everyone know how Marxian treats me on this, I have already heard good things about them, I hope its right on.
I took the heater apart to see if I could figure it out. I really didn't find anything wrong or plugged, I am wondering if there was just some ice or something plugging up the valve, because when I got it back together it worked fine, guess I got lucky on that one. If anyone would like advise on taking them apart let me know and I will be glad to help out. [cool]
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[Laroo]

I have had problems with my buddy heater freezing up and shutting off the gas flow. I have found that if I get it up off of the snow and ice it does alot better, I use a collapsible milk crate. The whole idea of a heater that only works when it is warm escapes me[crazy]
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[idahoron]

I have had a couple go bad. One would not work over 6000 feet. The company says they will go up to 7000 but mine didn't. The next thing was I hooked one to a big 5 gal bottle. I got "oil" in the tank form the store. In the pipe going to the pilot light there is a goose neck. That goose neck got the oil in it and it would not run. I took the goose neck out and cleaned it out but it did it again. I quit using that tank. I got a filter and a different tank. This one has worked well so far. Another thing. It has a low oxygen cut off. I know that those go out from time to time.
Here is a link to the manual. It is all in there.
Ron
[url "http://www.mrheater.com/upload/newsletter/MH9BX_2009_US.pdf"]http://www.mrheater.com/upload/newsletter/MH9BX_2009_US.pdf[/url]
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[trophyboat]

One time i tore mine apart because it would not work on the ice, later i found my propane was just way too cold and didn't flow well. i went and got a bottle out of the cab of the truck and it worked fine. i now keep the bottles in the cab when it is really cold.
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[MMDon]

Good info. Mine works well with a larger pancake refillable bottle but not so well in extreme cold with the smaller bottles.
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[prvrt]

My Buddy heater had issues Sunday. It worked fine on Saturday. I believe the problem was that the regulator froze up. I finally got it to light with a lighter and the pilot flame had no pressure at all, it burned straight up. After 2-3 mins the pilot flame started to get some pressure behind it (line unthawing?) so it would finally hit the (sensor) and stayed on after that. Once I got the pilot to stay on I turned on the heat and the ceramics did not glow all over as usual. Only about half of the ceramics glowed, but after 10 mins or so, everything was back to normal. I generally have used the heater just sitting on the ice, but I have put it up on a bucket before with no difference.

This is the first time I have had issues in over 3 years. I use the small tanks mainly for ice fishing and I have used the hose and 10-30lb tanks with no problem in temps colder than Sunday. It was 5 degrees Sunday which is nothing when you are ice fishing. I chalked it up to changing tanks before starting it and the high humidity since everything was frosted over and even my rods frosted up in only a few mins. I think maybe some moisture got into the lines while changing tanks which reminds me I should check the fittings for snow and ice before I screw the tanks on. I did break the red plastic knob on Friday getting it ready for Saturday. It snapped in the cold temps. I ordered another 2 knobs for $1ea and $7.95 shipping along with a filter for my hose. I will try changing my tanks before I go and I think that will solve the problem.

I used to work on Schwan's trucks and most of them run on propane. We never had issues until it got below zero and then they had a hard time starting. You need heat in order to keep the propane from freezing in the regulator and if the trucks did not run long enough to get the antifreeze warm enough to keep the regualtor unthawed, it froze and the truck would die.

Propane is normally 50 degrees below zero in liquid form and has to be 44 below (it's boiling point) or warmer to turn to a gas so you can use it. Just by thinking about this, maybe even tipping the heater over there could be a possibility of the liquid getting into the regualtor and freezing it since our tanks screw directly onto the regulator. Hmmmmm.
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[FishingSteve]

My heater has always worked great until Saturday. Like I said I really didn't find anything wrong and before I took it apart I had it by my wood burning stove for about an hour, just in case something was froze. I used a hand propane torch to warm up the thermocouple and the ceramic flames would stay lit as long as I simulated a pilot light. I wonder if the tip over safety switch just got stuck in the closed position and blocked the pilot light from getting propane. I guess the problem will either develop or go away, but my guess is the next time my wife goes and gets cold we will end up going home if it doesn't work,[frown] because for the most part I really don't get cold. If you ever see me out on the ice I will have a baseball cap on and no gloves.[cool]
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[MMDon]

I'm thinking I would do a test run out on the back porch before I hooked my wife up with a bad heater a second time!
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[FishingSteve]

I have run two small tanks of propane through it, but not in the cold. Thanks for the suggestion.
One other thing, I was wondering if anyone knows if they still sell electric socks and where at. I think if my wives feet would stay warm, I could go fishing more. I hate to leave her home alone with the debit card![]
On the other breakdown, I know that it has only been one day, but Marcum hasn't returned any calls or e-mailed me about the Showdown, hope this isn't a sign of things to come![frown]
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[MMDon]

Cabelas has battery heated socks.

http://www.cabelas.com/mens-hunting-sock...ks-2.shtml
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[FishingSteve]

Thanks for the info I'll check it out.
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[IdahoPHANTOM]

In very cold weather the propane does not vaporize as it comes out of the bottle. When its cold enough you can open a tank of propane and nothing will come out. This is because the temprature is below the propane boiling point. Very thick vapor caused be cold tempratures will trip the safety valve which are very sensitive.
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[redneck_delux]

Ive known people who have the heater buddy. thats why i chose to go with the Mr. heater. ive had it at about -10 degrees and use small bottles and it never fails me EVER. but when dry things out i melt them.... but i guess that would be operator error. its a simple design and thats what i love about it i would recomend it to anyone. and its cheaper to buy! just sayin if you are in the market for a new heater that wont fail when it gets cold i really like mine

[FishingSteve]

I do have a Mister heater, the reason I wanted a buddy heater is because of the low oxygen shutdown. I use it a lot in my tent and I didn't want to go to sleep for good just yet as I haven't caught my limit. I do think that I will put it in my truck just in case from now on.[laugh]
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[redneck_delux]

ha ha ha i suppose ya got a point there!