This heater is excellent and the perfect fit, for a certain set of requirements.
If you have electricity, use an electric heater. Don't bother with the hassel of propane. The cost isn't too different and the hassel factor is much higher than electricity.
I also don't recommend using the small canisters. That's an inconvinient way to go as well.
BUT. If you don't have power and need a cheap, safe heat source that you can run while you sleep, this is the best one made. Buy the 12' hose, place a 20lb propane tank outside, and run this heater all night with just a small crack in a window or door (just in case!). You will get > 100 hours of heat out of a tank of propane! Less than a buck to run it all night.
Highly recommended under the right circumstances.
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I use this heater when I camp in my trailer, and it works great especially when used in conjunction with a 20-lb. propane tank. If you do use a 20-lb. tank, however, I STRONGLY recommend that you use the fuel filter (around $10 and yes, this is mentioned in the manual) and also that you always close the propane tank shut-off before turning off the Portable Buddy so that all the gas is burned out. Why? I went through two units that started shutting themselves off about a year after purchase before I found out that oily residue starts building up within the heater when the previous two suggestions are not followed. Even when I tried cleaning it out (I did a complete disassembly), it was not successful unless the control unit and the regulator are replaced as well. I did find a lot of oily mess within contol unit area, but couldn't get it all so it's just as easy to replace the entire unit. What happens is that when you turn on the unit, it seems to work; but, as the oily residue works its way up to the flame part, it will start going out on its own the time it takes to go out in my experience was around 1/2 hour. As far as the precautions go, the fuel filter was easy for me to find locally where propane items are sold (farm stores, large sporting goods stores); it is easy to install (it screws into the heater where a 1-lb. bottle would be located and then the hose to the tank screws right into the fuel filter it should last a year). I pick up an extra one once the current one is being used. I'm getting in the habit of shutting off the gas first. I would give this heater 5 stars if they would have explained this malfunction better I ended up talking with tech support before finding out what was actually wrong.
Also, even in very cold weather, I leave about 6" of window open to keep the condensation to a minimum.
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Once and for all, here is the purpose of fuel filter for this heater. When you use this heater with a remote tank & rubber hose, it is imperative that you always shut the tank off first & let the heater run until it burns off all the fuel in the lines. YOU MUST DO THIS EVERY TIME. If you simply turn the heater knob to the off position, what you are doing is trapping 100 PSI of propane in the rubber hose. When high pressure propane just sits in your rubber hose, it literally causes the rubber to leetch a light oil that is part of the chemical composition of the rubber. If this oil forms and you have the filter on the heater, the filter will catch it and seperate it from the gas. If you do not have the filter, the oil will quickly work its way into the heater & destroy both the regulator & control valve. The heater can be repaired, but these two components will need to be replaced.
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This heater is perfect for tent camping in larger tents. It's not too big and pretty stable. We have a large cabin style tent that sleeps 6-8. On our last camping trip to our local Southern California mountains in January 02, the temp at night got down to the mid 30's. Mr. Heater kept us almost too warm, even on the low setting. Our kids ended up sleeping on top of their sleeping bags. The safety features and BTU range were the deciding factors in our purchase. The low oxygen sensor gave us peace of mind(I still purchased a battery operated Carbon Monoxide sensor for the tent for extra precaution)and the BTU range was good. I could not find any other indoor approved heater that warmed us so well. At first I purchased a infer-red heater that attached to a bulk talk. I found too many reasons why not to use it in the tent(No low O2 sensor, no heat shield, and no low setting). Don't chance it. Get an 8 to 12 foot extension hose and a bulk tank. The portable tanks won't last all night. I wouldn't recommend this heater for small tents(not enough space, not enough air volume, and the potential for Carbon Monoxide problems is too great).
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After several months of field testing this heater, I found it capable of producing some convenient heat. It competes in a market that includes a lot of products. I have used this heater in a garage, basement and while camping.
Some observations:
1. Outside at your campsite, it is easy to light and carry around, and can be a great radiant heater to warm your hands and face on a cold morning without the fuss of building a fire. Inside a five to six person tent, it warmed the space quite nicely on the high setting. In a tent, I would not take a chance to burn it without keeping at least an open space around it and an open eye on it. While the front has a steel grille to shield the user from direct contact with the burning surface, contact with the grille and top of the unit by skin or manmade materials can result in burns or melted items.
2. The heater is PORTABLE, and portability is your friend. It is very easy to pack or carry anywhere. This is a VERY COMPACT unit that will go nearly anywhere. However, It will NOT heat a large unenclosed space, and it is not a blast furnace.
3. One interesting thing that happens when you burn the heater for any length of time in a cool area is that moisture condenses on the outside of the metallic disposable propane cylinder. The condensation eventually turns to frost and if you sit the heater on top of something that can be damaged by water, you definitely want to put an absorbent cloth under the tank to catch any drops of water when it starts to condense or as the frost melts.
4. Since this is an unvented heater, products of combustion such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and some slight odor are released into the heated space; this is common with all such heaters. Adequate oxygen must also be supplied to facilitate burning as well as to sustain life. The low oxygen shutoff is a good safety feature. People with sensitivity to odors or products of combustion would not appreciate this; I have one such person in my household and he has not enjoyed the smell.
5. There is an open flame in the form of the pilot light which sits just in front of the surface of the ceramic plate seen in the picture. The pilot ignites the gas on the surface of the ceramic plate; that is what causes the plate to glow orange. The pilot is lighted by a built-in sparker. I have found the pilot to be harder to light with a propane extension hose attached than with the disposable cylinder on board.
I have used kerosene heaters, catalytic heaters, electric space heaters. All of them produce heat, but this is the handiest heater I have ever used.
