Mr Heater MH18B Portable "Big Buddy" Heater
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Mr Heater MH18B Portable "Big Buddy" Heater
Customer Review: Does not stay on....only 1 month old
Summary: 1 Stars
I have this for one month and only used it for 3 hours in the garage and basement. Now, the heater keeps going off. The phone number for tech/customer service does not work at Mr. Heater....The no. is off of the instructions and the same no. at MrHeater.com.
Don,t waste your money. Mr Heater sucks. 0 stars Best to buy an electric or another brand.
Customer Review: Does the job
Summary: 4 Stars
This heater seem so do the job. I needed more heat during the winter on my boat; it put out good heat. The built-in blower pushed the heat out. It required the one pound canster, which, however, lasted only one and a half hour on the low setting. It may need the connections for the 20 lb. tank to keep it going.Customer Review: EXCELLENT HEATER
Summary: 5 Stars
THE HEATER WORKS SUPER IVE HAD ONE FOR YEARS ALTHOUGH THE 20 LB TANKS WORK BEST. THE 1 LB. TANKS DONT LAST FOR LONG, AS FOR THE NEGATIVE REVEIWS ON THIS PRODUCT. I THINK THEY NEED TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS, THEN THEY WILL WILL BE ABLE TO USE THE HEATER. (OR MAYBE THEY ARE FROM KY. )Customer Review: Exactly what I wanted and more
Summary: 5 Stars
Bought my Big Buddy just over a year ago mainly for emergency heat in case of power outages during our extremely cold winters here in the upper plains. Fortunately I haven't had to use it for that purpose. In the past week I have used it twice in the garage, once when putting together a new table saw and again on Thanksgiving morning when I was smoking a turkey and deep frying another one. Set my cookers up OUTSIDE the garage door(a SAFE distance away) in order to monitor them through the garage door window(out of the wind). Set the BB up inside, attached to a 20lb tank with the 12 ft hose with regulator and cranked it up. The garage is an old detached two car unit with a large attic space and is neither airtight or insulated. I didn't expect the BB to heat the entire space and it didn't. I place it facing my monitoring position about 5 ft away and turned on the fan. It put out plenty of heat and kept me very comfortable despite the low single digit ambient air temperatures outside. I ran it for 6 hours. It wasn't nearly as cold when I assembled the saw. I started out using a single 1 lb tank and it worked just as well, while it lasted (about an hour). That's when I hooked it up to the 20 lb tank and continued the assembly. I am planning on getting the AC to DC converter for use in the garage, but the fan is still running well on the used batteries I first put in it.
Because of these "test" runs, I am extremely confident that BB will perform well when put to emergency use. I'll keep a couple of 1 lb tanks on hand, but I'll also be able to place the 20 lb tank (I keep 2 filled ones on hand)on the porch (safety again) and run the hose inside to the BB and keep our closed off LR, DR and kitchen tolerable. I wouldn't recommend testing the low oxygen shutoff feature, so be sure to crack a window an inch or two (I'm still thinking safety here folks).
As for which hose, filter, connectors, etc. work together, that has already been well covered. It would be a HUGE help if Mr. Heater could lay it all out concisely on their website. I did spend many hours researching this before I figured it out.
Customer Review: Excellent portable heater!
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this heater for an Arizona camping trip in mid-February. I knew it was going to get below 40F and it did. The ground outside my tent froze, but I was warm within. Now I must say that staying warm had it's caveats. I have an elevated air mattress, so I had to position the heater atop a chair and it sat there firmly (I did not feel that it would fall as this unit is solid if not exactly heavy). I then had to place the chair within a few inches of my bed in order to feel the heat. This is due to the fan within the unit being somewhat weak. Now if you are simply heating the space itself, anywhere would be fine, but I needed the heat specifically on me.
Pros: There are two ceramic plates that heat up in the unit. They glow a bright orange when lit (are silver when unlit). This allows you to go full bore on the heat using both plates, or be more economical, depending on what best suits your needs. The pilot light is a small flame which stays lit near the bottom/center of the device. If you nudge the heater or bump it, the security safeguards will cut off the flow of gas to the pilot light requiring you to relight it. I had to do this a few time, but I didn't mind. It's all for safety. It's also fairly lightweight (at least to me) and the handle at the top was very strong. I felt very comfortable moving the unit even when the pilot light was lit. The unit was also VERY quiet, even with the fan on!
Cons: I really didn't have any, but if you have sensitive or weak hands, you may find it difficult to pry open the sides where the containers go. The clips are pretty tight.
I would definitely use two cannisters instead of one. Using one cannister will result in the unit drawing so much fuel that the can will freeze and the flow will stop. Using two cannisters, I was able to keep the unit lit all night at the highest temperature-VERY comfortable! You do have the option by using a specific hose adapter (NOT included) of attaching a 20lb tank. This would extend the heating time tremendously.
All in all, this unit performed EXACTLY as I wished and was perfect for me. I've also used it twice in my living room about a foot or two away from my feet and it feels great. If you need something with more fan power, I'd suggest lining up a stronger fan behind it blowing through it. I thoroughly recommend this unit.