Experience with a Mr Buddy Propane Heater in a View 24D

[bigbenz78]

What experience have you had with using a Mr Buddy heater in a View 24d? I plan to leave one window open about an inch. This would be for boondocking where we dont have shorepower and not in conditions that are below 40 degrees for more than 24-36 hours.

 

[klook]

It has a low oxygen shutdown built in. Many people use them. What is your concern?

 

[bigbenz78]

Have you used one personally?

 

[Eagle5]

As the products of combustion from Mr. Buddy remain inside the vehicle (water vapor, carbon dioxide, and free nitrogen) I would be concerned about moisture build-up inside your motorhome. You have a built-in propane heater in your View which vents all of its products of combustion outside. Why not just use that?
Eagle5

 

[Riverbend]

They are advertised as vent-free, and while safe to use, as someone else mentioned, they generate a lot of moisture. Best bet IMHO is to just use your furnace. The propane you use with your furnace is much less expensive than the small containers you use with a Mr. Buddy, as well. I've found that my 2023 View's furnace is very economical in it's propane use.

 

[klook]

They are like any other appliance. Some hate them and some love them. My sister used one exclusively in her pop up. Some are sensitive to the by products of combustion, some are not. They produce moisture but so do you and activities like showers, cooking.

 

[Morich]

I might suggest reading the instructions carefully and then perhaps do a bit of testing.
The difference in popup or tent use and RV with solid walls is what often makes us move out of the tent!
Since you DO only get one chance at getting it wrong, I suggest care before deciding.
When was the last times you felt you could fully trust and AD?

One way to get info might be to first try it on a reasonable cool night with the RV closed and heater burning. Does water collect on the windows where it is cooler? If it does, there will be lots of water on the walls when outside gets colder.
In my early days of RV rebuilding, one of the problems was easy to spot as I tore down rotted wood framing.
Places that don't get good circulation collect moisture and given time it rots wood.
Things we see are obvious but the things we don't see like the cheap plywood walls and cabinets also soak in that moisture and can come apart.

That leaves the question of how much you want to wake up dead or with damaged RV.
When doing the winter boondocking thing while hunting/fishing we moved away from any type heat that made fumes or moisture and went with vented heat only.

Extra batteries to power the furnace may be a good choice.

 

[bigbenz78]

While I appreciate all the responses I have yet to recieve an answer to my question, which specifically asks for comments from a person who has used one! And just as important in a winnebago view.

 

[Eagle5]

Richard's comment above is very comprehensive. I really doubt you will find anyone on this forum who would use such an appliance in a fully self-contained motorhome. I recommend you abandon this concept.

 

[klook]

I might suggest reading the instructions carefully and then perhaps do a bit of testing.
The difference in popup or tent use and RV with solid walls is what often makes us move out of the tent!
Since you DO only get one chance at getting it wrong, I suggest care before deciding.
When was the last times you felt you could fully trust and AD?

One way to get info might be to first try it on a reasonable cool night with the RV closed and heater burning. Does water collect on the windows where it is cooler? If it does, there will be lots of water on the walls when outside gets colder.
In my early days of RV rebuilding, one of the problems was easy to spot as I tore down rotted wood framing.
Places that don't get good circulation collect moisture and given time it rots wood.
Things we see are obvious but the things we don't see like the cheap plywood walls and cabinets also soak in that moisture and can come apart.

That leaves the question of how much you want to wake up dead or with damaged RV.
When doing the winter boondocking thing while hunting/fishing we moved away from any type heat that made fumes or moisture and went with vented heat only.

Extra batteries to power the furnace may be a good choice.

I avoided getting into the moisture setting up at the vapor barrier as this makes peoples eyes cloud over. I come from the building trades in a cold environment. Plus I take apart relatively new campers that the owner thinks is leaking but every screw that penetrates the outer wall is rusted and there is no indication of a leak. I have seen screws rusted off in 3 year old campers.

 

[Morich]

But after all else, I have to admit that we can get lots of bad ideas on the internet. It's famous for passing nonsense.
So if all else fails and I still have questions, I often fall back to reading the directions!
This is what I find in the manual for this heater which so many use inside while they sleep!
On lots of the pages of the manual?

That is about as simple and clear as I could ever expect to see!

 

[Waterbug]

ANYTHING burning inside an enclosed structure while sleeping is a bad idea, unless it is purposely designed and built in for that purpose. That includes candles, propane heaters and oil/kerosine lamps.

 

[Morich]

Just the simple directive to avoid using it less than three feet from things is going to get tricky in the smaller RV!
I would be surprised if there is actually three feet of open floor space to be found?
Hard enough when I think of many class A RVs.

 

[WMGMAN]

I used one extensively in cold weather IN A POP-UP. When moving to our Itasca Navion, I attempted it once as an experiment while parked at home. I can validate that you will not be happy with the amount of condensation you get from the water vapor. Hope that helps.

 

[Bnystrom]

While I appreciate all the responses I have yet to recieve an answer to my question, which specifically asks for comments from a person who has used one! And just as important in a winnebago view.

What difference does it make? It's a well-established fact that any propane heater that's not vented to the outside is going to create a lot of moisture and other by-products of combustion. That will be true in any hard-sided RV that's well-sealed from the elements. It seems like you really don't want be be talked out of making this bad decision. If that's the case, why bother to ask?

 

[klook]

I am going to a camper tomorrow morning that is being heated by a Buddy Heater only. Furnace is dead. I will report if she and her cat are dead or not. I suspect not so I will look for signs of excessive moisture and report back. Showering and cooking and breathing and living in these things in cold temps are going to cause moisture build up somewhere. The furnace will not remove it. There are threads out there about running dehumidifiers in humid parts of the country. But people like this cannot afford to have such niceties. From my experience, living in or staying in these box's in cold temps is ill advised, but sometimes its all people have.

 

[powercat_ras]

Burning one pound of propane produces about
1.6 pounds (or roughly 1.9 cups/15 fluid ounces) of water vapor, a byproduct of its combustion where hydrogen in the propane combines with oxygen from the air, adding significant moisture into your space, which is why unvented heaters add so much humidity.

One person puts out 1-2 cups per day of water vapor per day just by breathing.

A Winnebago is not all that airtight and even without cracking any windows you will get quite a few inside air changes per day. Even without ventless heater, I will get moisture condensation on windows when it is very cold outside, I address this by putting reflectix over them in particular over the single pane windows in the cab area.

 

[powercat_ras]

More facts about window condensation vs. inside humidity. The colder it is outside the less inside humidity it takes to cause windows to form inside moisture.

 

[RV_Lee]

I actively use one. I knew they existed but didnt get one before because I didnt want to keep buying the overpriced 1lb bottles for it. Well now they sell "fuel kegs" that are refillable with the attachment from a normal BBQ tank. I bought the fuel keg refill kit and 4 fuel kegs.

1lb Refillable Propane Tanks | Fuel Keg

DOT-Certified, safe, and refillable 1lb propane tank engineered for your active lifestyle. Sustainable, easy to use, and ready to help you start saving today.

www.fuelkegrefillablepropanetank.com

Been working like a charm!

The buddy heater does a better job at keeping the temp moderate (on low). The 30K furnace in my Aspect left at 70 is fine, but it'll go through too much propane. The issue is leaving it 68 or so. It goes from fridge to sauna inside the RV. You put on a sweater, then the furnace kicks on and the place turns into a sauna..it got old.

The buddy heater is great, I put it up by the entry door / behind the front seats and I run a USB fan above it to help push the heat towards the rear of the RV. Works great, wish I had got one way sooner.

I would never sleep with it on or leave the RV with it running. The furnace still heats up the RV way quicker. I still use the furnace overnights and to bring the RV back to 70 in the morning, then switch over to the Mr Buddy heater

Been using it almost daily for about 6 weeks. No issues with condensation (I am in the desert though, if anything the moisture may be needed!) or any oxygen issues.