Mr Heater MH18B Portable "Big Buddy" Heater Features
- Built-in Piezo starter for easy starts
- Large four-position heat level control knob for controlling with gloved hands
- Key-shaped rear mounting holes for wall mounting
- Low, medium, and high heat level control knob for steady temperatures
Price: $137.93
User Reviews about Mr Heater MH18B Portable "Big Buddy" Heater
Great little heater! This thing puts out a lot of heat. I bought it for a backup when the power goes out but I've been using it a lot just to knock the chill off. I keep the heat pump set pretty low which is fine when I'm up moving about but when I sit down to read or watch tv it is a little cool. I fire this thing up for a little while to warm the room and I don't have to turn the heat pump up and heat up the whole house. I also bought one for my cabin.
-- Big Buddy
I would like to buy this but Cabellas has it for $119, I don't live close to there but would be worth the trip -- Not the best price
I bought this unit to heat my 480 sq/ft insulated garage with 10ft ceilings so that I could work on my car during the winter. Technically the unit might be a little undersized for such a space, but then again I'm not looking for 70 degrees, just to get it bearable. I bought the unit with the quick connect low pressure hose to connect to a 20lb LP tank.
Setting up the unit is very easy, especially with the quick connect. It takes a minute or two to purge the air out of the lines, after that the ignition should be able to light the pilot, which it did. Unfortunately, despite holding the pilot down for over a minute to make sure the thermocouple was up to temperature, the pilot would immediately go out. I figured the thermocouple was working, so by process of elimination I determined that the tilt switch was either bad or disconnected.
To get to the tilt switch you have to completely disassemble the unit. Start by removing the 4 screws from the back cover, push the cover straight up to disconnect the hooks at the top and then pop it off. Remove the 3 screws securing the back of the handle. Remove the screw holding the handle to the left side piece (looking from the back), remove the left screw holding the metal face, remove the left screw holding the 2 plastic pieces together, remove the left screw holding the bottom of the metal face to the plastic side. The side piece will them rotate off from back to front. From there you should have clear access to the tilt switch, which I could immediately see was disconnected. An attempt had been made to hold it with silicon from the factory, but the silicon was not correctly applied or not given time to set. Reconnected the switch and did a test lighting in the partially disassembled state and all was good. Shut the unit off before it gets warm and reassemble.
Now that my unit was actually working I could fire it up and put it to the test. It throws off a good amount of radiant heat on high, you don't want to stand too close for too long. It got my garage that was around 40 degrees up to around 60 degrees in about an hour on a 25 degree day. I'm happy with that performance. I'm running the fan with batteries for now, but will probably get an AC adapter. -- Not bad, but need to work on assembly quality
I bought my first Big Buddy after my central heater failed just before a snowfall and hard freeze. I rushed out to Northern Tool and grabbed the last one I could find on their shelves, a package of D batteries, and 8- 1 pound propane tanks. Those tanks and the first set of batteries lasted the weekend, but I went back and bought a pair of 20lb tanks for $39 each, 2 filters for $10 each, a power adapter for $7, and a 12' bulk tank hose kit for $25. (I got mine from Northern Tool, but I could have easily ordered everything but the tanks with 2-day shipping using Amazon Prime.) And that's all we've needed ever since. When we awaken or arrive home in the evening, I put it on high and within 20 minutes at the most, the house will be back to 70 F. Then I drop it to medium and in another 20-30 minutes it'll be up to 73-74. And when it reaches that temp, I just set it to the low setting and it will maintain that temperature except during the coldest weather, during which it takes the medium setting to maintain a pleasant temperature.
The internal fan's bearings are noisy, but after a year, mine have quietened quite a bit. And for those who have complained that on the High setting the floor beneath the heater gets too warm, I will simply point out that there are two conveniently-placed nail/ screw wall-mounting holes on the back of the heater to make make hanging it on the wall (as I've done) as easy as placing two nails or screws to hang the heater upon. This heater saves me at least $200/ month during the coldest months compared to electric heat costs where I live. Getting one of my 20lb tanks refilled runs $12-$15 here and one tank last me generally 4-7 days, even in my drafty, uninsulated 'project' home.
We have enjoyed it so much that I bought another for our RV and camp. They're very efficient heaters, and having used the filters since the first time I used a bulk tank, I've had not a lick
of trouble, even though I've almost never remembered to turn off the gas flow at the tank 1st to
burn off the fuel in the pressure line. I intend to change that practice, but... I'm just saying the fuel filters are a good investment and mine have apparently helped me avoid having to pay for my repeated sins.
These, undoubtedly, were never designed to provide main heating for a home over even a single season. But my first unit is halfway through season 2 and runs like a champ. Honestly, I think it's the best purchase I've made in years. It pays for itself again every month in electrical bill savings. It gives me another opportunity to tell my wife "I told ya so" every time we sit to pay the bills. And that's almost as warm a feeling as the heater puts out itself, even if it sometimes leads to getting the 'cold shoulder'! Buy one, read the manual, and enjoy. You'll be glad you did! -- A champion provider of cheap, reliable, and portable heat
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