I finally took my Mr Heater Big Buddy out of the box today and got it running in the bus this morning. This evening when I went back out to the bus the CO detector was alarming! Not good.
I think this thing is going back to the store and I'll wait until spring to work on the bus again. I really can't afford to heat with electricity as two 1,500 watt heaters cost about $7 every 24 hours and they don't really heat it up much.
That seems a better alternative than getting dead from CO poisoning. No matter how much some people sing the praises of the hereafter I've never heard any suggestion that they have busses there.
They will set off the detectors everytime they are new, the oil coating has to burn off from the factory.
Yes, I'm with cody, do give it another try, run the crap out of it outdoors, and then put it in the bus again.
Fails again, shoot it.
happy coaching!
buswarrior
Or better yet if it fails again wrap it up in a coach and send it my way lol. But seriously, mine did the same thing and so did the ventless heater, they come with like an oil film sprayed on them to prevent corrosion while they are sitting in a poor cold warehouse waiting for a family to adopt the poor, poor homeless things, then they get so excited when you first fire them up they burn off all that stuff just so they can please you and make you all warm and happy, they don't mean to be stinky, it's just another of those brainfarts from one of those engineers lol.
Quote from: bobofthenorth on December 26, 2009, 06:01:24 PM
No matter how much some people sing the praises of the hereafter I've never heard any suggestion that they have busses there.
I do believe & hope there are buses, but the best is that diesel prices are much, much lower......
Of course there are buses! How else could they call it heaven? Free diesel, no speed limits, gorgeous waterfront campsites at every exit, never any need for heat or air conditioning, and leak free Detroits.
Ok, I'll give it another try before I take it back to Northern Tool.
And don't forget to open a window. We love ours so much we will have to get a second one,it did stink a little when first fired up. :)
I have a larger one that really heats things up.
I did have a series of alarms however both from the CO and the smoke detectors..
Hmmm..
Then I discovered what caused it.
One of our cats with a large fluffy tail ran past me with his tail smoking...
Then later anoth one decided to sit on top of the heater... And of course while
searching for an itch.. Let her tail dangle down in front.... Needless to say she
figured that out quickly.
The smells can be an indicator... So we keep water squirt bottles handy when
the heater is on high....
So much for adventures...
Okay, so I went out to the bus to try the heater again. The first thing I noticed (from outside the bus) is the CO detector is STILL going off after the heater had been off all night. I can't even get into the bus because the heat melted some of the snow on the bus and it froze the door shut.
I'll probably just leave it until Friday and get out the heat gun if necessary to get the door unstuck.
Brian the same thing happens when I install a new Central Forced Air furnace.
Gotta open all the windows and run the furnace for about a half hour.
Sometimes even use fans to clear smoke.
Different brands use different stuff -- Floor Furnaces are the worst because they have no fans.
Melbo
If your CO detector is more than a year old or has a battery that is weak or low they will tend to alarm. I had to change my CO detector after a year so I do both that and the smoke detectors each year at the same time.
The other thing is that a CO detector may be triggered by outgassing insulation or wood paneling.
Unless your bus is airtight I would be suspect of the condition of the detector.
Get a new one and take it inside and see if it goes off also.
I'm fairly certain the CO detector is still going off from the heater, but I can't be certain without getting back in the bus which I can't right now due to the frozen door. I suppose it could have a low battery now, but I doubt a low battery would cause it to beep so often. It does have three LEDs and the one for CO detected was flashing last night.
I haven't done any other work on the bus in ages so the interior conditions have not changed except running the heater. I guess I could take a CO detector from the house out there to see if it alarms (if I can get the door open). The house ones also show the PPM.
This should take care of your problem
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/for/1526049219.html (http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/for/1526049219.html)
Frank
Quote from: Slow Rider on December 27, 2009, 12:52:44 PM
This should take care of your problem
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/for/1526049219.html (http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/for/1526049219.html)
One of those would kill me faster. They are designed for construction sites that have a lot of air flow to take care of the CO and other gases.
I'm sorry I had to take a break, when I found out the door was frozen shut I blew a half cup of coffee all over my screen, I'm trying to picture this, the heater is too small to do the job but yet it attacked and melted all the snow off the roof that then ran down and froze the door shut, so now I'm picturing this bus sitting in the middle of the tundra, glowing with the red heat of warmth, water running in small rivelets down the previously frozen landscape and no sign of snow or permafrost anywhere close to the bus, as a matter of fact there is a newly sprouted palm tree easing up alongside the warm exterior of the lower reaches of the bus as Al Gore stands off to the side talking into his microphone about the evils of global warming in minnisota, meanwhile off in the distance Belfert is slowing plodding up the path with a hair dryer and another packet of batteries for his CO detector. Libby just looked over my shoulder and told me I'm a sick individual lol.
I have the small "Buddy" ones and neither has ever set off my co detector.
My bus is not very air tight so that may be the reason!!
If the heaters are melting the snow they are probably set too high. All you want is enough heat to keep the water system from freezing when you aren't in the bus.
I agree with DrD that your co detector battery is probably bad, same thing happened to mine and a new batt fixed it.
Cody,
Now, when are you going to replace my laptop? I just lost two swallows of Dr. Pepper over that one. ;D :D :D ;D. That was waaaaayyyy too funny. I though that the heater freezing the door was rich ;D.
God bless,
John
It doesn't take much heat to melt snow and ice. It doesn't help that my door is all screwed up and leaks all kinds of air when driving. When I was in the bus early yesterday afternoon with the heater on it wasn't that warm. Certainly not 72 degrees like most houses.
The door was also frozen shut last night when the heater was running so the heater must not be helping the door all that much. I was able to eventually get the door open last night, but this morning I couldn't get it open.
I think maybe you guys left out a part? I recall these things needing a fan to circulate the air. Maybe try a small fan, The one we just bought has a battery operated fan (4 D-cells) and helps some what, FWIW I haven't tried it in the bus yet. good luck
Van, your right and I've mentioned it in several posts about heating, the nature of the beast is that the warmer air will hang near the ceiling and the cooler air will be at floor level, I keep a fan on the dash running aimed at the ceiling, that keeps it stirred up and moving so it doesn't layer.
Pardon my ignorance and if I am wrong then just let me know. Are you all speaking of a butane portable heater inside the bus? Is this not dangerous?
We're speaking about a heater called the Mr Buddy heater, it runs off 2 small bottles of LP gas and is rated for indoor use, unlike many of the others that haven't got the indoor rating, it is relatively safe when used as they suggest. As always a good working detector is recommended, but the problem with the heater setting off the detector when first fired up isn't because the heater is putting out deadly fumes as much as it is burning off residue thats sprayed onto it to keep it in good shape while sitting in a warehouse. The key to any heater is the indoor rating, many of the portable heaters don't carry the indoor rating and are responcilbe for deaths every year, the big buddy heater is only responcible for melting snow and freezing the door shut on buses lol (sorry belfert, I couldn't resist lol).
I also have trouble keeping the heat. I have three roof AC units with a heating element. When we were in Ponca City OK the temps dropped to 15 degrees at night and we could not get the inside temp above 55 degrees. Burrrrr. So I too need to get something going so far as going north and heat. I though about one of those tall oil radiaters that heats the oil and circulates it. Using propane scares the tar out of me. I would rather be cold on a temporary basis than cold in eternity.
Quote from: wal1809 on December 28, 2009, 07:18:30 AM
I also have trouble keeping the heat. I have three roof AC units with a heating element. When we were in Ponca City OK the temps dropped to 15 degrees at night and we could not get the inside temp above 55 degrees. Burrrrr. So I too need to get something going so far as going north and heat. I though about one of those tall oil radiaters that heats the oil and circulates it. Using propane scares the tar out of me. I would rather be cold on a temporary basis than cold in eternity.
A portable plug in electric heater is 5200 BTU (MOL). It doesn't matter whether it is an oil filled, ceramic cube, infrared, or whatever. Some of the quarts heaters are rated at 5600 BTU, not enough of a difference to notice.
This $20.00 heater http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=43295-87513-NH600&lpage=none (http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=43295-87513-NH600&lpage=none) will produce the same heat as a $400.00 "electric fireplace".
The advantage of the oil filled is a steadier temperature as it retains a little heat as it cycles. The infrared type may feel warmer as they warm people and things rather than the air.
We have one cube heater, bought from Sams and one electric wall heater. We haven't been cold yet, and it's been down in the teens here. If it gets any colder than that we're moving farther south! ;D
Paul
I have two of the smaller Mr Buddy heaters which only use one LP 1lb bottle.
Unfortunately one bottle is only good for about four hours at Low so I hooked up a hose from a 20 lb bottle which lasts a long time. I haven't used more than a 20 lb bottle and a half but then I don't use it a lot.
These heaters are absolutely safe indoors and are rated as such. They also will shut off if the O2 level gets too low. This is a nice safety feature but prevents their use at high altitudes, I forget the limit but have used them at 3,000' +.
Heat strips in a roof air are no good for heating a coach.
They will take the chill out of a summer's evening, and that's it.
Circulating the air around inside that cold exposed box on the roof, I wonder if they are just self defeating?
happy coaching!
buswarrior
I agree about heat strips, they take gobs of amps for little heat and a lot of cold air.
I removed one of mine when I had the cover off and will remove the other one at the first chance.
But, before you rip them out completely, the heat strips do have a good use:
Dehumidifier
On those cooler raining days, just a shade too cool for the AC to run right to take the wet and clammy out...
You run one roof air on the heat strip, blowing towards the other one running on the AC.
Same principle as the stock HVAC in the coach.
happy coaching!
buswarrior
Good thought bw, saves me another job.
I never got out to the bus this weekend to give the heater another try. It was simply too cold to be standing outside with a heat gun heating the door to unstick it. Maybe next weekend if it warms up a bit. I wish it would be above freezing again like over Christmas, but that was the primary reason everything froze shut.
Belfert,
I don't know what you are talking about, it must have hit 70 F yesterday!
This buddy heater is great! ;D and has many uses too! Just this morning I wanted to get the oil changed on a Harley that I am servicing for a friend and would have had to wait till sunrise to start it so as not to wake up the neighbors, so I get the brite idea to try the big buddy and heat up the oil tank and Wala, done! :o. It's great for keeping yer cup-o-joe toasty too! ;D ;D
Van, i thought your bikes whispered? You don't have those noisy ones do you?
Brian
LOL :D,I am the Bike Whisperer, I rehabilitate American V-Twin motorcycles, And Train the Owners LOL!:D :D :D ;D. Sorry! ;D I couldn't resist the urge to say that LOL!
Brian I live in a town home with HOA's< thats why I hate it here, But... it does have it's advantages, like the view LOL
Van,
Are you on the lake side of Boulder City? If so it is a great view. I heard Lake Mead Marina was bought out by the Gripentogs at Las Vegas Boat Harbor. If so you must have a swath of boats on that end. How is the lake level doing there now?
Bryan
Hi Brian, yes we are :). we are in boulder City just across from the welcome center and look out over the lake.It is sad to watch the water slowly disappear here in the lower basin, All the marina's are stacked up at hemmingway marina now because of the water drop.
Van,
Out of curiosity I pulled up Google satellite map. Wow! it sure has dropped considerably more since I moved away 3 years ago.
Bryan
Been here 15 years and now I am watching the Grand canyon south start to unfold before our very eyes. V here's a view from the house
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi457.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fqq292%2Fcwvanhagen%2FX-mas09054.jpg&hash=58ac332c770e57ba7a6a71732a0dcc209d3d0a0c)
I ran the heater yesterday for a good chunk of time and it heated up the bus pretty good. The bad part is it uses massive amounts of propane. I started with a full 20 lb tank and it only ran the heater at full blast between 16 and 20 hours total.
The good news is the CO detector didn't go off this time.
Unless you really need the whole bus heated it pays to use the heaters on low and heat only the sections you're using.
We do this and have yet to use our first 20lb tank. Of course we don't use it much because we avoid cold weather as much as possible!
We also have the Little Buddy, much more portable and still does the job. We also only have a 35' bus.
I wasn't trying to heat the whole bus. My front area is fairly large plus I was trying to heat one day in weather that is well below freezing. At well below freezing it takes all 18,000 BTUs to get it anywhere close to room temps.
Yesterday it was right at freezing and it did get almost too warm. I probably wasted some propane by running at full blast a little too long.