Little Buddy Heater

I recently purchased a little buddy heater for my one man shack because I had the big buddy and it was often too much. I have used it a few times in my thermal one man shack and have found it to struggle to keep it warm, keeping in mind it has been very cold lately (-10 to +10). More than any of this, both times I have used it, I come out of the shack at the end of the day with a massive headache and nauseaus and one time throwing up. I am really starting to wonder if I am getting too much carbon monoxide or if it has a propane leak. I know this heater is supposed to have a low oxygen shutoff so you think that would trigger if it was any of this. Has anyone else had similar experiences with a heater?

Sounds like carbon monoxide not a propane leak as you should smell that.

X2, have you tried your big buddy in this shack? were you OK running that one?

Carbon monoxide. Little buddy does NOT have a low oxygen shutoff, only an emergency shutoff in case it gets bumped. You must open up all vents and crack the doors.

I tried to save space by going with a Buddy and found it to be lacking in power as well when its cold.

Man your lucky to be alive, that is Definitely carbon monoxide poisoning, the little buddy does not have a low oxygen shut off. Get the regular buddy heater and vent your shack before it’s too late.

I have a little buddy and love it. What does the oxygen depletion sensor do?
•CSA certified for indoor use
•One button ignition/on function
•Accidental tip-over safety shutoff
•Oxygen depletion sensor
•Heats up to 100 sq. ft.
•Connects directly to one1 lb. disposable cylinder

CO poisoning is what you experienced. This is from the CDC What are the symptoms of CO poisoning?

The most common symptoms of CO poisoning are headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. High levels of CO inhalation can cause loss of consciousness and death. Unless suspected, CO poisoning can be difficult to diagnose because the symptoms mimic other illnesses. People who are sleeping or intoxicated can die from CO poisoning before ever experiencing symptoms

From now on I would make sure to have at least one vent hole open for fresh air if your burning propane in that tiny space. You also need the fresh air for your propane to burn correctly. When propane doesn’t burn correctly CO is released.

Definitely CO poisoning! One thing to remember is that the air down by the ice is denser as it is cooler and will hold on to oxygen count longer opposed to the warmer thinner air around your head height. So I have found generally the sensors don’t turn the units off as soon as they should. Take an extra layer or 2 and put them on if you get chilly with the zipper cracked or vent open. Its much better to be a touch chilly than getting sick like that!

I was out this morning in -15degrees with my little buddy and thermal clam nanook… I was about ready to strip down naked…It gets plenty warm…

Did they start making them with the sensor now? I know when I bought mine they did not have them. Only the buddy and big buddy had it.

Definitely set up some ventilation for that thing, always safer to use a hose with a tank outside the shelter as well. The reason the buddy heater didn’t feel warm is because fire needs oxygen in order to burn, if fire is having trouble with low oxygen you were barely scraping by.

From the little buddy owners manual: “• This heater requires a vent area of 4 square inches (example 2” x 2” opening) minimum for adequate ventilation during operation. Do not use other fuel burning appliances inside.”

The regular buddy heater features; •Automatic low oxygen shutoff system

While the little buddy has a; •Oxygen depletion sensor

apparently the “sensor” (on the little buddy) does not shut it off???

Call the company…this is not normal….mine works like a champ…
Mine has the low oxygen shutoff also…

I fish a scout with this heater and it gets nice and toasty in there, I always have vents open tho…only problem I’ve had is tanks freezing up but I grabbed a scrap 2×6 out of the garage and wrapped it with carpet and set it on that now and problem solved, I know it doesn’t put out as much heat when tank freezes…keep the vents open always!!

I brought my little buddy heater in the house today to check it out since tomorrow will be the first day I’ve used it in over a year. Fired it up and let it run for 2-3 minutes to burn all the dust off and I could feel the whole room get noticeably warmer.

It will cook ya right out of my 1 man non insulated. Don’t see how it could possibly not keep an insulated shack warm. Must have been real low on oxygen.

I was running a buddy heater for the last few years with my Clam Kenai which was uninsulated and it was plenty warm enough. I always left about 8-10 inches of the zipper open on top of the door and never had a problem. Now I will be using it in my new Otter XT1200 so I am sure I will have more than just the zipper on the door open.

Thanks for the input guys…I was kind of thinking along the same line but I was under the impression that it had a low oxygen shutoff so if it was carbon monoxide the heater would have shut off. I will definetly contact the company and also keep some sort of flap open in my shack to avoid this in the future, no matter how cold it is! But for the time being I am going back to my big buddy because I never had any problems like this when I used that heater in the past!