Bad propane?

I have fished with a 6×6 pop up and a 12×6 popup for several years with a 20lb tank and a single sunflower for heat for years without problem.

I had my father in law fill a 20lb tank in ND for Christmas. I ran it at night in my house overnight and my big buddy with the quick connect kept turning off until I switched to another tank. The next day I used it on the ice in a 6×12 with sunflower and people kept complaining that it smelled and burned their eyes, which I would agree – it was very aversive compared to normal.

Is there bad gas?

Not that I know of. When the fumes dry and burn your eyes you are running out of oxygen and have co building up. If tanks are overfilled they have issues until some is burned or blown out. Due to new overflow valves

Mwal

It could be a stuck thermocouple letting too much gas thru or the regulator could be an issue too. If the buddy was shutting down on that tank with the new fuel but the sunflower stayed lit, I’d look at the regulator in the sunflower hose. The gas may have moisture in it too which will fudge things up. When was the last time the tank was filled? Personally I’d start with the regulator.

mwal wrote:

Not that I know of. When the fumes dry and burn your eyes you are running out of oxygen and have co building up.

So this is in the tank? The weird fumes started immediately in a ventilated popup.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

It could be a stuck thermocouple letting too much gas thru or the regulator could be an issue too. If the buddy was shutting down on that tank with the new fuel but the sunflower stayed lit, I’d look at the regulator in the sunflower hose.

The sunflower has no hose. I dont know enough about it – i assume there is a regulator built in?

The fact it was weird with two devices made we suspect the tank. Buddy didn’t smell odd, just would not stay lit. Flower stayed lit but smelled/burned eyes. Buddy worked fine with another tank, didnt test the sunflower yet.

The new valves are designed to not over-fill, but that’s not to say you might have a faulty one. If the sunflower couples directly to the tank and the buddy crapped out using that tank, I’d say it somewhere in the tank or the fuel in it.

The,re is a small bleeder screw on the vavle,just below the handwheel,it is a straight headed one.Turn it out about one turn and bleed off for about 1 minute,should do it.
I filled alot of bottles in my years at baitshop and this would be the fix to your problem almost all the time.

The Buddy heaters have an oxygen sensor built in as well. That could explain why the buddy heater would shut off. Probably co like Mwal said.