Big Buddy question

Big Buddy heater attached to 12′ (with the quick connect) hose with regulator to 11lb propane tank. Tank sitting outside in 5 gal bucket, air temp Saturday mid twenties. Tank valve open fully.

Issue – When attempting to run on high, pilot light would decrease, and the “high” side would not ignite, just got the foop, foop foop, sound and the left side would go out as well. Turn back to medium, and everything was fine.

Brought tank, hose & heater inside, let set overnight. Sunday afternoon, hooked everything up, worked like it should. Tank valve open fully, moved heater switch to high, right side lit up.

Found some info that advised to only open tank valve 1/4 turn, but it burns on high with tank valve open fully, inside anyway.

Thank you for any input

The solution is to not use a regulator. Those heaters are made to use 1lb bottles. Those bottles do not have regulators inside them. So adding another regulator in the hose only causes issues. When the regulator works properly the heater will too. But it’s not needed and can only cause issues with zero benefit.

I would start with a good cleaning of all lines, hose and pilot light. Propane has oil that collects in the lines and causes known issues. Once warm the oil I am guessing softens and lets gas by, if that sounds right. I blew out my 5ft hose on mine and got about 1/4oz of yellow oil looking stuff.

The quick connect line needs to be regulated. If you use one of the bottle inputs it has a regulator of its own in that circuit. Could it be that your 11lb tank is new and hasn’t been properly purged yet?

Regulator was on the hose (Mr. Heater brand, which was recommended) when purchased.

I have had the tank and heater four years now, both purchased at the same time. Tank purged when new.

The one thing I noticed on mine was the valve was absolutely packed with what appeared to be petroleum jelly and it would gum up so bad in cold weather that you just couldn’t turn it on. They are pretty easy to disassemble so it might be an option to clean that up and see if you get any better results. Might have a ball of goo blocking some port in the valve. Might have a regulator taking a dump too.

Their manual contradicts itself and says both

“GAS PRESSURE AT HEATER IS REGULATED AND FIXED AT 11” W.C. WHEN USING A REMOTE HOSE CONNECTION DO NOT REGULATE OR REDUCE PROPANE TANK SUPPLY PRESSURE TO HEATER!”

and that you can use it with F271803 which is supposed to be a regular 11″ regulator. What you described just sounds like pressure issue though so I would do it without regulator. You can get filters to deal with the oil/gunk people are mentioning or, supposedly, F273704 is made out of something that negates the need for a filter.

You’re hooking the line to the internal regulator. Ditch the inline regulator and you’re problem should be solved.

Reef W wrote:

Their manual contradicts itself and says both

“GAS PRESSURE AT HEATER IS REGULATED AND FIXED AT 11” W.C. WHEN USING A REMOTE HOSE CONNECTION DO NOT REGULATE OR REDUCE PROPANE TANK SUPPLY PRESSURE TO HEATER!”

and that you can use it with F271803 which is supposed to be a regular 11″ regulator. What you described just sounds like pressure issue though so I would do it without regulator. You can get filters to deal with the oil/gunk people are mentioning or, supposedly, F273704 is made out of something that negates the need for a filter.

Hmmm, I do have a F273704 hose & filter as a spare. I’ll hook that up and see what happens.

I am confused on why it works at “room” temp. I am going to put everything outside for a few hours and see what happens.

404 ERROR wrote:

You’re hooking the line to the internal regulator. Ditch the inline regulator and you’re problem should be solved.

I am using the “quick” connection, and have been for years with no issue.

I agree you need a regulator to put gas in the quick connect. Might be moisture in the regulator diaphragm if it works “warm” but slows down when the regulator is below freezing. Could have gotten snow or slush in the high pressure side.

Adam Steffes wrote:

F271803

I am using the F271803 hose, with attached regulator, not to say the regulator may have gone bad or something. Hose stays attached to tank, I disconnect it from the unit using the quick disconnect.

I am going to leave it sitting outside in the cold for a few hours and see what happens.

Thank you everybody for the input, I appreciate it!

Paul D wrote:

I am using the “quick” connection, and have been for years with no issue.

I apologize. I’m using an old school big buddy (circa 2006) and there’s no quick connect. My hose connects to the throwaway fitting/regulator. Didn’t even know they upgraded. Now I’m slightly hoping mine takes a poop to upgrade…

Carry on, hope someone smart than I answers for you!

Scrap that buddy heater and get a sunflower, no issues ever, even in extreme cold. As long as it’s not too cold for propane to flow of course, which is roughly -44°f.

All them new regulators suck. You need to crack the valve about an 1/8 then open stupid slow. If you do it to fast they lock up and barely let any gas through. Then you have to unhook and start over. You can hear it when it happens. I returned 3 forced air garage heaters before i figure out what was happening.

I left the propane tank & heater sit out overnight. Just fired it up & ran like it should on high.

Sigh, I give up, going to chalk this up to another anomaly. Guess I’ll just start carrying the sunflower & spare hose for backup.

Thank you all for your responses, I do appreciate the information.

My big buddy quit working on me Sunday morning in the brutal cold as well. After I was fully set up of course

Bearcat89 wrote:

My big buddy quit working on me Sunday morning in the brutal cold as well. After I was fully set up of course

Always the last piece when setting up. Hope you were able to get it going again.

I still think unless you have something gummed up inside, get the right hose that does not require a filter or regulator, forget the quick connect, and everything will work fine. That being said, most problems come from the other hoses so you may already be gummed and need cleaning. They are simple to clean.

Paul D wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
My big buddy quit working on me Sunday morning in the brutal cold as well. After I was fully set up of course

Always the last piece when setting up. Hope you were able to get it going again.

I havent tried. I went home with my head down. And haven’t re looked at it. It worked great Saturday, but Sunday wouldn’t work even after sitting it on my floor heater in my truck for 15 20 minutes

I’m guessing your heater is now plugged up. You need to run a filter unless you have the 10’ hose. I posted this straight from mr heaters website before.

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Coletrain27 wrote:

I’m guessing your heater is now plugged up. You need to run a filter unless you have the 10’ hose. I posted this straight from mr heaters website before.

Same thing for the 6’er.

When you buy a 12’ Mr. heater hose and you actually look at the back it lists what else you need……maybe it will list it requires a not included filter. Now not all packages list this, I purchase two 12’ hoses in November of 2020 and the package doesn’t list the filter as needed, I purchased two more this year and they have the filter required for use on buddy heaters in conjunction with the hose. We have always had issues on -temps days with the heaters dropping out after you call for heat, it’ll run on pilot but not heat. Since the installation of the filters our heaters are working without issue…..-20 and they were working just fine.

I usually bring a 1 lb propane tank with me as a back if the buddy heater won’t light off the 20 lb tank. Call me crazy but I know two buddies and myself that have issues with the 10’ hose if the hose gets too cold. Happen to me on Saturday too. Put on the 1 lb and hung the hose above the heater for 15 mins. Reconnected to the 20 lb tank and everything worked fine.