Cannot recommend Heat Hog

I had been wanting to try one.. and after upgrading my hub I realized I would need the Heat Hog 18K or the Big Buddy. I ordered the Heat Hog. The thing did not work properly from the get go. It wouldn’t start on low. It would just flare up and flicker but not fully light. It would start on medium, but when you would turn it back down to low it would make a noisy air-rushing sound. Yes, I’m sure I just got a lemon… but it’s the handling of the situation that chaps my

So their support sends me a new valve. Zero instructions. It has 5 flare connections that I need to undo and reconnect. Total PITA. It doesn’t fix the issue. I send them a video. They then determine it must be the regulator. It shows up. Zero instructions. Doesn’t fix the issue. At this point I don’t really trust myself that all connections are air tight. The whole inside of the unit is mucked up with gas detector spray. I tell them I’ve had enough of swapping parts and that I just plan to return it to the retailer. Her response was “I understand. Yeah, they should take it back.”

It seems to me they’re opening themselves up to some major liability here. When it comes to a small propane appliance like this, wouldn’t it make more sense to just ship the customer a working unit, take in the faulty one, repair and sell it as a refurb?

Oh, and another major downfall, even though it has two places for 1 pounders in the back, only one of them is plumbed. The other just hangs there. So when tank 1 runs out, you need to swap the tanks around. Pretty weird…

I saw the Flame King products at Joes Sporting Goods. They have a heater, bbq grill and outdoor griddle. Looked like some movement because the display was getting smaller. I’m interested to hear any feedback.

Love my heat hog. Heats my 10 × 10 hub on half throttle under most circumstance. I put an A dapter kit and run it off a 20. Whole unit tilts up while it’s running so you don’t create a big puddle in front of the heater. Heat coil face is convex so it distributes heat more to the side instead of straight forward only. I can move it without it shutting down. When I can I buy local, sometimes at a little more cost. Then when I get defective product I go to my local guy and exchange it. Also I talk with him about the products he sells and this results in great feedback from his other customers to help me make my purchase. He also supports h.s. fishing clubs in the area, veterans fishing tournament .etc.
Win win all the way around. Internet shopping gets you internet service

Sorry to hear you had a bad heater. I have all three sizes and they have been great. Run the middle size and large off a 5Lb and 20LB tank. Smallest one of a 1LB tank.

Point taken bigpike. Sometimes it is just easier to let the retailer deal with “companies like this”. It is funny though that so many products nowadays have the big paper on top of the manuals “DO NOT RETURN TO STORE – CALL 1-800…”

I ended up buying a Big Buddy locally. No one was selling these Heat Hogs locally.

I bought the same heater a few weeks back and had returned it to menards after a couple of uses.

Bearcat89 wrote:

I bought the same heater a few weeks back and had returned it to menards after a couple of uses.

lol i thought that was gonna be the next great thing to replace the mr heater

Coletrain27 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
I bought the same heater a few weeks back and had returned it to menards after a couple of uses.

lol i thought that was gonna be the next great thing to replace the mr heater

Me to. I returned it for another big buddy. Last one lasted 10 years and I bet if I clean out and blow all the lines out it’ll still work.

Now I have to try to get Amazon to take mine back. Same issues you had. They referred me to 2 places to have them fix it if they could. I asked don’t you know if they will fix it? They had no idea. Beyond frustrating. They got your money and don’t care.

not this site as much because there are great people here, but so many posts ripping the buddy heaters for whatever reason because they have no clue and can’t take care of their gear so they jump on these new brands thinking they are starting a revolution

I actually found a great sale on another 18k unit and bought it under a 100 bucks and run it off a 20 pounder. I’m happy. I have both now for no real reason.

It reminds me so much of the old Lowrance/hummingbird complaints about Lowrance. Remember how Lowrance was doomed, would be out of business in a year, they never worked, their service was horrible, and hummingbird was the sweetest operation on the water, but, as market increased for hummingbird so the complaints and the rest is history. Same thing with flashers the old Lowrance ones were so outdated and you couldn’t use them anymore. We had the hummingbirds we had the Marcum we had the Clearwaters, more history. As market share increases so do complaints.

eyeguy507 wrote:

not this site as much because there are great people here, but so many posts ripping the buddy heaters for whatever reason because they have no clue and can’t take care of their gear so they jump on these new brands thinking they are starting a revolution

And with the abuse they take… Evidently the people that are complaining have not been ice fishing long enough to remember the limited crap available before the Buddy heater!