Heater Reccomendations?

Trying to get the wife out with me this year. We just bought a brand new ice shack and now I’m ready to outfit it with a heater. I’m looking at some space heaters, but I honestly have no idea if I need to know anything about what kind of gas is better or how big I can get. The ice shack is just a 2-person, pretty small. I’ve been looking at some NewAir gas heaters (anyone tried these?) but I’m open to any selections and if anyone knows of other sales, let me know.

For a portable it is hard to beat a Mr. Heater sunflower style LP gas heater. I like the model with the floor stand. Buy a 6′ hose and keep the 20 lb LP tank outside. Otherwise for a little less money the same heater is available that will mount directly to the LP tank. Then the tank must come inside the house.

Buddy heater… that or a 4″ sunflower

BIG buddy heater. The small one is nice if you have a 1 man shack. These things are a lot safer than the sunflower style, meaning they have electronic ignitions, low-oxygen shutoff, and it even has a fan if you choose to add batteries. Of course you can also run these with external tanks as well, or throw in 2 1b canisters.

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BIG buddy heater. The small one is nice if you have a 1 man shack. These things are a lot safer than the sunflower style, meaning they have electronic ignitions, low-oxygen shutoff, and it even has a fan if you choose to add batteries. Of course you can also run these with external tanks as well, or throw in 2 1b canisters.

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X2!

We have the buddy heater, sunflower on the stand ,and the sunflower the mounts on top of the tank. For us it depends on temp. outside. If it is above 20 the buddy comes out, above 0 and the sunflower with stand will work , now when its really cold we use the sunflower thats mounts directly to tank and bring tank inside shack. that helps keep the tank from freezing up. IMO if I was only gonna have 1 it would be the type that mounts directly to tank. Whatever you do not use this type in a shack you plan on sleeping in!

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We have the buddy heater, sunflower on the stand ,and the sunflower the mounts on top of the tank. For us it depends on temp. outside. If it is above 20 the buddy comes out, above 0 and the sunflower with stand will work , now when its really cold we use the sunflower thats mounts directly to tank and bring tank inside shack. that helps keep the tank from freezing up. IMO if I was only gonna have 1 it would be the type that mounts directly to tank. Whatever you do not use this type in a shack you plan on sleeping in!

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Great information Andy!! Now for others looking to save propane costs this winter. Look very hard at these new Thermal shacks Otter Outdoors is introducing. Might need a candle as your heating source!!

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We have the buddy heater, sunflower on the stand ,and the sunflower the mounts on top of the tank. For us it depends on temp. outside. If it is above 20 the buddy comes out, above 0 and the sunflower with stand will work , now when its really cold we use the sunflower thats mounts directly to tank and bring tank inside shack. that helps keep the tank from freezing up. IMO if I was only gonna have 1 it would be the type that mounts directly to tank. Whatever you do not use this type in a shack you plan on sleeping in!

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Great information Andy!! Now for others looking to save propane costs this winter. Look very hard at these new Thermal shacks Otter Outdoors is introducing. Might need a candle as your heating source!!

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Wearing the snosuit inside the new Otter thermal house and the candle might too much.

On a serious note, the sunflower heater has alwas been a great way to warm up quickly or keep the favorite wife, son or daughter warm. Very reliable heat source, with the cold winters that is just as important as having a auger to drill the holes.

Good call Cal!!

I had the same problem deciding when I got my first house. Initially I went cheap and bought a little buddy heater. It was the kind that screwed on top of the 16.4oz tank. I think it had a max BTU of 3,000. It was nice as long as the outside temperature was above 20. It probably kept the house about 25 degrees warmer than the outside temp. But on those cold nights it just didn’t do the trick. I also got really tired of buying the little tanks. Some places were asking up to $5 a piece for them. So I finally broke down and bought a big buddy heater and, I must say, it’s awesome. It zaps the 16.4 oz tanks so make sure to buy the hose to run to a 20lb tank. I bought a 12 foot quick attach hose from Fleet Farm for $20 bucks and it’s been a life saver. I keep the 20lb tank outside and run the house under the house. If you ever get a permanent you can just run it straight through a wall into the house as well. The 20lb tank costs me $15 to fill up and it lasts me over a month, even running it for 8-10 hours a day on the weekends. One of the best things about the big buddy is that it has 3 different settings (low, medium and high). Low is great on days where it’s 25-35 degrees and high makes you sweat no matter how cold it is. While it’s an expensive initial investment, it is totally worth it. It’s really nice to have the piece of mind when going fishing that you have plenty of propane and a heater that can handle any type of weather.

I have the Buddy Heater in a 2 man shack. We get along fine with it. Pleanty of heat, actually the only thing bad I have to say about it, is I burnt my new columbia coat (x-mas present from the wife)when I took it off because I was hot.

I have the Sunflower and am thinking of switching to the Big Buddy….The sunflower seems to heat the top half of my shack great, but not the bottom….The buddy heater sits on the ground lower so the heat travels upward more.
If I was taking the wife, I would DEFINATELY go with the better heater.(Unless you want her to go once and decide that your ice fishing should be “Guy Time”)

I have a Portable Buddy, and I am going to get a larger Big Buddy. I also have a sunflower style, and I love it for really cold days, but you have to be extremely careful with them. The small tanks are a pain in the rear as they depleat so fast (as fast as three hours on really cold days), so I got the hose attachment for my Portable Buddy to go to the propane tank outside. I find on the really cold days, 9000 BTU just is not enough, and would like the 18000 of the Big Buddy, and the fan that it has.

Chris K

You should go with the Big Buddy. Three different settings and a fan. Almost 100% efficient, which means very low carbon monoxide. Safe because it comes with low oxygen shut-off. Comes standard with a carry case, which includes slots for 2 1 lb cylinders. Also has the mounting ability to attach to a permanent fish house. Nothing more versitile.