Thermocouple Alternative??

While I haven’t had to use it much this year due to the warmer weather, my main heater is a 5 pound propane tank with a Mr. Heater sunflower on top. Generally it works fairly well for me. However, I eat thermocouples like candy. It’s not that I’m rough on gear, in fact I actually try and baby the things, but the copper tubes are always getting twisted or pinched one way or another. Invariably it will break at the lower nut. In the three or four years that I’ve owned this sunflower, I’ve probably replaced the thermocouples twice a year. Heck, I’ve spent more money on thermocouples than on the whole sunflower at this point. Has anybody found a more resilient alternative?

Do you travel with the heater connected to the tank?
I have had a sunflower heater for about 20-25 years and am on thermocoupler #2 and just bought that about 2 years ago.
I always put it in a 5 gallon pail for any travel. I’ll have tackle and other misc. items in the pail as well. Seems to have worked for me.

Like the other post, I keep mine in a milk crate so as to protect the heater/coupler. I run a hose from the tank and use the stand that comes with the heater.

Sure I will bite on this one. I took mine off and threw it away! Went to the hardware store and picker up a flared cap and some epoxy. Took out the plunger from the t-body out and put the cap on the other side. From my trials and errors I have found that the machined threads on the heater are not exactly the same as anything standard or american for that matter, and thus is the reason for the epoxy. I tried pipe tape, dope, then more of each, still had leaks. After the epoxy it has been good to go now for two years. When I get my house setup I lean over, flick the lighter, and poof! Sunflower is lit, no need to sit and hold the plunger down and wait for it to warm up. Fish away…. If you would like to a picture of two let me know I could round some up if anyone wants to do the same.

Scottie is spot on, threads dont exactly match but “engineering” can be done.

As for me, I started just using hockey tape to keep the plunger pushed in. After a while (weeks) the glue would let loose on the tape and I would have to retape. Eventually, I just decide to use epoxy on it and then tape it till it dried. It had held for 5 years now.

I have a single burner buddy heater and i think the
thermocouple is bad for i have to lean it forward to keep it burning where can i get a new one ?

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Sure I will bite on this one. I took mine off and threw it away! Went to the hardware store and picker up a flared cap and some epoxy. Took out the plunger from the t-body out and put the cap on the other side. From my trials and errors I have found that the machined threads on the heater are not exactly the same as anything standard or american for that matter, and thus is the reason for the epoxy. I tried pipe tape, dope, then more of each, still had leaks. After the epoxy it has been good to go now for two years. When I get my house setup I lean over, flick the lighter, and poof! Sunflower is lit, no need to sit and hold the plunger down and wait for it to warm up. Fish away…. If you would like to a picture of two let me know I could round some up if anyone wants to do the same.

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I would be really interested in some pictures!!! Sounds like a good idea for my heater.

Thanks for the suggestions. I do not remove the sunflower with the exception of when the tank is being filled. I have tried to use 5 gal buckets and milk crates before as well. It does help but the tube still ends up getting bent at some point.

What’s the potential harm in going with the bypass 100% of the time? I’m assuming since the thermocouple was designed for use instead of 100% bypass there is some sort of downside, yes?

Scottie, yes pictures would be appreciated.

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I have a single burner buddy heater and i think the
thermocouple is bad for i have to lean it forward to keep it burning where can i get a new one ?

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Fleet Farm (site sponsor) sells them.

It is a redundant safety feature in my opinion. If you are concerned with safety I do not recommend that you do this! That being said this is also safe to do if you implement common sense.

Once the the copper probe gets heated up and expands..it transfers that down to the business end inside the valve. Once this takes place it pushes an internal plunger horizontal and allows gas to flow through and burn. By manually pressing on the plunger that allows the same thing to take place. (This is what you do when you are starting it conventionally. Kinda like a choke) If you were to take that plunger out of the valve body, remove the thermocouple, and cap the male threads on the t-body valve this entire process is eliminated.

Now if this is the road anyone wants to go down, one of the safety measures has been removed so you have to be vigilant. The control valve on the heater itself is one way to shut off the heater. Obviously there is a valve on the lp tank as well. I am always sure to close my lp tank first then the heater. To me that is a two step safety procedure and it is fine by me. Some people prefer three, I am fine with two. If the wind were to blow out your flame, or water was to put it out the gas would continue to flow out. Same thing if both the valves were open at the same time. There might be some other situations but those are the three main ones that stick out. I just want people to be aware of these, but also not to be afraid.

To the best of my memory…..a brass flared cap either 7/16 or 1/2″ was used. Teflon thread tape, and some 2 part epoxy. Take the plunger out, tape the threads, caps it good and tight. Mix up the epoxy and “paint” the seal of the cap against the valve. Let it dry accordingly and test it out back on the heater. Use some soapy water and check for leaks. If there still is, repeat the epoxy process a little more liberal.

Edit: Two things I would like at add…..The ‘sqweel’ from the metal screen expanding is louder after you do this. That sound obviously goes away as soon as the heater face is up to operating temp. If you do this mod the control of gas is a lot more user friendly. You can dial the control knob to supper low so the gas is coming out just enough to keep it going. Supper low lp usage and climate temps that are more user friendly

Scottie–Thanks a bunch. Looks like a heater mod is in my future.

BTW, regarding the squeeling sound when the heater is first fired up, I’ve found if you quickly cover and uncover the air hole in the tube leading to the sunflower with your fingers, the squeeling stops quicker than waiting for the sunflower to heat up.

Without too much trouble, a 3″ hose clamp, can be put around and hold the plunger in… this is how mine end up after I break them

Scottie, Great write up and pictures.

The new Mr Heaters use a different system that works better. If you look, they use a wire and no more copper tube.