Portable fish house heat

Advice on heat for my Eskimo 2600.
Currently I use a single sunflower heater on a 5 lb propane tank.
All good until the propane controls get the tiniest speck of crap and then it acts like the tank is empty.
How do the big buddy type heaters stack up?
Do you put them on the ice or can they be put and run in the tub?
Do they melt all the snow and ice when put on the ice or are the tilt style better?
Are they rugid enough to withstand the bouncing of being pulled behind a snowmobile?
The sunflower works pretty good other than the getting plugged.
Doesn’t melt the ice to bad, portable, simple.

I always ran a big buddy but last year or the year before I bought this one for the tild feature. The big buddy eats ice away and creates a hole or low spot, but that can be set off by stacking it on a milk crate or something similar. The heat hog tilts and didn’t create near a mess that the big buddy did. Heat hog has the electric push start that operates off 1 aa or aaa battery I don’t remember. I was very hesitant on that but the original battery I installed still is going strong, and I be sure the keep a spare in my rod case, 1 in my vex, and 1 in my tackle box. That way if I leave one of those items behind I still have one with a spare battery

A buddy heater is great in a 2600. Set it on the ice in front of you and run it on low and you’re fine. If it melts a little, the water runs down your holes. I never noticed any melting to speak of. Do not put it in the sled. It’s too close to you and too hot. I put mine in my sled and pull it all over. They are durable. I just use the regular sized buddy with a single propane cylinder. The big buddy is too big and too hot for that sized shack. I usually have my coat and hat off once it warms up. Bank snow around the bottom and you’ll be plenty warm.

The buddy heaters will survive if placed in the tub but do NOT lay it on its back! The ceramic will break when bouncing around. Otherwise they are pretty solid units. I rigged up a rechargeable 6 volt battery for mine to power the fan because the switch always gets stuck on and then the batteries are dead. I dont use the fan often but when its really cold its nice.

I ran a 2600 for three years, Big buddy on high will have you in a tshirt, I grabed a folding foot stool from Harbor and set it on that, dead center in the front of the shack otherwise it will melt the snow in front of it. Also keeps snow from sticking to it and getting water in the sled at the end of the day.

I Just use a mr heater cooker never had any issues over 20 years with it.

I’ve always set the buddy heater in the sled behind the “passenger” seat. Easy to reach and helps with the ice melt.

I have 2 big buddies and 1 regular. Never an issue with them and we use them for hunting as well. The thing I did was make a stand for them with 2×4’s and plywood to keep it off the ice and making things wet. I also built it so the 2×4’s fit the width of the recesses in my sled so it stores easier.

I love the big buddie in my flip over. The only issue I have with it is if it sits for any period of time it takes forever for it to light. I run it off of a 20 pound tank and it can take up to 30 minutes to get the line bled to the heater and get the pilot to light and stay lit. If it’s used on a regular basis it will fire on the 3rd – 5th ignition. Lighting for the first time after the summer, turn the fuel on and walk away for a half and come back and start hit the ignition. I’ve learned to do this just before ice season so I’m not freezing for the first chunk of time on my first trip out. I’ve seen countless videos of guys fighting these things early in the season. Turn gas on, turn gas off and turn back on, detach hose and reattach hose, 1,000 ignition clicks and curses tell the story every time.

I’ve used a Big Buddy for a long time now and it’s been great for me.

I have beat the hell out of my big buddies and they have treated me well. I broke my first one but it was expected. Most of the plastic housing was busted off by the time the guts failed. Long snowmobile rides on rough ice are brutal on gear in a sled.

If you use a tank and hose make sure to bleed the line with something narrow like forceps or a nail. That will eliminate the the problem highbreeze mentioned.

I haven’t checked out the heat hog but now bearcat has me intrigued.

I have an Otter lodge, and was sick of the big buddy in the way of the door and creating the “puddle”, so I did some mods using UHMC and some pins to make this shelf that the heater sits on. Works great solo or with another person.

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Likely not a great idea….but has anyone hung a buddy heater from the front top poles of a flip shack? Shack would need to have side doors, but this would help weight the front down, get the hater off the floor, etc. Hmm…

FinnyDinDin wrote:

If you use a tank and hose make sure to bleed the line with something narrow like forceps or a nail. That will eliminate the the problem highbreeze mentioned.

Yes, this works OR you can put a 1 pound tank on either side and it will pull from that first and then light and once its going from the tank.

FinnyDinDin wrote:

If you use a tank and hose make sure to bleed the line with something narrow like forceps or a nail. That will eliminate the the problem highbreeze mentioned.

I do the same thing and one other thing that helps is to have a small torch lighter and heat up the thermocouple and turn the gas to wide open. You will see air coming out of the line until it finally lights the gas. The only thing bad about the 10′ hose but at least the tank is on the outside.

your hose is only 10 inches long Jim???? mines gotta be 2 ft long!!!!! i just purge it with something blunt that fits and usually no issue lighting it!!!

Those of you having issues with 20lb tanks are you pushing down on the knob to let the line purge? I use 20lb and 10lb tanks with a 5ft hose and have never had it take more than 5min if that to purge the line and get the heater going.

acarroline wrote:

Likely not a great idea….but has anyone hung a buddy heater from the front top poles of a flip shack? Shack would need to have side doors, but this would help weight the front down, get the hater off the floor, etc. Hmm…

Years ago I made S hooks and hung my buddy heater from the top front horizontal pole of my flip over. It seemed to make the disparity of temp greater from bottom to top. After a couple of outings I just went back to putting the heater back on the ice.

Maybe a fan pushing the warm air down would have helped….

glenn57 wrote:

your hose is only 10 inches long Jim???? mines gotta be 2 ft long!!!!! i just purge it with something blunt that fits and usually no issue lighting it!!!

Did not pay close enough attention. I meant 10 feet

I put a 2×2 piece of plywood on the tub floor for it to sit on.

I ran a Big Buddy in a non-insulated Eskimo hub and am plenty warm. Have to take the parka off it gets so hot.