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Gone2TheCamp
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# Posted: 21 Nov 2018 08:12am
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Just rolling stuff over in my head....because I'd sooner be at the cabin than at my desk at work...
12x16 cabin, no electric, no wood stove. I figured a wood stove would be tough to regulate in a 12x16 insulated space, so I decided to just go with a combination of kerosene and propane heating. And, don't spend a lot of time there in the winter, so long-term heating economy wasn't really a factor.
So in a couple nights with the kerosene heater, I burned through $20 in fuel, even with it running as low as it would go. If I run the 'Big Buddy' on low, that's only one of the 2 elements, and it still gets too hot. My wife is always cold, and she got up at 2am and shut it off.
I like the propane because it's easy, relatively cheap, and the big buddy has a pilot, thermo-couple, low oxygen shut-off, and shuts off if it's bumped or tipped.
Has anyone every heard of a thermostat that can be added to them? Or maybe a thermostat-controlled valve that can be added in-line, or in place of the low-med-hi flow valve that the Big Buddy comes with?
I don't mind modifying the unit, provided it's done safely. "Don't modify it in any way or you'll die and the entire earth will explode!"...some will say. Meh. Proper lines, proper connections, proper cautions...
Essentially what I'm thinking is the sort of thermostat switch that you'd see on an RV furnace (the old type)...with the remote temp probe on a copper wire...
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paulz
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# Posted: 21 Nov 2018 10:18am
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Just have your wife make you a sandwich when she gets up, then you'll have something to eat if you can't get back to sleep.
I think you'll need the valve with the thermopile to power the thermostat.
Or, they make an in line propane timer for bbqs.
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Gone2TheCamp
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2019 11:00am
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Update: A Buddy heater is a great heater....but after getting educated, every pound of propane you burn in a non-vented heater puts 1L of water into the air as a result of the combustion.
After a day heating the camp in the winter, there was water running down the windows, and water condensing on the vapour barrier in the lower half of the wall corners, and literally running on the floor.
I opened a few windows for some air-exchanging...and I made a little window fan out of a couple computer fans... exchanging air made it better, but it still condensed and collected. No bueno.
So, the Big Buddy will only be called into duty when I need to get some quick heat....not run for any length of time.
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justincasei812
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2019 02:03pm - Edited by: justincasei812
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Maybe try a small vented propane heater, they may have a thermostat built in.
https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-Corporation-F299730-MHVFB30LPT/dp/B01DPZ59U2/ref=sr_ 1_2?keywords=small+vented+propane+heater&qid=1561572262&s=gateway&sr=8-2
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SCSJeff
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2019 02:28pm
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Justin,
That link is a vent-free heater... So same condensation problem.
A true vented heater will cost at least $500 (unless you can find a used one on CraigsList, etc.). But, yes, should come with a thermostat.
Gone, What if you got the place up to temp with the Buddy, and then just left it on Pilot? Do you think just the pilot alone will keep temp in such a small space? However, I would still keep a window cracked for safety reasons with a vent-free heater...
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justincasei812
Member
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2019 02:55pm
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SCSJeff- Dang I thought that said it was vented, thought that was pretty cheap. Thanks
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Brettny
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2019 03:49pm
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You have the wrong heater if you want a thermostat. A wood stove is actualy easy to regulate once you get use to it. You also wouldnt use the same stove in a 3000sqft house as a riny cabin
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2019 04:34pm
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I have used one of those Ashley Stove Vented heaters for 2 years of infrequent cold stays. They rock! They are thermostaticly controlled and do not contribute to the himdidity inside.
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AffordableDCGenerators
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2019 07:44pm
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I used to suffer the same problem when I was living on my boat at the extreme ends of the season. You could just never feel dry when running the Buddy heater inside the cabin.
I vote for a conventional vented propane heater to be the best bet. Look at some of the tractor trailer heaters online. Most are diesel powered hot air that will run on 12 or 24v. The Chinese knock off ones are starting to get good reviews.
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cspot
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2019 08:02pm
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Northern has some vented propane heaters as well that you can put a thermostat on. I have one at our cabin in addition to the wood stove. They work nice. Also alot safer than the ventless.
Since our cabin is larger I still have a buddy heater in the bathroom. I fire it up when we get there to help get the place up to temperature and before we get showers on cold days.
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Fanman
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2019 10:56pm
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I have some vented propane heaters in my house, actually I replaced the oil furnace with a propane fireplace in the living room and two smaller heaters in the back bedroom. They all have thermostats and require no electricity. Works great.
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Gone2TheCamp
Member
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# Posted: 27 Jun 2019 02:14pm
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I forgot to mention.... I bought a small woodstove...small as in, the little box stoves with the 2 burner plates....? Well, this one's so small it only has one burner plate. I have yet to start hacking holes in walls to install it, though.
But, in the old cabin on the property and in a hunting cabin I rented one year, there was one of those drip heaters...gravity fed pot burner....they have lots of names...
Anyway, I really liked them...foolproof if you keep the fuel clean and have the ability to tear the float carb apart and remedy a sticking valve or something once in a while... They're adjustable, and they light without drama and they stay lit until the fuel runs out.
After a lot of thinking back and forth, I decided to go with the drip furnace.. I put an ad on Kijiji and almost immediately got a message back from someone that was just getting ready to post theirs...the measurements tell me it's a nice small one (34" high, 17" wide, 16" deep) and it's been in a house its whole life and looks really good from the pictures.
I was really surprised, because I've been watching the ads for years and have never seen one for sale...yet nearly every old hunting or fishing camp around here seems to have one.
If my decision turns out to be a big mistake, I can always swap it out for the woodstove.
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NorthRick
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# Posted: 28 Jun 2019 04:17pm
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I have a 12x16 cabin in Alaska that we use more in the winter (snowmobiling) than in the summer. No woodstove for me for the following reasons:
1) Takes up too much space with the area in front that needs to stay clear for safety.
2) Anything small enough to not heat you out isn't going to burn all night, meaning you have to get up in the middle of the night to stoke it.
3) Similar to #2, when we are out all day snowmobiling, we'd come home to a cold cabin.
4) It is a weekend/recreational cabin, I don't want to have to cut and split wood to stay warm.
What we have is one of the direct-vent propane heaters. It doesn't have a thermostat where you dial the actual temp, say 68 degrees (f), but a knob were the further you turn it the warmer it keeps the room. It doesn't take long before you learn where to set the knob to keep the cabin at the temperature you want.
I joke with one of my cabin neighbors with only a wood stove who has wildly fluctuating temperatures that when I get back to my cabin it will be 68 degrees. And, when I wake up tomorrow morning the cabin will be 68 degrees.
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Rickkrus
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# Posted: 30 Jun 2019 08:10pm
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I ran a big buddy all winter in an 18 foot travel trailer in Colorado this year. Temps got to 20 below and I stayed warm. No condensation if you open a window.
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