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It sputtered and spit little sparks, probably residue from whatever I had used to clean it 8 months ago, but the pilot lit and then the burner came on and it worked flawlessly. It worked great through most of the winter - until it stopped - COLD turkey. Also the Mr Heater filter, 12 foot hose, and a 20 lb tank from Wal-Mart. If these heaters need a torch to get started, that is okay with me, but I think the force and intensity of the torch has vaporized and blown out whatever stuff had gradually settled in and clogged things up on both heaters. It smoked like hill with all the accumulated whatever suddenly getting hot enough to vaporize, but it was all going out the open door, and after awhile it stopped smoking and I shut the door as its hot orange catalytic pad was finally throwing heat into the room again. We will see.
We appreciated that. When it is on, an adjacent window had to be cracked open or its oxygen sensor would shut it off after awhile. Perhaps our 2 bodies and the dog made the air a bit stuffy but I think the window would resolve that too. Never figured out why it stopped working. We got this 4000/9000 BTU Mr Heater Buddy about a year ago to replace the 2 Coleman catalyctic heaters in our trailer. Then the older one became impossible to light with the usual BIC. I got an idea - I lit up a hand-held blow torch and used that instead of the BIC.
Has worked fine since.Then I got another idea. I hooked the Mr Heater up again (outside), pressed the knob at "Pilot", and aimed that pencil thin blow torch flame straight down the tube. I tried all the suggested tips for cleaning the tube, cussing, kicking, etc. The environment is clean and the mountain (3000 ft) air cleaner (no smoking for me inside either). Shut it off and then restarted it the right way and it worked.
Maybe it was because we were shutting off the heater instead of the tank; who knows. (did not try spitting) but nothing helped.We were back to the Coleman's, each with its own filter, hose and 20 lb tank. When it gets cold tonight, I will repeat this procedure and leave it on 4 or 5 hours until it is time for bed. We will see.
I wanted to use this at my place in Wyoming which is at the 7,500 foot elevation mark. This is a well made heater that works great if you are below 5,000 feet of elevation. However, most of the Rocky Mountain states have a low elevation of around 6,000 or 7,000 feet or higher. It would only run for about 15 minutes before the oxygen sensor shut it off. It would probable be a great heater if it was used at lower elevations.
After using the portable Mr Heater twice it has worked well. It was easy to set up, easy to light and gave off plenty of heat for our 8' x 26' rv trailer.
The oxygen safety sensor, while well intentioned, is so sensitive that the unit shuts itself off. Most of the nice things folks say about this unit are true. Once it does that, good luck getting it re-started or to stay lit even if you thoroughly vent the enclosure or take it outside. There are a couple nits: if you use the 12' hose you must introduce the gas verrrryyyy sloowwwwwllllyyyy or it trips a pressure switch and you'll have trouble getting it fired up. The biggest nit from my perspective: good luck using the thing over about 5000' elevation. Very annoying. So, if you are a sea level camper it's probably dandy, if you are a mountains and high desert camper, probably want to look elsewhere.
We'll stay warm and toasty. We've got several inches of ice and snow and more on the way.
I live in a 900 square feet apartment and along with a tiny little $12 space heater, my apartment is nice and toasty. I do have my sliding patio door open about a fingers width for ventilation and it's even heating that large room despite the heat loss.
The package on this product says it will heat 200 square feet. Well, apparantly spring wasn't quite here yet.
I'm thankful I bought this a few months ago as part of my emergency preparedness. Each year I have my gas shut off (on purpose) to save $ when spring gets here.
I'm glad to have this product. (I won't take the risk of running it overnight, though, even though I do have carbon monoxide detectors in two rooms).
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