Semi-permanent Catalytic Heater Install

The fellow who sold us the camper gave us a "Little Buddy" heater in the box as well.

It works pretty well, but I wanted to hook it up to the regulated propane tank already on the truck. Trouble is, appliances designed for 1 lb. bottles already have built-in regulators, so it would not work out of the box.

I am not sure about the liability issues of demonstrating modified equipment such as this, so I didn't want to add pictures and all without say-so from admin DD.

Heater, sans regulator functions well, so I'll go ahead and plumb it in.

I'll also show what I've done photographically, after getting a by-your-leave.

Mark,
Mr buddy sells a kit so you can use your on board tank. I think these little heaters work great.

Marc

Mark,
Mr buddy sells a kit so you can use your on board tank. I think these little heaters work great.
Marc

Marc, that's what I thought, too, so I bought one of the kits. It turns out the kit I bought was was a hose to connect an unregulated remote tank (plus a filter), not a kit allowing connection to a regulated remote tank, as in the Hawk. The pilot light lit, but there was not enough gas pressure to run the heater.

Once I removed the internal regulator and plumbed it in, it worked great, just as you say.

Mr. Buddy now makes a wall mounted, 10,000 BTU unit, good for 300 square feet designed for regular propane tanks. It runs around $100. I put a Big Buddy in the kids Alaskan with the tank kit. It's almost too much for it as it is designed to heat 400 square feet.

Mr. Buddy now makes a wall mounted, 10,000 BTU unit, good for 300 square feet designed for regular propane tanks. It runs around $100. I put a Big Buddy in the kids Alaskan with the tank kit. It's almost too much for it as it is designed to heat 400 square feet.

Thanks, drakeslayer.

EDIT: I removed the linked picture of the hose with regulator, because I don't want to cause confusion while updating this thread.

As we can see, this one doesn't have an internal regulator, so it would have worked without modifications in my camper. On the website, they say it is not to be operated inside an RV.

If I was buying one, knowing what I now know, I might buy the one you recommend so I wouldn't have to remove the regulator.

The only place I found online that sells it wants >$200, though, compared with ~$80 for the little buddy at Walmart.

Try Sportsmans Warehouse

Behind the icebox in my camper is a LP gas line that is intended for the optional refrigerator. I connected a flexible hose that I purchased from the local LP gas supplier. The supplier crimped on quick-disconnect fittings at each end of the hose.

I did not use compressed air hose nor compressed air fittings!

I cut the hose into two sections; a longer section with a female connector which holds pressure when not connected to anything, and a shorter section with a male connector, similar to what you'd see on an air tool. Using an appropriately sized hose barb and threaded adapters, I connected the hose to mth existing line behind my icebox:



There is room next to my icebox to allow the hose to coil up when it's not needed.



Note the presence of a dust cap over the quick disconnect. Here is a detail of it ready to be connected:



These connectors only mate with other LP connectors for safety's sake. Here is the connector that goes on the heater:



This has worked out pretty well. I plan to add another, longer hose to allow me to use a Coleman outdoor grill with my onboard LP tank. We can then cook outside without needing to carry around those little green bottles.

Ahhh, I didn't think of using the plumbed lines for the fridge option to splice into. Brilliant.

Where do you end up mounting your LB heater with the tank removed? Did you make a stand or such to set it on the counter or something along those lines?

I mount it under the icebox for travel and then deploy it in front of the door when heating. I wanted to allow plenty of overhead room for convection currents, so I didn't mount it permanently under the icebox. The flex hose makes this easy.