Reviewing The Great New Portable Propane Gas Heaters-The Perfect Back-Up Heat
Posted: Friday, February 11, 2011
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
People who heat with electricity have always had the dread of a power outage, and especially when the weather is bitterly cold outside. There have always been solutions for that but in the past none were exactly what one prefers. This author has had that problem and my method to resolve it was to install a natural gas wall heater which requires no electricity. We also have an aging natural gas floor furnace which will also burn with no electricity, but even so, my resolutions have been somewhat costly and also are not portable. Only the living-dining area of our house is heated by those units.
Some even installed a wood/coal burning fireplace or heater. Expensive to install and somewhat of a nuisance to keep stoked and burning properly. Fireplaces are desirable in that they give off a calming appearance an a feeling of warmth, over the true amount of heat. But their heating efficiency is not good. They also require frequent chimney cleaning which is difficult or expensive to hire someone to do it.
Below is the Mr. Heater's Big Buddy
Propane heat has been a standby for many people who have it connected in their homes. But again, many of the heating units in use require electricity to ignite and regulate the units. But now, they have come out with the new portable models which operate from a small changeable propane canister. Single units with their own propane container which are easily moved from room to room. There is no smell (or very slight when starting) as with the kerosene heaters. They require no connection to electricity or to an outside gas supply.
Perhaps, the most important advantage of the propane portable heaters is the superior amount of heat they can produce. For instance, the normal electric heaters (all of those which can be plugged into a 110-120 volt outlet) are limited to 1500 watts which converts to BTU’s of heat between 3,000 and 3,500. While Mr. Heater’s ‘Big Buddy’ portable propane heater has 3 heat settings of 4,000, 9000 and 18,000 BTU’s! This Big Buddy heater at present is one of the favorites, can be purchased for around $129 to $150. It has a fan which runs off of 4 D-cell batteries or an adapter can be purchased to plug into an ordinary 110-120 volt outlet. The adapter is separate and costs about $15.00.
When considering purchase costs, this unit will produce more BTU’s than five of the small electric heaters. There are smaller one’s available, in fact the same company has a ’Buddy’ heater which produces up to 9,000 BTU’s and sells for around $75-$80.
Pinnacle Products International produces a small infrared propane tank top heater which produces 15,000 BTUs and normally sells for about $70. One company has them on sale at this time for $26.17 plus shipping.(Photo at right)
The consumption of gas varies more with the size and/or heat setting and with the different heaters. The Big Buddy, mentioned above, on the 18,000 BTU setting will consume 1 pound of propane in approximately 1.5 hours, or 3 hours on the 9,000 setting. For a small extra charge, an adapter may be purchased to connect most of these heaters to a 20 lb. canister of Propane.
For those who have an interest in purchasing one of these great new heaters, it is urged that you put “portable Propane space or room heaters” into a Google search window and you will pull up many suppliers of these heaters, or you may find them at a local hardware store. Stay warm.
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