Sucessful Repair of my Mr Heater Buddy

[JonesFamilyJayco]

A while back I wrote that my second Mr Heater Buddy was not wanting to start and when it did, I could not keep the pilot nor the heating element lit (sut off by itself).  I was concerned that the low O2 protective shut off was malfunctioning and therefor did not feel comfortable using it inside my camper.

Well, I contacted the Mr Heater company and the technical service person recommend I clean the pilot and the heating element.  This made sense because I had the same problem with my home's gas logs at the begining of each season.  

The instuctions they gave worked great!  First remove the protective wire guard on the front of the heater.  Next remove the single screw on the bottom of the heater.  This will allow you to lift the heating element out from the front of the heater.  Take a can of air and clean out the gas line to the pilot and the heating element.  I also cleaned the heating element with the air.  Put everything back in place, and it lit first try!

Since the low O2 protective shut off depends on a burning pilot to keep the heating element lit, I believe that cleaning the gas line to the pilot did the most good.  

I am surprised that neither the owner's manual or their web site gives instructions to do this as either first of the season maintenance or trouble shooting.  Oh well, I hope that everyone that has or is planning to get one of these heaters will be able to use this.

Kaaljonesfamily

[tlhdoc]

I am glad you were able to fix it so easily.  I need to do that to my heater.

[flyfisherman]

I've had a Mr.Buddy since they were kinda new on the market. I bought my first one in 2000 and have used it both with the individual 16oz disposable tanks and also with the hose extension where I can connect to a 20lb re-fillable tank.

When using the hose extension to the 20# tank, I found out it's important to shut the unit off at the tank and burn all of the fuel out of the line. If you turn the unit off at the heater switch the fuel thats still in that rubberized hose extension will begin to form a gooey substance in the line as a result of the fuel and the hose material co-mingling and might cause the heater's intake valve to clog with some of the goo. I called the Mr.Buddy tech folks and they confirmed this. Just a heads up for anyone thinking about using their heater with the hose extension.


Fly

[tlhdoc]

Fly thanks for the information.  I bought a hose last year to run it off of the big tank.:frosty: