Big time heat for my tent mansion

Back when I was married, you know, the black years... My wife at the time, was all about doing everything that I was doing. The problem was that she couldn't just do it, she would have to do it while complaining about doing it. So, when I told her that I was going camping with the guys, of course, she wanted to go. She always wanted to go, regardless of how much she hated it. So, I obliged and the other guys decided that they would invite their wives as well. But being that my ex wife had just had a baby at that time, my son Jordan, we decided that if we were going to bring him along, we needed to prepare for it.

The day before the camping trip, I found myself at Sportsman's Warehouse, a massive sports store in Anchorage, and pretty much all over the country. My main goal was to walk out of the store, with the necessities that I needed in order to put up a comfortable tent that was big enough for the three of us. And since Jordan was only a month old, he only needed enough room for his portable basinet. Of course my ex wife wanted to come along to help me pick out the tent and whatever other accessories went along with it. Soon I found myself looking at larger and larger tents as she began to think bigger and bigger. The next thing I know, I have the largest tent that I have ever seen inside of my cart. In fact, it was so large, it wouldn't even fit completely in the oversized sportsman's carts. This tent was a beast of a tent, could hold 24 people comfortable, had two bedrooms, a gazebo, sun roof, TWO WALK-IN CLOSETS, INCREDIBLE to say the least. Definitely above and beyond what any camper truly needs. Any more features and we might as well have bought a camper, something that I am DEFINITELY AGAINST, as it defeats the entire utility in camping.

The biggest problem with camping in the month of April however in Anchorage, is that it is still quite cold and VERY WET. So, in order to have a huge tent like that, meant that we would have to have multiple heaters throughout the tent, or one hell of a single heater. Well, leave it to my wife to sniff out one of the biggest heaters I've ever seen for a tent. This heater was the Mr. Heater MH18B Utility heater.

About the Heater
This heater is an impressive 18,000 BTU heater, that is fully adjustable at 4K, 9K, and 18K BTU increments. The unit runs on 2 small camping bottles of propane or you can hook it up to a direct feed bottle, for a longer lasting burst of propane.

The heater has an automatic shutoff so that if you accidentally knock it over then it's not going to catch your tent on fire... but I would hope that your tent is anti-flammable in the first place, so that really shouldn't matter unless you have something that will catch fire near the flame anyway.

On the heater there is also an automatic ignition setup, which is probably the worst part about the entire unit. It can literally take 10-20 minutes trying to get this ignition setup to work properly. Sometimes it will start right up, while othe times it will take seemingly forever. I just suggest keeping a lighter of some sort with you, which is extremely dangerous, but if you need heat, you need heat, and it's better than waiting forever for the igniter to possibly work.

Anther excellent feature is a blower that runs off of D cell batteries, which blows the heat around whatever are you have the heater placed in. This is a huge aid in heating up a massive tent such as mine, and can make a big difference on how warm you stay throughout the night.

If you just bought the heater for a job site, and you have a place to hang it up, there are mounting holes located on the back of the unit, which can be easily used to hang it up to whatever location you desire.

Personal experience
This is by far the best unit that I have ever used as far as camping heaters goes. I have used a large variety of the 3,000 BTU heaters, which are the most common on the market. Those are generally enough to heat up a small 2 person tent, but they really are fairly ineffective if you are heater a much larger area, such as I was. That wouldn't have even taken the chill off, so I'm glad that I didn't go that route, and to buy multiple of those heaters would have just been a waste of money. Not to mention they are a huge fire hazard, and if they fall just right, they will melt your tent or light something on fire for sure.

The heater that I had purchased for this trip, was quite incredible. It was hooked up in one of the corners, where there was a vent to the outside, which I always recommend so that you don't die from carbon monoxide poisoning or whatever... But from it's corner, it was able to heat up the entire main sleeping quarters, plus heat up the gazebo, which had the plastic screen on it, so it would keep the warmth in, and the door was closed between the main sleeping area and the gazebo, to make it easier to heat up the tent. Ultimately it took about 45 minutes before the tent was comfortable enough to be able to sleep in it, without numerous blankets.

The funny thing is that apparently at one point in time, my friends said they could seem steam coming off the sides of the tent from where they were sleeping. Of course, they all froze throughout the night, because they were using the smaller black cat heaters, which just don't do it when you have somewhat larger tents, which they were also forced into purchasing.

The cost of operating
For a normal camping trip, which is like 2-3 days long, I normally purchase about 20-30 mini propane bottles, but that is more precautionary, because I only use about 4 bottles a night, and when it's raining and gross out, we'll bring everyone into the gazebo area and keep the heater running, so at most, we'll use maybe 6-8 bottles a day. I generally try to prepare myself for horrible weather or unpredicted issues, such as getting lost or anything of that nature by packing enough for about 10 bottles a day. But this of course isn't logical unless you are able to bring your vehicle to your camping area or reasonably close to it. But of course you wouldn't puchase this heater if you were worried about portability, so disregard that!

Product Packaging
From the Manufacturer
With its newly integrated hot air blowing system, the Big Buddy Heater now takes portable heating to a new level. Ideal for use indoors, the safe Portable Buddy Heater features an automatic low-oxygen shut-off system that automatically turns the unit off before carbon monoxide fumes reach dangerous levels in your tent, camper, or garage. This portable wonder blasts out 18,000 BTUs, and can heat up to 400 square feet of space for up to 220 hours on one tank with the thermostat on low. A blower fan can be powered by 4 size D batteries or an A/C Adaptor. And, multi-position heat settings keep the room at just the right temperature so you're never alternating between too hot, and too cold.

FEATURES

* Battery or A/C powered blower fan for versatility
* Low, medium, and high heat level control knob for steady temperatures
* Key-shaped rear mounting holes for wall mounting
* Large four-position heat level control knob for controlling with gloved hands
* Built-in Piezo starter for easy starts
* Automatic shut off for accidental tip-over and fume safety

SPECIFICATIONS
* Built in Ignition system
* Heat settings: 4,000 - 9,000 - 18,000 BTU's

Final Thoughts
This is definitely an impressive heater, regardless of your application. Knowing what I know now, I would probably still use this heater even on my smaller tents, because of the huge versatility it allows. I can crank it from 4,000 BTU on up to 18,000 BTU for the really cold nights, so I have a lot of options that the smaller 3,000 BTU heaters just don't provide. The unit is extremely lightweight as well, so even if I had to backpack it into an area, I could easily do it by strapping it to the back of my pack. The main issue would be bringing enough propane with me to make it work.

The unit is extremely easy to operate and works under any condition. Just make sure that you have an alternate method for lighting it, because the igniter isn't the most reliable of it's features.

It would also be a great idea to bring backup D Cell batteries in order to power the blower, because that makes a huge difference as to the effectiveness of the heater itself. It would mean the difference between heating a 4 foot area too much or heating a 12 foot area perfectly.