Hi I was wondering if anyone had some advice on the best propane heater to use above 9,000 ft? I have a small van and thought of the mr heater buddy but also read it doesn’t do well above 7,000 ft. Has anyone had experience with the Camco wave 6 at elevation? Thank you for any advice in advance!
Hopefully someone will come along with an answer. I use charcoal or coal to heat my van.
Propex is a great option, it is energy efficient and the safest to run since it produces dry heat.
Both Mr. Heater and camco wave 6 produce a lot of moisture.
1 Like
Felix, how does the Propex do at high elevation?
I use mine at 10,000 ft and it works perfectly with no problem.
Propex would be great but I’m not doing electrical in this build so I was looking for advice on the camco or mr heater. But thank you for the suggestion! If I had the $ to do a heater that price I would!
If you don’t want something that depends on electricity, get a solid fuel heater (similar to a wood burning stove). I have a Dickinson Newport solid fuel heater - mostly burn charcoal. It does take more work and attention though. Can’t just set & forget.
Like I said, I am asking for advice on a camco vs. a mr heater buddy.
Greetings!
I like the camco better than the buddy heaters. That being said… I don’t know your overall situation. If this is just a camping trip, and you’re planning on doing something different later, I might suggest using your stove as a heater in the meantime. The heaters mentioned don’t have thermostats, or much adjustability, maybe just a high & low. Stoves tend to offer better adjustability. If you don’t already have a stove, there are some decent options of combination stove/heater available too.
If I had my choice, I’d go with a different propane heater.
https://hod-store.com/products/dual-fuel-free-heater-f299420-heater-mr-vent-20-000-btu-radiant
It will heat your space quicker, and would be good for lower temperatures, doesn’t appear to have any altitude restrictions, requires no electricity, and the HUGE PLUS OF A THERMOSTAT! As a bonus, it’s only $79.56 with free shipping.
None of these should be run while sleeping, but a big pot of sand heated on the stove will radiate heat long after the stove is turned off. Hot water in a nalgene type bottle placed in a sock or towel, can help keep you warm in bed if needed.
There are lots of little tips and tricks available online if you’re interested.
Cheers!
"There are those who learn, and those who wish they had learned." ~ Good2Know
1 Like
In regards to the mr buddy we never really paid attention to elevation, but it’s not like there is a hard cutoff at 7k feet. It’s just going to be less reliable the higher you go and potentially more dangerous as the o2 level becomes thinner and thinner.
The mister buddy crushes through propane at the rate of 1lb on high in about 2 hours and 4 hours on low. That’s around 6lbs of propane on high for a full day, if it were ever to be that cold out. We always ran ours on low. Due to the cost of keeping it running and the frustration of attempting to find little green cylinders all the time, we have given up on propane and moved to a webasto.
If you go the mister buddy route, definitely get a carbon monoxide sensor and you’ll definitely want the adapter to hook it up to a 20lb tank to save yourself some $$$.
1 Like
Greetings!
As of 1/20/24 the above link doesn’t seem to be working, so here’s a link to google shopping. The heaters you’re looking for are the vent free, blue flame heaters with a thermostat.
https://www.google.com/search?q=ventless+propane++blue+flame+heater+with+thermostat
Cheers!
"Tough people thrive in tough times." ~ Local Yocal
Howdy,
I used the Mr Heater Buddy at 8800’ for a week in Colorado and at 3700’in Montana. It performed just fine both times.
Greetings!
My problem with the buddy type heaters is they seem to use too much propane for the amount of heat they deliver, they put out a ton of moisture, and they don’t have a thermostat.
The blue flame heaters seem to have solved all of those problems.
Personally, I’ve quit using propane all together, I don’t like the risk vs. reward factor, or the cost & inconvenience. Since switching heating, cooking, and refrigeration over to running cooking oil, during the winter my costs went from $100+ a week for propane, to just $8.00 a month for a gallon of cooking oil, and I can pick it up at any grocery store without having to go hunt for it.
Since everything is basically powered via liquid candles using wicks, that also makes them multi fuel capable, allowing me to use kerosene, diesel, cooking oil, lamp oil, torch fuel, and possibly more. Currently I believe the cooking oil is giving me the best bang for the buck, and is the most convenient. I just fill the liquid candle for my fridge/freezer and my heater/cooker once a month and I’m good to go. Even my table top fire pit runs on cooking oil.
While my heater/cookers & table top fire pit are DIY, and my fridge/freezer is a DIY hack to a 3-way RV model, my new favorite commercially available heater cooker is the InstaFire Vesta. It’s a fan forced electricity free heater/cooker that uses fancy heat style canisters. While the disposable canisters could get expensive, they could be hacked to make them refillable, which could greatly reduce it’s running costs without reducing it’s efficiency.
For anybody interested, here’s a link to the InstaFire Vesta heaters/cookers, and they also have ovens that people might be interested in. I am not affiliated with them, and don’t own either of them, but their products use the same principles of my DIY solutions, which I truly love.
Cheers!
"Tough people thrive in tough times." ~ Local Yocal