ST, I'm with you. I've been ice fishing since I was but a wee little lad, and I'm not so wee and little anymore. My version of a portable when I started was a five gallon bucket. I then advanced to a makeshift tarp held up with sticks to keep the wind off.

The open flame heater is interesting. What's it made of? The burner assembly looks different than anything I've seen.

Cabela's sells a heater/cooker with a ceramic ceramic screen, rated for 11,000 btu. It looks like it would compete with a regular Buddy heater.

I saw bigger version of this same kind of heater at Edwards Oil in Virginia, MN last summer. They had one that looked about the same size as a Big Buddy. Cost was about the same. I can't rememember the brand name or much else, sorry.

I'd love to hear of any other alternatives too. Right now I'm saving my pennies to get a Big Buddy for this winter. Hopefully, I get a good one.

The only thing I dont like about my BB heater is that if your in any wind the thing blows out, or it just flames up instead of heating, but out of the wind, I have never had problems with it. Good luck, hope you dont have problems, I havent.

this is the heater that i have used for a long time. Its awesome becuase you can change the heat so well, and you dont have the flames from a sunflower, and not get a head ace.

Sandmannd/boilerguy,
My uncle made a few dozen of those heaters for friends and family a few years back. It's just a small cast iron burner like those found on a cast iron camp stove (similar to those that many have mounted over the heaters in their fish houses for cooking). The sheetmetal is 8" round duct with a duct cap for the bottom. The top is a replacement grill for a sunflower.

My other heater is similar to the beauty that Bass N Spear is showing off, only mine is the "anvil" style. I believe Bass N Spear's gem first came to life as a milkhouse heater.

Back in high school I spent many nights sleeping in my fish house with a milkhouse heater keeping me warm with no problems (wait a minute, maybe that explains a few things!). I did have a few air vents in the house.

just bought my first big buddy so i will see how that goes... have always had a sunflower heater.

No matter what kind of heater you use, if it burns fuel, buy a carbon monoxide detector! They are cheap and well worth the money. Any type of heater that combusts fuel can "malfunction" and produce enough CO to make you ill or kill you.

Last year me and another guy got sick and were vomiting in my portable. I had a propane lantern and a Mr Buddy heater going at the same time. We had the vents open on the portable but that obviously wasn't enough. Don't rely on the claims of safe heat. The heater never went out, even with the "low oxygen protection" that they claim. Probably because there was plenty of oxygen.

Anyhow, next day I setup the portable in my garage with the heater and put my CO detector from the house in at same time. LED readout on the CO detector was 0. Put the propane lantern in and CO detector pegged out at 1000 ppm in less than two minutes.

I have used the same lantern for years without problem. There was no noticeable difference in the way it burned or the light it produced. It even produced the same amount of CO after changing the mantles. I no longer use a propane lantern but instead use LED's and I bought a CO detector.

Please be careful. I don't want to hear on the news how this happened to someone.

Good advice. I just picked one up the other day. Great reassurance when cranking out the heat.

Fishinguy40,
Great advice, you can never be too careful!

Always very important to keep an eye on the CO levels in any fish house. There were a few people that died on LOW last year due to CO poisoning. They enacted an emergency bill to have all resorts install CO detectors in their houses as I recall.

I have a big buddy heater and love it! But I will never leave home without my sunflower heater in the sled

gvt you are right about the milk house heater-sold by Montgomery Ward way back when-the old fisherman that have them won't give them up, my Dad included-I found one at a local auction,like new-probably paid too much but I knew what it was and I HAD TO HAVE IT!!

i wish i was able to find more of them heaters. i have three houses, and only one heater, so i have to lug it around, and its not fun

I love my big buddy, but I always use a co detecter.

There are a few hacks you can do to the buddies which will help with "issues" of wind and sensitivity. You can google for Buddy Heater Mods if you're so inclined. I made the pilot baffle(just a drilled out piece of sheet metal screwed in infront of pilot) to diffuse the wind. Some hacks seem risky by "adjusting" the safety systems. Just never trust any cumbustion device in an enclosed space.

I wish there was an alternative to propane for portables. Propane releases too much moisture in the are and after a while you get that clammyness which chills to the bone, especially when chasing flags. I love dry heat wood stoves, but they're not very practical for the portable fisherman.

Co poisioning

4 years ago in my little shack that I was heating with a propane camp stove and lantern I became aware of this issue It was the late part of the day and had only 3 beers I and my step son received a wicked headache Haven taught hazardous material response and also 29 years as a firefighter it dawned on me that the air was bad in the shack I went to my truck and fired up my 4 gas meter. It reads Oxygen O2, LEL lower explosive limit, Carbon Monoxide CO and hydrogen sulfide. These meters are regularly calibrated so I knew it was good (I usually checked calibration before each use) I set the meter up in clean air out side the shack then went in It was not long I had 2 alarms going off 14% oxygen and the carbon monoxide was 400+! We could have become toast! Well from then on I always had a meter with me but also bought a home carbon monoxide detector with me and mounted it at head level at that time was about 40 –50 bucks (21$ today at lowes)I bought one that has the digital readout. Same one I use in my house. Plus I put in extra air holes to vent that shack and bought my first big buddy heater.
The issues from carbon monoxide (CO) in my shack was there was not enough oxygen and it caused incomplete combustion of the stove (stoves are for cooking not heating an enclosed space)

Most indoor approved heating devices have an oxygen depletion sensor It relies on the shift of a pilot flame away from a nozzle as the oxygen content of the combustion air decreases. A thermocouple is positioned so as to be in the flame during combustion at acceptable oxygen levels and in the unburned zone when the oxygen content is below an acceptable level. The large voltage difference between conditions of high and low oxygen content provide for a more reliable sensor The pilot tube is a precision mechanism that creates a very stable flame as long as the room air contains the proper amount of oxygen. If the oxygen level in the room air drops even slightly, the pilot becomes unstable and lifts off of the thermocouple causing the gas valve and appliance to cease operation. This type of valve is very reliable, and there have been very few failures of this system - even with tens of millions in use worldwide)

That being said when we add those covers to the buddy heaters over the pilot flame or adjust the thermocouple into the flame better are we corrupting the integrity of the ODS sensor?

According to the EPA:
Carbon monoxide can cause harmful health effects by reducing oxygen delivery to the body's organs (like the heart and brain) and tissues.
Cardiovascular Effects. The health threat from lower levels of CO is most serious for those who suffer from heart disease, like angina, clogged arteries, or congestive heart failure. For a person with heart disease, a single exposure to CO at low levels may cause chest pain and reduce that person's ability to exercise; repeated exposures may contribute to other cardiovascular effects.
Central Nervous System Effects. Even healthy people can be affected by high levels of CO. People who breathe high levels of CO can develop vision problems, reduced ability to work or learn, reduced manual dexterity, and difficulty performing complex tasks. At extremely high levels, CO is poisonous and can cause death.

All in all Use only approved heating devices in our shacks and our homes Ventilate our shacks have vents both High and low

Install CO detectors and smoke detectors Especially if your going to sleep in your shacks Also do this in your Homes! We spend 1000’s of bucks on our fishing equipment Whats 50 bucks total for a smoke detector and Carbon Monoxide detector.

This year in our homes people will try all different methods to heat them Another fantastic reason to install smoke and Co detectors! Be safe!
Most of these comments are my own thoughts / beliefs