Buddy heater with fan

[RichV]

I'm looking at a heater with a fan for the ice fishing tent, will the heater be more effective with the fan? Not sure I want to deal with batteries unless there is a good reason to. Thanks!

[HL_transplant]

The fans on the heater were useless IMO. Get a battery less eco Wood stove fan. The fans on the heater moved very little air and having batteries was a pain in the neck.

[Sooner]

My big buddy fan runs a long long time on those batteries in the deer blind. Unfortunately, unless your right in front of it, means nothing. I bought one of those wood stove fans from PA when on sale. Does a much better job and if there is heat, it spins.

That being said, it would be better if you could put a fan up near the roof and push/circulate the heat down.

[AlbertanGP]

Originally Posted by RichV

I'm looking at a heater with a fan for the ice fishing tent, will the heater be more effective with the fan? Not sure I want to deal with batteries unless there is a good reason to. Thanks!

I have a Big Buddy with the fan. It’s ok…anything that moves air helps. It’s not particularly strong though, and after spending money on NiCad rechargable batteries I was disappointed. I’ve used the stove fans as well but they are bulky and most will fail if they get too hot. And they’re a pain to lug around.

My vote is to just run the Buddy without the batteries for the fan. If you’re overnighting and packing a bunch of crap anyways, bring a stove top fan. Otherwise not worth it IMO.

As mentioned, a cheap fan from Amazon to clip to the roof works better than anything on the heater. I’ll see if I can find a link to the one I’ve used for the past few seasons.

[Albertadiver]

Originally Posted by HL_transplant

The fans on the heater were useless IMO. Get a battery less eco Wood stove fan. The fans on the heater moved very little air and having batteries was a pain in the neck.

Yeah, this. I have the version with the battery operated fan and I normally go totally without or I'll use my wood stove eco fan.

[old dog]

He fan does seem to help with tent moisture but I use those fan/ lights that hang in the tent which work great. I think you can buy them at TFH.

[Stinky Buffalo]

For mine, I have a USB plug wired in, so I can use a USB power bank instead of batteries.

That being said, you can get purpose-built passive fans for the Buddy Heaters on Amazon for about $50: https://a.co/d/6oLIbCc

It comes with a special clip to attach the fan to the heater's grate.

[AlbertanGP]

Be aware that all of the passive stove top fans I've come across will melt the wires in the hub if you run the Buddy Heater on high. Others may have had better luck.

[Jims83cj5]

Originally Posted by RichV

I'm looking at a heater with a fan for the ice fishing tent, will the heater be more effective with the fan? Not sure I want to deal with batteries unless there is a good reason to. Thanks!

Wired mine to be used with a car battery, anyone who says the fan doesn’t make a difference is bonkers

[old dog]

Originally Posted by HL_transplant

The fans on the heater were useless IMO. Get a battery less eco Wood stove fan. The fans on the heater moved very little air and having batteries was a pain in the neck.

Thought this was such a great idea. Got one off Amazon that has the attachment for the buddy heater. Arrived today and works great

[RKlein]

Which one did you get

[old dog]

Same one shown in this thread

[SNAPFisher]

This looks like a cheap DIY alternative to putting the fan directly over the ceramics. Not to mention nice for cooking with.

https://youtu.be/aqfO0mdzD8Y?si=yGe1JSkMrQ-x7Fa3