Clogged "Mr. Buddy" Heater: Failure to Fire !!!

Clean the pipe with automotive brake cleaner. It's a spray can with a nozzle. Then blow it clean with compressed air. Great video and information.

After being annoyed with my Big Buddy for months I almost tossed it. I stumbled across your video today and less than an hour later my heater is working good as new. Thank you very much for this video!

Great vid. Don’t forget to check for leaks after reinstalling the gas tube. Use some soapy water at the connections and like the old saying goes, no bubbles no troubles 🙂

Disconnect the gas, turn the reg on high and lay the heater on its side or on multiple sides for a few hours. The oil will leak out and clear the pilot line. This worked for me without disassembly.

Very nice video. You didn’t waste alot of talk on extraneous subjects. And, you knew the names of tools and hardware. You didn’t call them thingies. Great fix!!

That oil I am told is leached from out of the more flexible hoses. That is what makes them more flexible. I notice though that their filters are are not designed to be taken apart. Life is too short to complain too much, and sometimes you just have to pay into a system designed primarily to take your money. If though I have to throw a filter out, I am going to cut it into, and see if I could not just viably run acetone through it. Just bought a Dyna Glow Grab n Glo, so I am new to this. Thumbs up.

Excellent repair. Didn’t even have to take the whole thing apart. Half the videos on YT look like they are taking it apart for the first time. But you even gave the correct wrench size. Thanks!

That oil you find the in propane lines is probably compressor oil that comes from the manufacturing process where a compressor transfers propane from one tank to another. If the compressor is old and worn, the oil can get into the propane. I was taught this about 30 years ago during some propane/natural gas powered engine classes.

Best Buddy troubleshooting and cleaning vid I’ve seen to date. Especially helpful to see the disassembly! Thank you.

My pilot doesn't want to stay lit, but if I can get it to stay lit I still can't get it to stay on every time I change my 20 lb propane tank! After watching your video here I first just tried holding the start up knob in the on position with the pilot lit like you said in the video to purge any extra air out! Wow 😮 that was so sweet, works perfectly, let's just hope it keeps working Everytime I have to change tanks!

I tried exactly what you initially did with alcohol and air. Didn't work. I did the same thing again with the tank off while depressing the red knob for pilot lighting. Perfect!

Thanks Dr. Joe. My Mr. Buddy was laying in the garage for over a year and could not start. Thanks to your help I learned to keep that pilot light switch down for about a minute. This simple step cured it as it was probably air in the line and it's working fine thank you again for your help.

I have this same unit and have been fighting it for a very long time. It died utterly this past weekend. I seems I have a job to do tomorrow !! :) THANK YOU !!!

The u-shaped pipe you removed is designed to be a plumbing trap for oil that comes from the rubber hoses connected to the 20lb propane tank. You need a filter that removes the oil, Mr. Buddy #F273699. Also, always keep the Buddy heater upright so any oil that is in the plumbing trap u-shaped pipe/tube stays in there and doesn't drain into more of the inner workings of the other tubes. Lastly, since propane is heavier than air, the lighting process can be sped up by having the 20lb propane tank below the heater so air is preferentially removed first from the long rubber hose instead of a mixture of air and propane that takes longer to become combustible.

Thanks Dr. Joe! Easy to follow repair video that gets right down to the source of the problem. People helping people...

When storing my heater over the summer I place it in a plastic bag to keep it free of dust and debris. Good video, thanks.

This was awesome, thank you! I had watched a few of the videos where they just clean out the pilot with a cotton swab and bam!, it lights, but I had no such luck. I had been using my Mr Buddy with a 5 gallon tank without a filter, so it was completely clogged. Just a heads up for anyone who cleans out the small connector tube and it still doesn’t light, I had to take off the pilot connector as well and clean that out. There’s a small metal plate at the bottom which is easily removable so you can get to the pilot light connector. Thanks again!!!

Haha the roach at 5:05 😮 Great vid great inf

Reminded me about my dash board inside my car where I would leave my car outside in direct sun light. The Dash board vinyl plastics began off-gasing and an oily substance collected on the inside glass of my wind shield, making visibility at night a problem. If you leave a car sit for a year, the fuel in the tank and in the engine and it's components can turn to shelac. Really appreciate the time you invested putting this educational video together giving us viewers a bird's eye view how to intelligently dismantle and restore gas flow. Saving the expense of getting a new one or gettin worked up over an easy fix.

Thank you for sharing. We use these all the time and they all seem to all “mysteriously” stop working! I think you found the fix!