I’ve traveled the world, living our of a rucksack on my back, flitting from one hostel to the next, sometimes staying with CouchSurfer hosts, and other times, I simply setup a tent and fair through the local weather. For me, travel is about experiencing new and exciting things that I could never have experienced if I stayed home. Well, now my travel years are weening and I’ve settled down in rural Ohio while I start a family. The reason I chose to be 20-minutes outside of the nearest town is because I can still experience some of the best things life has to offer, but I also must be prepared to survive on my own.
That’s where my friends at Mr. Heater come in, because when you live far out in the country, you typically are surrounded by wilderness with few neighbors, and even fewer opportunities to run to the store. A typical store run is 20-45 minutes away for me, depending what I need. If I need a simple grocery store, it’s 20 minutes, but if I need some of the offerings available in bigger cities, I’m a good 45 minutes out, which means I must be smart about what I buy and when so as to make sure my family and I make it through whatever life may throw at us.
Now that it’s winter in Ohio, this is ever more important, because if the electric goes out, you absolutely must have a backup or else you have to be on the move to a place that’ll keep you warm. I now have a newborn and his safety is the highest priority, so if the electric goes out and our furnace ceases to work, a few frigid hours could be very dangerous for him. If it were just me, I’d weather it out with lots of warm clothes and blankets, but since he’s only two months ago at this point, I must be strategic. Some of the neighboring houses are outfitted with natural gas lines, propane, or wood burners, and while I love the idea of a wood burner, we don’t have room for one right now.
So, last month as the natural world turned from green to brown to white, I did my research and reached out to Mr. Heater for help. They were kind in sending their best versatile and mobile heater, the Big Buddy Portable Heater, which is a propane-based heater that can run off of two 1 lb. cylinders or if you use a hose, you can hookup to a larger tank. The Big Buddy offers 4,000-18,000 BTUs per hour and was built for heating enclosed spaces. To light it, hook up your tank then simply push and rotate the starter knob, and the Piezo sparking mechanism will take care of the rest. The Big Buddy has safety features that are very important considering how flammable this setup can be if not designed well, such as an oxygen depletion sensor and an accidental tip-over safety shut-off.
When my family has to employ the Big Buddy, we vent the far end of the living room by cracking the window a tad, because there are fumes you need to worry about over time. Besides this is a propane burning heater, which means it relies on our precious oxygen to work, so you never want to leave it on for too long in an enclosed space without some sort of ventilation. The Big Buddy works like a dream, aiding my family when the weather gets the best of us in the country. It’s our backup system for now, and it’s one that gives my wife and I a sense of safety and versatility. No more are the days when our lives are derailed by electrical outages, and no more are the days when we must venture out in the storms to find a place to stay warm. All because Big Buddy has our back.
If you would like to learn more about Mr. Heater, click here.
(Main photo by blmalaska via Flickr)
Now that it’s winter in Ohio, this is ever more important, because if the electric goes out, you absolutely must have a backup or else you have to be on the move to a place that’ll keep you warm. I now have a newborn and his safety is the highest priority, so if the electric goes out and our furnace ceases to work, a few frigid hours could be very dangerous for him. If it were just me, I’d weather it out with lots of warm clothes and blankets, but since he’s only two months ago at this point, I must be strategic. Some of the neighboring houses are outfitted with natural gas lines, propane, or wood burners, and while I love the idea of a wood burner, we don’t have room for one right now.
So, last month as the natural world turned from green to brown to white, I did my research and reached out to Mr. Heater for help. They were kind in sending their best versatile and mobile heater, the Big Buddy Portable Heater, which is a propane-based heater that can run off of two 1 lb. cylinders or if you use a hose, you can hookup to a larger tank. The Big Buddy offers 4,000-18,000 BTUs per hour and was built for heating enclosed spaces. To light it, hook up your tank then simply push and rotate the starter knob, and the Piezo sparking mechanism will take care of the rest. The Big Buddy has safety features that are very important considering how flammable this setup can be if not designed well, such as an oxygen depletion sensor and an accidental tip-over safety shut-off.
When my family has to employ the Big Buddy, we vent the far end of the living room by cracking the window a tad, because there are fumes you need to worry about over time. Besides this is a propane burning heater, which means it relies on our precious oxygen to work, so you never want to leave it on for too long in an enclosed space without some sort of ventilation. The Big Buddy works like a dream, aiding my family when the weather gets the best of us in the country. It’s our backup system for now, and it’s one that gives my wife and I a sense of safety and versatility. No more are the days when our lives are derailed by electrical outages, and no more are the days when we must venture out in the storms to find a place to stay warm. All because Big Buddy has our back.
If you would like to learn more about Mr. Heater, click here.
(Main photo by blmalaska via Flickr)
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