Date:         Wed, 15 Mar 2006 09:04:12 -0800
Reply-To:     Rich Bennington <rich.bennington@CHARTER.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Rich Bennington <rich.bennington@CHARTER.NET>
Subject:      Re: Thoughts on Mr. Heater Buddy?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

<

I think the key in CO tests is keeping the top up. That canvas is seriously
porous, even without holes like mine has, and it provides a huge amount of
air transfer that you wouldn't get in a regular car with the windows up.

>



All of this discussion of "whether it is safe or not" seems to be more
"whether I would use it or not".   Being a product development engineer my
whole life, I know from experience that the safety of products is so good
today that it is almost a non-issue.  Coleman (or whoever makes Mr. Buddy)
would risk their very existence if they put out a defective product.  In
order to protect themselves if a law suit ever occurs, they have to do three
things:

First, they have to engineer a safe product with good safety margin.

Second, they have to document all the significant design, safety meetings
and testing of the safety of the system.

Finally, they have to warn the user properly of how to use the system
safely.



I looked at their manual for this device and found, as expected, clear
warnings of how much ventilation to provide.  There is a sensor that shuts
the device down if someone is stupid and doesn't ventilate.  That sensor
design has been thoroughly tested and failure scenarios have been raised and
dispositioned, you can be sure.  If those of you that don't feel comfortable
with this device don't feel safe, don't use it.  But I would suggest that
there are a lot of way more dangerous things in/on the vanagon (due to it's
older design and age) that are much less safe.  For example, front end crash
safety is not up to modern standards, the battery venting inside of the
vehicle needs work, the whole fuel line system from leaks at the gas
fill/tank area to fuel lines in the engine compartment deteriorating to worn
bushings, ball joints and shock absorbers.



As a side note, I have fond memories of going on a ski tour in the 70's in
Colorado in a splittie, using a propane catalytic heater.  We'd drive
through a snowstorm at night to get the best morning powder at the next ski
resort, then crack a couple of windows and fire up the heater.  No auto
shutoff device, and a big tank was inside the camper.  Not in the same
league as safety of today, but we did treat the system with the caution it
deserved.