Is a Mr. Heater Fuel Filter Needed When Connecting To a 20 lb Propane Tank?

Do I Need A Propane Fuel Filter For Mr Heater Buddy Heaters?

In the video below, I’m going to address why you need a fuel filter for a Mr. Heater Big Buddy or any other Buddy heater.

Instead of giving you my opinion on when and why you need a propane fuel filter, I’m going to tell you what the manufacturer says. I’ll be pulling the info from their website.

What does a Mr. Heater fuel filter do?

The Mr. Heater fuel filter (part number F273699) is essentially an oil trap. Oily particulates are squeezed from the rubber of some hoses by the high pressure coming out of the propane bottle and can get pulled along with the flow of propane. These contaminants cand be deposited in the lines in the Mr. Heater Buddy heater, blocking any fuel flow. The propane fuel filter, by being hollow, causes these particulates to stick inside it, thereby filtering the fuel.

Why do I need a Mr. Heater fuel filter with my Buddy heater?

In most propane appliance situations, there is a regulator located at the tank, followed by a supply line. In that situation, what passes through the hose after the regulator is low-pressure gas. Low-pressure propane is harmless to rubber. The buddy system has the regulator located at the heater.

In this setup, you cannot have a regulator at the propane tank due to over-regulating the gas supply. This makes the gas that passes through the hose to get to the buddy system high pressure. High-pressure gas squeezes rubber as it passes through it, and can occasionally pull some of the oils and plasticizers from the hose during these periods of high pressure.

Those contaminates will travel with the flow of propane and land somewhere inside the heater, slowly building up over time and causing gas flow problems once the buildup becomes large enough. The 10′ buddy hose does not contain any plasticizers or oily contaminates that will leach out of the hose during high-pressure propane flow.

That is why that hose does not need a filter. All of the other hoses for the buddy system will need a filter because they will contain oils and plasticizers.

How often should I replace my Mr. Heater fuel filter for a Buddy heater?

Mr. Heater recommends starting the heating season with a new propane fuel filter and disposing of it at the end of the season. Using one longer can cause the filter to fill up with the particulates. Once the filter is filled, the particulates will pass through and begin building up in the heater.

Why do some hoses need a filter and some do not?
When shooting this video, Mr. Heater made three hose models that do not require a filter:

• F273704, which is made from a different chemical compound of rubber that does not have the oily substance that can get into the fuel flow.
• F271802 that attaches to a low-pressure line
• F271803 which is a regulated hose.

Since the F271802 & F271803 only see low-pressure propane, the oily substances are not squeezed from the hose material.

In Conclusion

The fule filters are super cheep and I consider them a low cost insurance policy for my heaters. You can probably get by without using one and you may even have issues if you do. However, I’d rather add a few extra bucks to the total and have a little more confidence in my Buddy heaters.

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