Anti-Frozen Ball Technology: Follow-Up

I had a series where I rambled about heat sources for hunting. This is either boring as hell or a big fuckin’ deal. Depends on whether you’re sitting under a pine tree in a snowstorm or reading this in a coffee shop in Phoenix. (‘Lotta things are situational like that.)

I meant to post a few more details but before I got it done I stumbled across a bit of brilliance from Filthie’s Thunderbox. His post (including the attached video) definitely needs mention. Remember, if you’re going to play in the northland it pays to plan ahead. It all seems like bullshit until your nuts are about frost over… then you damn well wish you had figured this shit out in advance!

[Also: I meant to add links to my posts “Anti-Frozen Ball Technology” but my “make a list technology” seems of the fritz. Go figure. It’s all from November 2019 anyway… y’all can chase it down if you care.]

First thing’s first. If you go for the Mr. Heater Big Buddy and you’re in a stationary situation (like a drafty garage or maybe an ice fishing outpost) you definitely need to level up. Buy a 20# propane tank adapter for your heater and you’ll be glad you did. It’ll pay for itself in one winter or less. Refilled 20# tanks are just so much cheaper than 1# disposables.

 

If you want to go beyond level up and approach awesome, you can start refilling 1# tanks from your 20# tank. This gives you the advantage of the portability and studliness of handy 1# tanks while shaving a $4 disposable down to maybe $0.80 in fuel. The cost savings is a big honkin’ deal. You’ll need this handy dandy gadget which will pay for itself if you refill three (!) tanks.

The valve in question costs about $8 and is sufficient to let you shift propane from your cheaply filled 20# BBQ tank to your empty disposable 1# tanks. $8! According to my calculations, if you use it 3 times it’s paid for.

Now, I know what you’re thinking; is this easy to use, is it safe, and (at least some of you are wondering) is it legal? The answers are as follows:

1. It’s easy. A monkey could do it. I did it and I’m a dumbass. However, there’s always a better dumbass out there and someone somewhere will probably screw it up and grenade their ass into the Darwin Awards. I remember snippets of the ideal gas law from high school chemistry and understand pressurized tanks. Some folks hurt themselves with toasters. Your call.
2. It’s safe according to my definition of safe. It seems pretty safe to me but I ride a motorcycle, run a chainsaw, and drink bourbon. I ‘aint the “baseline” for safety in our balless litigious universe of snowflakes. We live in a world where people get injured with toothpicks. In a society where a toothpick merits an ABC “news” article, nothing made of molecules is officially safe.
3. As far as I can tell it’s legal for homeowner use. About eleventy zillion people on the internet have used them and they all say it’s OK for personal use. I can’t find any regs that say it’s not allowed. That said, roughly 1% of comments shriek “this is a violation of EPA/IRS/NASA/UN Regulation 12432827/XYZ”. They follow this up with “You’re all going to jail, and also I haven’t been laid in years”. There’s wankers like that posting anywhere cool things happen. As far as I can tell they’re just weenies. Just to be safe, if you live in California just assume it causes cancer, you’re not allowed to buy it, and how are you reading this blog in the dark during your rolling electrical blackouts anyway?

I plan a post where I test it further but I’m busy so it’ll have to wait. $8 to refill a $4 tank with $0.80 worth of vaporized dinosaurs? If you wanna’ turn it down go for it, Moneybags.

---

As for Filthie, he’s enamored with the NuWay stoves. Great minds think alike because I totally agree. I don’t own one but I’ve got them bookmarked. As soon as I hit the lottery and get the hot tent I “need” I’ll be phoning NuWay and waving money at them. (Don’t hold your breath, I’m tapped out lately.)

There’s something about smoke lazily drifting from a tent with a chimney in a snowbound scene that just appeals to me. It’s a bucket list thing. I used to camp in the winter all the time and it was bitter cold but I was young and dumb and too stupid to know I was supposed to be miserable. Then I stopped backpack camping in the winter because I was busy (or sane). Now I want to do it again but I’m getting too old for laying a sleeping bag in the snow. (Suffering ‘aint fun anymore. I want all the gear that a piston engine can carry and a hot tent for the night.)

Mr. Heaters are great but there are limitations with unvented propane that will always make it a humidity issue in any small semi-insulated place. There’s no getting around it, even if you’re in a tent and especially if you’re in a structure, chimneys are just plain superior. If you’re in a situation like an RV / Ice Shack / tent where you can install a chimney… do it! We’re not cavemen people… vent the smoke like smart monkeys!

He likes the NuWay propane furnaces and I like their sole wood model… all of them are superior to a portable Mr. Heater (assuming you’ve got a situation where a chimney makes sense). Also, the wood stove is around $120 and the propane models (which are surely much less of a PITA than wood!) hover in the $150-160 range. That seems a fair dinkum deal. I know welding dudes can whip up a stove out of an ammo can and a pile of tin cans for the cost of  two nickels and pocket lint but that’s them, not me. It seems like I’d personally would blow $70 hashing together a rusty piece of shit and probably approach $150 real quick if I decided to buy shiny parts and spring for a decent ammo can. As always YMMV.

Check out his attached video; there’s a lotta good information in there and it walks up the ladder from Mr. Buddy to NuWay in a perfect pros/cons comparison.

Stay warm ya’ll. It seems like winter started early so do what you must.

A.C.