Best Propane Heater: My Top Pick

The Mr. Heater propane heater can produce heat equivalent to 3 average 1,500W space heaters and lasts up to 5 days on the lowest setting.

Either you pick cheap ones that will last for a few months until they break or you pick a good one right away that will last a lifetime. If you want to save money, you should be picking the one that lasts forever. Not only will it save you the stress to look for new propane heaters over and over, but you also feel much better, knowing you have a model that will reliably heat – even in emergencies.

Quick answer: I recommend the Mr. Heater Propane Heater (click to see it on amazon). It can heat an average-sized living room for up to 108h continuously on a 20-lb propane tank. On maximum settings, it still lasts for 24h and produces the equivalent amount of heat of 3 electric space heaters running on full power.

I’m not trying to convince you to spend your money on a heater that you think is too expensive. Instead, I’m trying to SAVE you money. You could either pick the right model right away or buy multiple new heaters over the years. Getting the Mr. Heater propane heater is picking the right model right away.

Why the Mr. Heater Propane Heater is the Best Heater (Facts & Figures)

If you’re not sure yet, here’s the part where I tell you exactly what I like about the Mr. Heater propane heater and why I think it’s the best propane heater for you. 

I’m assuming that you need a reliable heater to heat either your home, a cabin, a garage, or similar. For all of these cases, the Mr. Heater propane heater does the job perfectly well.

For this price range (about $150), its quality, safety, and trustworthiness in emergencies are above expectations!

Heat production and durability

The Mr. Heater propane heater produces up to 18,000 BTUs of heat per hour. That’s the equivalent of 3 strong 1,500W running on maximum power settings.

There are 3 different heat settings you can use.

Setting (BTUs / h)Heating duration on a 20-lb propane tank (in hours)
4,000108
9,00048
18,00024

Even the lowest heat setting of 4,000 BTUs per hour produces the equivalent amount of heat as a 1,100W space heater. That’s enough to keep an average 150 – 250 square feet living room at a comfortable temperature of around 65°F in wintertime.

If that’s not enough for you, the 9,000 BTUs or 18,000 BTUs setting will serve you well.

A full 20-lb propane tank refill costs you only around $15 depending on the propane gas rate in your area.

Quality

When you first get the heater, you notice that it’s a very solid model. There are no unnecessary parts and nothing that can break off easily. A good sign.

The knob is responsive and feels of high quality, which I personally like very much. The handle to carry the space heater around is solid. You can’t collapse it. I guess the reason is that collapsable handles are more likely to break, so the engineers chose to design the heater in a robust way.

Also, the heater has rubber legs, so it can’t slide around. They also protect wood floors from scratches. What rubber legs also tell you aside from that, is that the heater doesn’t get hot on the bottom. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have picked the rubber material. Which is a very good safety aspect.

Also, the material is very lightweight and easy to carry around. That’s extremely helpful when you are outdoors, heating a cabin or fishing.

Some Mr. Heater models also have a built-in fan that you can power with batteries or with a power adapter that you have to buy separately for a few bucks. However, I think the fan is more a gimmick than actual functionality.

It helps to distribute some heat, but don’t expect it to force out lots of hot air.

That’s why the Big Buddy model I recommend comes without a built-in fan.

If you choose a Mr. Heater model with a fan, it runs noiselessly- another sign of good quality.

Functionality

You can hook the heater up to propane tanks. From 1lb bottles to 25lb bulk propane tanks. To connect it to the bigger tanks, you need to get a separate hose, which you can easily find on amazon. Otherwise, it’s limited to two 1lb bottles.

The heater can switch between low and high heat settings. So, you can always decide whether you need lots of heat or you rather want to save some energy. Oftentimes, the low setting is warm enough.

The propane bottles are VERY easy to hook up – it takes less than 5 seconds if you know how to do it. It’s a screwing mechanism, which makes it safe and simple.

On each side of the heater, you can hook up one 1lb propane bottle. You can choose to run 1 or 2 bottles at the same time, but for the high-heat setting, you need to have two bottles hooked up.

What I love: The heater puts out a LOT of heat on the high setting.

You can easily heat a 200 sq feet cabin from 35F up to 65 or 70F with it. Also, you can reliably heat a tent with it. It can keep any garage warm. And you can take it with you for fishing.

There are countless applications where you will bring the heater! And trust me: Your buddies will want to borrow it.

Reliability

In terms of reliability, the Mr. Heater propane heater is unbeatable! You can use it as a primary heat source in an off-grid cabin for weeks.

Someone claimed that they heated their cabins for 5 weeks continuously with the Mr. Heater.

This heater beats everything else and I’d trust it fully in emergencies. I KNOW that it will deliver heat when I need it.

Here are some other points why I think this heater is great.

  • It is indoor safe.
  • You can run it for weeks without failure.
  • It is efficient and burns all the propane without leaking.
  • 20lb of propane last up to a week in snowy weather

Safety and the Mr. Heater Propane Heater

Regarding safety, here’s an important note: Because of the quick change in gas pressure when you heat it on high, the propane bottles can freeze. That’s not the heater’s fault, but simple physics and it’s not dangerous at all. Just saying this so you don’t worry when you try yours.

This happens only with the 1lb bottles, but not with 20lb tanks or higher.

Mr. Heater keeps up with common safety standards. For example, it comes with very sensitive tip-over protection that instantly shuts the heater off once it tips a little.

In contrast to other (cheaper) heaters, here’s something that is different: The Mr. Heater does not smell at all. No gas leaks. This is a sign of high safety standards and will even save you gas in the long run.

The gas connections feel very solid and well-manufactured. Not cheap at all.

How hot does the Mr. Heater get?

The Mr. Heater Big Buddy propane heater can heat large living rooms and off-grid cabins to very hot 86°F in the wintertime, given you run it on full settings. On low or moderate settings, you can expect to heat up to 77°F.

Depending on where you use your propane heater, it heats your space at different times. At home, you are well able to stay warm on low settings.

However, in an outdoor cabin, it takes forever to heat on low. Because you need to compensate for the cold outdoors, you should crank the heater up and use the high mode. Then, it’s able to heat a regular-sized cabin within 10-15 minutes.

It could be that you think the heater is TOO hot. However, that’s way better than delivering too little heat. Simply shut it off when you feel your space is toasty. You can always turn it back on when you need to reheat.

When you are outdoors or in a tent, where there are no walls to keep the heat, the heater works similarly to an infrared heater. The warmth feels like you’re sitting at a campfire. While the one side of your body that faces the heater stays warm, the other side stays cool. Sadly, that’s physics. So, the heater does the best it can.

There are no heaters that can fully heat you when you sit outdoors.

“Without the Big Buddy, I would not endure the cold very well in my cabins. This product has allowed me to work anywhere, in any weather, for the minimal price of a tank of propane.”

tkh – reviewer