It's amazing how loud the "click" start can sound on a Little Buddy Heater on those clear, frosty mornings when you're sitting in a ground blind in the deer woods. While the piezo lighter saves from having to use a match or one of those stick lighters to get the heater going, you have to wonder if you just alerted every deer within a quarter-mile radius that something is out of place. Add to it having to hit the starter button several times before the pilot lights and you begin to wonder if you might as well just blown a car horn.

I finally decided to pull out my Little Buddy to check for an answer to two questions. First, is it harder to get the pilot to light with a propane bottle that has only a small amount of propane left in it, and secondly, can you light the pilot manually with a stick lighter to avoid the sound of piezo starter?

Yes, you can definitely light the heater with a stick lighter by pushing the start button down far enough to turn on the gas to the pilot and holding it down long enough so the pilot remains lit after releasing it. And yes, the pilot will still light quite easily with only a small amount of propane left in the bottle.

Is lighting a heater with a stick lighter really a "hack"?

Glad you got to pull out your Little Buddy and use a stick lighter...........

Although originally a term used to describe the process of bypassing computer or IT network security measures, "hack" is now often used to describe the act of bypassing any series of prescribed steps, that is, a "workaround". Until now, every pilot light that I've ever seen required you to press and hold down completely the pilot button in order to release gas to light the pilot. Failing to hold the button down completely would turn off the gas and force you back to Step 1. Thankfully, the pilot value and button on Little Buddy heaters need only to be pressed down far enough so that the value begins to release gas without the need to hold it down completely. This also means not having to use the piezo starter. Of course, the button must be remain pressed down far enough to keep the pilot lit until the thermacouple gets hot enough to keep gas flowing once the button is released.

Old farts like me know full well how many bucks have made it to live another day after detecting the loud "click" of a firearm's safety being carelessly switched off.

ok...

I’ve wondered if I should just light it before leaving camp ?

something we found out in 10° temps in Colorado on our DIY elk hunt is that my little buddy heater would not light at 10,000+ feet where we camped, couldn't even get the pilot to stay lit using a stick lighter holding it for well over a minute, just wouldn't stay lite. I guess the air was too thin? My son's larger version would finally light the pilot after a long time with the stick lighter. Made for some hellacious cold sleeping.

Chemistry was never my strong suit. Thankfully, I have the Internet to provide me with potential answers to such questions.

Link

Ya know, with an open UTV...that's not a bad idea.

I just start mine before opening the blind windows.