Replies

1. 
   DanH | Jan 15, 2009 08:57pm | #1

   They do an excellent job of separating you from your money.

   No electric resistance heater is any more efficient than any other electric resistance heater. And none of them will "save you money" over conventional gas or oil heat, unless you're paying very high gas/oil rates.

   At best they allow you to lower your thermostat a few degrees and just heat small areas of the house. This may or may not save money.

   The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. -John Kenneth Galbraith
2. 
   Clewless1 | Jan 18, 2009 08:52pm | #2

   Just breezing through some on line literature. The claims are overstated. Save 50% is BS plain and simple. Yeah, heat one room instead of 2 and you will cut your bill by 50%, but you are doing 50% less. The hard sell is typical of someone trying to sell something that doesn't quite do what you might think it does and spend 4 times the money to buy it. I've no doubt that there are good applicatons for that heater ... but like many situations, that application is not as widespread as the seller would like it.

   Heat is heat. If you want to heat a room to 70 degF at a particular condition (i.e. 20 degF outside) ... it will take you X amount of energy to do it ... period. You cannot magically do it with less. Radiant heating can potentially allow you to turn down the thermostat a few degrees ... providing equal comfort at a lower temp ... but the savings is maybe like 5% not 50%.

   Natural gas will typically take more energy than electric ... because you end up throwing about 20% of that energy away (i.e. up a chimney/flue). But gas is frequently about 1/3 the cost of electricity ... Btu for Btu, so that inefficiency is economically acceptable. If the magic seems to good to be true ... think again ... it probably is. Don't fall for the hard sell.

1. 
   mikeroop | Jan 19, 2009 12:03am | #3

   soo paul harvey is a liar?

1. 
   DanH | Jan 19, 2009 01:00am | #4

   I'll bet if you listen closely you can't catch him in an actual lie -- just stretching the truth until is screams in agony.
   The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. -John Kenneth Galbraith

2. 
   Clewless1 | Jan 24, 2009 12:45pm | #5

   With all due respect ... I think he is often simply sadly misinformed. People talk him into giving a sales pitch (not only talk, but pay him) based often on half truths common in many fields where a hard sell is the only way to generate sales. They pay him ... he doesn't really have a clue, I suspect what he might be pushing.

3. 
   webted | Jan 31, 2009 12:39am | #6

   I have the EdenPure literature posted on my office door... as a joke.

   The scientists I work with read through the brochure and howl with laughter. There are so many bizarre fabrications in their explanation of these things that you have to laugh.

   "Cured" copper sheets sucking heat out of a coal furnace and "evenly distributing it to a cold room, hours later"; "exhaling heat through existing humidity"

   I like this one: "If you remember, when you sit in front of a fireplace or a portable heater or close to a heat source, you will remember yawning. This is because you are not getting enough oxygen"

   "Pets are drawn to this sort of heat... because it is natural and animals are much more instinctive than humans" I don't know about you, but my cat would sit on a burning sponge if she thought it would warm her up.

   And then this testimonial, which includes "...I am 77 years old and very healthy although I have diabetes and I'm asthmatic..."

   What a scam. Fools and their money. You'd probably do just as well to buy a pile of those miracle chamois cloths and burn them for fuel...

   -t

1. 
   Treetalk | Jan 31, 2009 01:16am | #7

   Are these the heaters that show a picture of a Amish "sweat shop" and they give u the heater if u buy the wood surround?

2. 
   Clewless1 | Jan 31, 2009 04:34pm | #8

   Yeah ... that is funny ... in a sad kind of way. Think about the unsavvy readers that know nothing about science ... sounds pretty impressive all them thar fancy words and stuff.

   Reading

1. 
   DanH | Jan 31, 2009 04:35pm | #9

   I am a bit surprised that so many publications admit the ads.
   The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. -John Kenneth Galbraith

1. 
   Clewless1 | Jan 31, 2009 06:41pm | #10

   Well ... you put up some scratch and you can buy an ad that says anything you want, I suppose. A rag should take a proactive approach sometimes and limit the content of such ads ... but the ads simply lead to contacts that will sell you anything, any way they can.

1. 
   BenM | Feb 14, 2009 04:46am | #11

   This should be addressed to ALL but I can't figure that out.  The link is an article from the New York Times on the Amish heater.

   http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/garden/12amish.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=amish%20heater&st=cse