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SCAM - Electric Heaters
I am not talking about all electric heaters, I am talking about those with prices in the hundred of dollars. You know the ones I am talking about, you see ads for them everyday on television and in your local newspaper and shopping guides. I refrained from putting an image here because I do not want to be sued by the shysters. First, a bit of background about me. I have spent all of my 38 years of work life either in the electronics field or in heating and air condition as either a service technician, broadcast engineer or service manager.
Can a electric heater save you money? Yes, if you use one to heat an individual room (this is called zoning) and turn down your central heating system thermostat, it certainly can save you money. I do this every winter. When my wife goes to work I find that the majority of my time is spent in my office. I heat this area with an oil filled electric heater, the type that looks like an old style radiator with the fins. The rest of the house is allowed to drop in temperature which reduces the amount of heat exchanged from indoors to outdoors. This reduction in the rate of heat exchange is what saves you money. Many customers would ask me why reducing your house temperature can save you money if you just have to heat it up again when you come home or wake up in the morning. It saves money because you have reduced the lost of heat by lowering the rate of heat exchange. In the winter your house is losing heat all of the time, you have reduced the amount of heat lost thus requiring less energy to reheat it.
Now back to the scam. I paid less than $30 for my electric oil filled space heater and it puts out the same amount of heat as the units costing hundreds of dollars. It has no moving parts or expensive heating elements to replace. Inferred heating elements are expensive and may need to be replaced. It is safe for toddlers, there are no open flames or hot burning elements. If you doubt that then just look at one. See the paint on the fins after twenty years of use, still looks good doesn't it. If it does not get so hot as to burn off paint or discolor the fins then it is not going to burn your skins by simply touching it. The oil filled unit has no fan so there is no waste of energy, it is 100% efficient. The scam units use the standard household voltage of 110 volts, so does my oil filled unit. The scam unit will put out about 5000 BTUs of heat, so will my oil filled unit. The scam units say they do not reduce humidity nor consume oxygen. That is also true with the oil filled heating units. In other words a $30-$40 dollar oil filled electric heating unit does everything that the scam unit costing hundreds of dollars does.
The scam units make claims of heating larger areas than they are capable of heating. The typical home central unit produces between 60,000 to 80,000 BTUs of usable heat. An electric space heater or the scam unit both produce about 5000 BTUs or between 1/12 to 1/16 of the heat of a central unit. Do the math, they will heat an average size room only in winter conditions in the north, they will do better down south where you can heat a house with a candle because of the higher ambient temperatures.
The sad thing for me is to see a national radio news anchor and a nationally known home fixer upper man both endorse these scam units. These were men I trusted before but not anymore. Also the major hardware stores are selling these devices while printing all of the scam lies in their advertisements.
Bottom line, you can save money by heating your house in zones (a zone should be closed off to the rest of the house and is an average size room) rather than the whole house. This can be done with space heaters. The oil filled electric space heater can do this safely and with a very low investment. The scam units will not do any better of a job and will steal money from your pocket with the initial investment.
~gJ
PS: I know the length of this article is more than we like to see on a front page post but I think that it is important that my fellow members of EONS know the truth about this scam.
A Pennsylvania Wildlife and Weather Cam
The camera is located in South Western Pennsylvania, USA. Our webcam is broadcast live 24/7 all year round. There is an automated feeder which is setup to feed at 6:45 AM, 12:00 Noon, 7:30 PM, and 10:30 PM (Eastern Time Zone) on the main camera. The feeder puts out a small amount of cracked corn and sweet feed to attract an array of wildlife. The feed is only used to attract the wildlife and not provide a food source they can live off of.The camera is located in a wooded area about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh, PA on private property which is not open to hunting.
I would suggest it you like the live feed that you click on the "Large View" link above and bookmark the page. I may eventually include a live chat box on that page.
Weather and Our Predecessors
As I was hiking along some old mining and Indian trails near my home a few weeks ago I wonder how the weather changes we are seeing now in late summer affected them. We know many of the Indians stayed behind in our cold harsh Iowa winters and the rest migrated south. It had to be a terribly hard life for those that stayed. We will be busy soon preparing for winter by installing the storm windows, securing or putting away deck furniture, preparing the car and various other little items that need to be done. But they had things to do that could mean life or death to them. They had a future view of very cold nights in inadequate shelters. We see the leaves turn and see the beauty, they saw the beauty too but they also were feeling the harshness instilled in their memories.
Weather Indicators
It was autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was a new Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets, and when he looked at the sky, he couldn't tell what the weather was going to be. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect wood to be prepared. But also being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked,
"Is the coming winter going to be cold?"
"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service responded.
So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared. A week later he called the National Weather Service again.
"Is it going to be a very cold winter?"
"Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it's going to be a very cold winter."
The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find. Two weeks later he called the National Weather Service again.
"Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"
"Absolutely," the man replied. "It's going to be one of the coldest winters ever."
"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.
The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting wood like crazy!"
"Is the coming winter going to be cold?"
"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service responded.So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared. A week later he called the National Weather Service again.
"Is it going to be a very cold winter?"
"Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it's going to be a very cold winter."
The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find. Two weeks later he called the National Weather Service again.
"Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"
"Absolutely," the man replied. "It's going to be one of the coldest winters ever."
"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.
The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting wood like crazy!"
GaryJames' Weather Station
No this is not mine! I ran across this while looking for weather related images.
