$300-$400+ for a $30 heater: Bob Vila whoring for EdenPure heaters

[Existential Angst]

Awl --

Didja catch the EdenPure infomercial? goodgawd....

I always knew Bob Vila was an effing asshole -- he could barely muster good manners on his bullshit home show. But I didn't know he was a dishonest w**re. I knew he shilled for Sears for a while, but this is real street-corner prostitution, imo.

What they artfully dodge in this $30 heater in $300-$400 disguise is the simple concept of zoning. Vila actually addresses this quite correctly at about 22 minutes into the infomercial, but it's all of 1 minute out of 30 minutes of bullshit.

And indeed, you can save a bundle with electric heat, if you have a big house with poor zoning.

I've found a very good improvement over point-style space heaters is 220/240 V baseboard heater elements operated at 120 V with a couple of pyooter-style muffin fans. I just prop iup the bare aluminum fin ditty on some bricks. This delivers a nice gentle heat over 8 ft of linear length.

If it's really cold, by using two wall switches in a box (a regular on/off and a 3-way), you can operate one of these baseboards at 120 AND 240 V.

240 V really pumps out big-time heat, and makes the electic meter spin.

At 120 V, it puts out about 500-600 W, while at 240 V, it puts out 4X this, or 2000-2400 Watts -- yet is easier on the wiring, cuz it only draws 10 amps at 240V . I use these to heat the shop, a couple of rooms. Or Costco radiants, which are themselves overpriced, but not by a factor of 10 -- about $50.

I got a bunch of these baseboard elements for pennies on the dollar, but I'll bet these elements are $20-50, depending on length.

You can buy encased units for under $100, altho these usually operate only at 120V, for the typical 1,000 - 1,500 watts..

So once again infomercials deliver a partial truth to sell a product at 10X it's inherent value. Ditto this Amish furniture-style heater.

Ceiling fans are as important in the winter as they are in the summer -- just reverse the rotation. Eliminates the temperature differential between floor and ceiling, which can be more than 10 deg! Really very important.

I fight with the wife all the time with the HSN/QVC crap (essentially infomercials Variety-style), who solicit products that can "withstand" markups of 10-20X -- which in %-ages, is a markup of 1,000 to 2,000 %. Your local hardware store makes 15% on a Bosch power tool.

Hmmmmm...... 15% vs 2,000% -- I wonder where the bargain is??

Pity about Vila -- I heard/read sumpn sumpn about him, that he was the Real Architectural Deal, a bright guy. I guess vamping in front of a camera is easier than actually building stuff from blueprints -- and pays better.

[trader4]

I didn't see the infomercial, but I did see the full page ad for them with Bob Vila in the local NJ newspaper. In the summer I see similar ads for the "miracle" from China room cooler that costs only pennies to operate. That appears to be based on using your freezer to chill down a block of something that goes into the unit which a fan then blows across. Although it's impossible to tell, because those ads are deliberately vague.

I was also surprised to see Vila hawking the EdenPure heaters. As you say, the vast majority of the "energy saving" is due to turning down the heat in all of the house and using an electric heater in the room you are actually occupying. And you can certainly find other similar units at a fraction of the cost that will do about the same. But I guess when they offer you a dump truck full of money, some people will endorse anything.

IMO, the newspaper ad is extremely misleading. One favorite was I think they said the unit is powerful enough to heat an entire room. yet costs only pennies to operate when set on low. Kind of like saying an electric oven is powerful enough to cook a turkey, but uses no electricity when off. But I'm sure many people will misread that and think it means that it will heat an entire room for pennies. I would love to see some independent tests that evaluate this thing against similar units that cost a fraction of the price.

[Lp1331 1p1331]

I haven't seen the ads with Bob V yet, but I remember Paul Harvey hawking them-- which caused me to lose most of the respect I ever had for him. The biggest question I have about The EdenPure is: why would I buy that when , for about the same price, I could buy a real Amish made fireplace with a "flameless fire", that will also cut my heating bill by

90%. The thing about he HeatSurge joke is that if a person wanted a fake fireplace with a simulated fire and a 1500 watt electric heater, it may not even be a bad deal, comparatively. Last year, I saw a similar thing made by Charmgo at Home Depot for about $100 more that the HeatSurge. I have never seen the HS in the flesh, though. If it is actually made of real wood and not particle board and has a halfway decent heater, and you want to spend a fair amount of money for--IMO-- a fairly frivolous item, no problem Larry.

[Bob F]

Do you really need to see that? It seems pretty obvious to me.