Despite everything negative having been written about the “Amish mantle and miracle invention,” if you want to buy one just like it and spend less than $200, including tax – GO TO COSTCO.
Yes, that is right, the Costco model was not made by the “Amish” and Chinese. But its much cheaper and Costco warranties all their products for their life (other than digital electronics where they still give you incredible warranties).
While you are at Costco (I have an executive membership and I recommend the company highly) check out the pharmacy. Cheapest prices around. Best service. Customer friendly. I have no conflict here, I am not even a stockholder.
By the way, those full page newspaper ads that you see in your local paper for the “Amish” stoves, the New York Times had one the other day. It is not cheap to advertise in the NYT, so guess why they have to charge outragous prices for these fireplaces that provide exactly the same heat as a $30 space heater, at the same cost.
Also folks, it doesn’t take much investigation to discover that these electric stoves are no miracle and that the only miracle is that anyone pays hundreds of dollars for them.
I called Veronica at Heat Surge to see whether the Ohio company’s customer service representatives were as misleading as its advertising is.
Veronica was pleasantly surprising. While not volunteering any information that might contradict what the ad states, she did give me straight answers.
The stove is free, but you pay up to $547 for the fireplace. It does operate for about 9 cents an hour ON THE LOW SETTING.
You can buy the heat unit for $298.
What she didn’t tell you is that the heat unit – 1,500 watts – provides the same amount of “miracle” heat as does a $30 space heater.
Consumer Reports said in a blog last February:
In fact, David Baker, Heat Surge vice president, recently told The New York Times, “If someone would come to me and say, ‘I need a heater and I want to spend as little as possible,’ I would say go to a local big-box store and buy one for $29.99. Our heater represents a fireplace rather than just some space heater.”
Consumer Reports complete writeup can be seen by clicking here.
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Hi George,
I am so pleased you did a blurb on this little beauty the “Amish Stove.” Actually, the cost on a per hour basis for the 1500 watt setting is closer to $0.30 per hour since they probably quoted you a national average and Connecticut’s electric rate is among the highest in the continental US at at about $0.20/kWh. The only conceivable way this would save energy is if you shut off the conventional heat to the rest of your home and heat only the room you were in (hopefully just a small one) with this electric resistance heater. Of course, in so doing you might have the pipes in the rest of the home freeze up so remember to have people subtract that from their savings.
Then there is the matter of the Amish. I love to go down to Lancaster County to explore their ways (and eat the food) and one of the things you learn pretty quickly is that they disdain from having their photo taken and yet these ads represent what I assume are non-Amish as being Amish—a cruel and disrespectful joke. AND most Amish do not use grid-supplied electricity in their homes but often use compressed air to run fans, sewing machines and a number of other appliances–all very cleaver and many made locally in Gordonville, PA. Over the last decade I have noticed more photovoltaic systems in use down there used mostly to charge up batteries required by the state to power running lights and signal lights on their horse-drawn buggies and some for charging small hand tools as I was told by one local Amish fellow in September when I was last there..
For those more interested in Amish energy habits, let me suggest the book “Living Without Electricity” by Stephen Scott and Kenneth Pellman available through http://www.goodbooks.com
Very Best Regards,
Joel N. Gordes