02/13/09, 08:10 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: NW corner of Ohio
Posts: 467
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The former pastor at our church called these people and talked to them. Keep in mind he was an older gentleman (in his 80's) and very trusting. The salesman talked a good talk and the poor old guy believed every word of it. First off, they (at that time) claimed that their product was energy star. That is a downright lie, and I have turned them in for it. The ONLY thing that they carry that is energy star is a programmable thermostat, which they do not manufacture, and you can probably buy elsewhere cheaper. They also told him that their product was 100% efficient. That is true, but what they don't tell you is that all electric baseboard heaters are 100% efficient. They claim that the filled coil inside of it will heat up and then the heater shuts off and the unit continues to heat by releasing the heat that is stored in whatever it was that was inside that coil. The problem is that when you turn the unit on, there is very little to no heat that comes out of it, until the coil gets fully heated. In the meantime, you are still using electricity.
They were also sending out literature claiming that they were named a "best buy" by Consumer Digest. I contacted Consumer Digest, and the gentleman there told me that they had never done any such thing with these heaters.
Their supposed premise for saving money is assuming that you are going to use "zone heating" in a house that is already being fully heated by another source. Zone heating means that some rooms will be set at say 60 degrees or less, while the ones that you are in will be set at 68-70 degrees.
Long story short, the pastor ordered 3 of them to heat a trailer that was used for for Sunday School classroom space and Wednesday night bible study. What we found out was that we had to go down to the church at about 7am to turn the heaters on in order to get the trailer to 60 degrees by 10am, and if it was really cold, you had to go down 2 hours earlier. Using those heaters on Sunday mornings and Wednesday night made the electric bill go from about $50 dollars a month to $200 plus per month.
Lets say that you use 3 of the heaters at 1500 watts each. That's 4500 watts per hour x 24 hours a day x 30 days in a month = 3240000 watts, or 3240 Kilowatts. If your electric runs you 10 cents per Kilowatt that is $324 per month. (somebody please correct my math if I'm wrong).
Last edited by grandmajo; 02/13/09 at 08:14 PM.
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Hydro-sil heating
