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Amish heaters

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
It seems a little weird to me that Amish don't use electricity yet they sell electric heaters. They run full page ads in a local city newspaper pretty regularly. They must spend a lot of money on the ads and must be selling some heaters. Has anyone here had any experience with them or other similar heaters? Are they a worthy investment? Do they save any on other fuel costs?
 
Some salesperson got to them with a fast money deal. They sound like a good deal BUT they only put out so many btus. Not any better than any other rated the same.
 
The answer is yes and no. Any time you turn your furnace down and use a portable heater to keep one small area comfortable you will save money. But a 1200 watt heater is going to draw 1200 watts no matter how it is packaged. You can get the same heat in a lot cheaper package if you don't care about the fancy "Amish" wood cabinet.
 
The cabinets are supposed to be amish made,but the heaters come from china.Our local electric coop tested one and found they were not cost effective for the power used.The company wouldn't tell them where the amish peole were alocated that made the cabinets,they suspect there imported to.I get a kick out of the add in the newspaper that shows a huge crowd at sears waiting for three amish guys to unload one heater.The line of people is being held back by people holding some construction tape.
 
The Amish use electricity, they just pick and choose. I find it hard to believe there is anything "Amish" about those heaters except for the woodwork - if even that.

I recently bought a bunch of stuff from some newly arrive Amish farmers. They had to tear out all the electric motors from their barn that were used for dairy work. They replaced all the electric motors with hydraulic motors run by diesel engines. So, all those gas engines used DC start and charge systems - so that electricity was OK. They also put a telephone in the barn that also uses electricity.

Electricity is about the most inefficient mode of heat in the USA. That being said, anything that can target a small area instead of an entire building is going to use less fuel - if you can stand it. For most of the country, the electric heater is an indirect coal-burner, just like the Chevy Volt.
 
Yup they will save money on your gas bill.

But they add to your electric bill.

A watt of energy turned into heat is the same whether it is a light bulb, toaster or electric heater. Just like the others said.

Depending on your rates for gas verses electric, electric heaters may save you a little per btu of heat.

Gary
 
Although it's changing an electric BTU costs 2 or 3 times more than a natural gas BTU. The advantadge is elecrtic resistance is pretty efficient in turning BTUs into heat in your house, but some of the new gas appliances are getting close to to the electric space heater's efficiency. The amish heaters are probaly not Amish, they are just a space heater, if you're keeping a small area warm with it verses a larger area with gas, propane or fuel oil or you have older equipment that's not that efficient you might save money. Up here in Wisconsin a flat rate utility customer will pay about 15 cents an hour to run a 1200 watt heater or $3.50 a day (pennies but a lot of them)
 
We have some Amish around here also. Each sect seems to interpret what is allowed in a different manner.

I have hauled water for them using their trailer. It is on rubber tires, but since they don't own a truck to pull it with that is OK.

They also own several, or actually quite a few small gas generators. The little Honda ones run the small power tools like drills and saws. The bigger ones run the air compressors to use air powered tools, including roofing and stud nailers along with a mig welder.

Some of our local sect has also taken the position that since there are no lines going to it a cellular phone is OK.

I can respect their beliefs to a point, but they depend on us who do not live as they do for a lot of their needs. They would be just as bad off as the rest of us in pretty short order if anything ever happens to our infrastructure. DOUG
 
I think some unscrupulous person is just using the Amish name and reputation to sell heaters. The Amish in my experience are not the kind of people who would trademark 'Amish', so I guess anyone can call themselves that. The heaters are just another scam for suckers. I could say that I am President Lincoln and therefore you should buy my logs because they are great and everybody else wants them, but saying don't make it so.
Zach
 
All electric heaters are 100% efficient at turning electricity into heat. 20$ or 2000$, electric heat is electric heat.

A heat pump is a much better investment, for 1 watt of electricity, it can pump more watts of heat from the air outside into your house.
 
As typical, brother in law fell for that, bought 2.

The cabinet is cheap wood, done ok, but nothing special. If you read the ad, the cabinet is the only Amish part.

The heater is a $19 milk house heater element deal screwed inside, China made.

It's a sales gimic.

For the most part, an electric BTU is a BTU, doesn't matter what cost the heater is -all output the same heat from 120v outlet.

If you turn back the heat on your house furnace 5 degrees, and use an electric heater to keep one room warmer that you all are in, then the electric heater can save a little money. You use more expesnsive electric heat in that room, but the rest of the house uses enough less furnace heat to save money overall.

--->Paul
 
Yeah , but that' only part of the complete cycle. Making electricity is inefficient to start with - in the USA. Most in the USA is made by burning coal. If you took that coal and used it directly to heat a house, it is MUCH more efficient then doing it indirectly with an electric heater. Even it that heater is only rated 75% efficient. A non-direct-vented gas heater is near 100% efficient and does not have all the indirect losses that electric-heat has.

To the consumer, I guess cost is what counts. I've yet to live anywhere that electricity makes heat cheaper then coal, gas, propane, or fuel oil. I guess that's going to vary widely depending on where you live. Now Canadian "hydro" may be a different story.
 
The laws of physics are very simple. 1 kw-hr = 3412 BTU's. I don't care if you are using a toaster with a fan, hair dryer, oil filled heater, base board electric heaters, space heater, light bulbs. You can't get any more heat if the heater is made in china, has ceramic tubes, or you put a wood cabinet made by the Amish around a space heater. The up side to electric heat is you can heat just one room, no heat loss in trunk lines, no heat going up the chimney. Where I live the more electricity you use the less it costs per Kw-hr.

I've converted all my rental properties to electric base board heat, put in new windows, insulated walls and attic. With electric baseboard heat, you don't have any maintenance to worry about. No filters, no fan motors, no pilot lights, thermocouples, transformers, or electronic brain boxes. Only replaced 2 thermostats in 30 years. My tenants are happy with their electric bills especially when they have lived in places with no insulation and their gas bills were over $500/mo.

DON'T BE FOOLED BY ALL THE HYP ABOUT SOME MAGICAL ELECTRIC HEATER. THEY ALL ALL THE SAME:) 1 KW-HR = 3412 BTU's

Amish heaters are like putting lipstick on a pig, you still have a pig!
 
The only thing Amish of that heater is the name.
A good friend of mine bought one of those piece of junk and it lasted about three weeks.
As far as the Amish go they cheet more on technology then the most us citizens do. Hydraulics is more complex then electrity and much more expesive.
 
The Amish here in Southern Illinois have electricity, use rubber tired farm tractors like we would a pickup - mostly for road use, and have regular landline phones. On Sunday they don't use the tractors - only buggys as far as I can tell.
 
The Amish don't know anything about these heaters unless they live in China. Saw the other day where the Texas Atorney General was investigating the scam.
 
there about like the sales gimmick that a heat pump takes heat out of cold air problem is a heat pump is only a reversible air conditioner the hotter the outside temp the more the efficiency goes done, same thing with the cold how i know son got talked into installing one a few years back and i've seen how well it works, if you want test what i'm saying turn off the heat strips that supply backup heat on a day when the temp gets below 25 degrees better have so other way to warm
 
Those things are a joke!! Take a close look at the pictures, those guys are NOT Amish. Several are wearing ordinary jeans, not the normal amish denim pants with hooks instead of zippers and buttons. As the others have said, electric heat is electric heat, nothing magical about it, or cheaper about it either.
 
lol--i laugh everytime i see the commercial.
i got sucked in an infared heater. YES, it works good. YES,it puts out heat. YES, my electric bill went from $35 to $100/month.
i remember them saying a $5 to $10/month increase. yep, i am a buffoon.
 
Sounds more like the Mennonite sect. They do drive cars, tractors, etc with rubber tires and do have electricity.

Their basic belief is modern ways are OK as long as they aren't "flashy".

That means plain colors on their cars, no fancy rims or chrome.

The book keeper at the grain elevator I worked at back in the 70's was a young Mennonite gal, and I wondered how come her T-Bird had no chrome on it. Just couldn't be "flashy".

She also refused to have her picture taken for a newsletter we were sending out. They consider pictures to be a violation of the "no graven image" in Exodus 20. DOUG
 
You can go to Wally World and pay $20 for an electric heater rated 1500 watts that produces 5115 BTU of heat (3.41 BTU/Watt) ORRRRRRRRRRRR you can pay $300 for an Eden Pure heater but hey its rated 1500 watts but produces 5115 BTU of heat. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Hows about wiring up 15 100 watt incandescent light bulbs cuz you get light PLUS heat also HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

The Eden or Amish are prettier n fancier n maybe a bit safer so take your choice BUT THE LAWS OF PHYSICS AND ELECTRICITY AND THERMODYNAMICS PRETTY MUCH STAY THE SAME LAST TIME I CHECKED

Similar to what JD pointed out, the militant vegetarians and radical environmentalists and tree hugging nnalert worship AlGore and electric cars buttttttttttttttt the majority of those use coal fired electric plants to produce electricity to charge the cars batteries but they hate coal .......HMMMMMMMMMMMM and cant use wind power cuz a bird flew into a wind generator n got killed killed somewhere in Montanna and they hate nuclear power also and hate regular old fashion wood stoves saying they pollute the environment........Darn humans are wrecking the planet, spotted owns and snail darters and blind fish gotta be saved even if Granny freezes to death I reckon........

John T
 
I guess "flashy" is in the eyes of the beholder. I find some of the Amish women in bonnets and "plain clothes" to be kind of hot. But, I'm just a dirty old man, I guess. My wife is mid-western, not Amish -but close enough. She dresses almost the same.
 
I have no proof but I suspect that Bob Vila[remember This Old House?}has a hand in the promotion of these electric heaters and the fire place things they sell at other times of the year.
 
.... thank goodness for saintly nnalert, ultra Conservatives like you! Wish we had more of you. Your Halo shines so bright, we really wouldn't need any electricity to "..keep the lights on!!"

Sorry John, just can't help myself....!!! LOL Everyone's entitled to an opinion,you, me, and all those tree huggers and Al Gore lovers.
Nonetheless, have a great weekend! Ralph.
 
Our Rural Electric Co-op just ran a warning
about those heaters in it's monthly newsletter.
But, as P.T. Barnum said: "Theres a sucker born
evey minute", and you can't stop sucker from
buying them!
 
For the life of me, I don't know HOW those ads keep running. If you want to save money on your heating bill, put on more clothes and turn down your thermostat. Otherwise, all you are going to do is pay less on your gas/propane bill and more on your electric bill. There is an Amish community near my home, and no, they do NOT use or endorse those heaters.
 
Must be a different "sect" of Amish than what we have around here. I dont know anybody around here who would lust after the women. Not trying to be mean, just honest.
 
Definately a sucker bet. Free heater, very expensive wooden mantle for looks. I've had the privelege to know quite a few Amish, I'm just south of Lancaster, Pa., and most are good people. But we still say they pray for you on Sunday, and prey on you for the rest of the week.
 
You dont know a line of BS when you see it.One of the ads shows people working but they are not doing anything.When I use a hand plane shavings come out of it.Keeping warm costs money.I have cut firewood with an axe and bow saw.Thats the closest Ive come to free heat.Theres an amish settlement near me.They are using solar power for lighting and to run the circulator pump on a wood burning furnace.I did see a Miller diesel welder at their shop when I picked up some metal roofing.Noticed the children have Tonka toy trucks in their sand pile.
 
You are right about heat pumps won't work below 25 degrees or so, will work down to 20 if the sun is shining on it. Butttttttttttt when the tem is above this they heat really cheappppp. Ours has LP backup no heat strips. Actually Electric is about the same price as LP. Vic
 
Saw some milk house heaters at Walmart for 18 bucks.Eriend bought 2 at close out last spring.3.67 each.
 
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