Friday, January 23, 2009

WHAT?!!? Those Amish Made Miracle Heaters Don't Run On Special Amish Magic

I hope that none of this is a surprise, but there are people who actually believe television ads that sell products that claim to produce free energy. There are people who aren't instantly skeptical of any product that is not sold in stores and is sold directly through television.

If you take anything I say to heart, please take the following: 1. If you are concerned with getting the best value for your money, you will not be well served buying unfamiliar products through television.
2. If a free, or nearly free source of energy were available, wouldn't everybody be using that source and stop using coal, oil, and the other sources?

With that said, I read a nice write up about those magic Amish heaters.

The Amish are not well known for their prowess in the applied sciences. I don't think that they have any Nobel Laureates to claim as a community yet. In fact, I think they have some sort of a religious aversion to science. According to some people's beliefs, God made everything, and if I recall correctly, science is a thing, so that means God made science. If we are to honor the things that God made, shouldn't we embrace science. Isn't that a divine gift? But I digress.

Anyhow, the Amish don't have a reputation as proficient technologists. Even if they did, why really sell the fact that the product is Amish made? As the original ads read, the heaters were more efficient than other heat sources and if you'd buy the Amish made mantle, they'd throw in the magic heat source for free.

Hmm, all I need to do is buy the mantle at a price that is not readily disclosed and I get free magic Amish heat. Sounds like a heck of a deal.

As it turns out, the magical Amish heater is really a regular electric space heater with a non-functional Amish made wooden mantle. Scientists still have not identified the magic, but it does seem to produce just as much heat as other electric heaters for about the same cost.

For the low low low price of ~$300 to $350, free magical heat sounds wonderful. I will use it to power a generator to provide all of my household electrical and heating needs.

That all sounds wonderful, but there is little substance to the claims. The heaters are about the same as the ones that you can get at a store and the mantles don't add any functional value to the equation.

I would venture to guess that the reason that the products are sold as Amish is because we, as a people, are unfamiliar with the Amish. We also tend to think of them favorably as good, honest, hard-working people. Why would these good people rip us off?

The company that sells the products is likely not an Amish company. They purchase one of their parts from Amish people and market the whole appliance in such a way that can easily confuse people to believe that it is an Amish product.

I would advise anyone who is considering purchasing this product to take another look at what's being sold and not make a purchase that may disappoint them.

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