Cheap Zojirushi CV-DYC40 Super VE 4-Liter Vacuum Electric Dispensing Pot

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List Price: $291.00
Sale Price: $202.27
Today's Bonus: 30% Off

I have owned several different electric kettles, but this one is by far the best. The Zojirushi is easy to use and set up. The timer is the best feature of all, I set the timer in the evening and the water is at the perfect temperature when I wake in the morning. The whole family uses it, for tea, hot cocoa, coffee (french press), instant oatmeal, roman noodles and more! This is the best purchase I have made in a long time, and the Zojirushi is worth every cent.

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All in all, this electric pot is wonderful. Heats as stated in the manual (about 35 minutes for entire pot). Easy to use (plug and go). Keeps the water hot for a long time and the digital readout lets you know the current temp of the water.

Couple of drawbacks that maybe they'll fix in the next model: 1) Runs on 2 "AA" batteries for dispensing when not plugged in. Batteries only last about 7 hours. 2) When the batteries run out, you can't just replace the batteries and continue using the pot. It doesn't recognize the new batteries. For the new batteries to be recognized, you must plug the unit back into a wall outlet. That really defeats the purpose of going outlet free.

Seems a bit expensive for the 2 problems noted but otherwise I'm almost universally happy with all Zojirushi products I've ever purchased.

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My only complaint is: It is only stainless steel for the outside look, not for the container that actually holds the water. As a result, the water dispensed from it always tasted/smelled a little weird, not like from a real stainless steel kettle.

Honest reviews on Zojirushi CV-DYC40 Super VE 4-Liter Vacuum Electric Dispensing Pot

I own this particular model along with a couple CD-LCC models and other boilers. Hand down, Zojirushi is the best for having large amount of hot water ready at home or small coffee shops.

Please note that CV-DYC40 was mainly designed for holding water at 208F and 195F. The unit is designed to be plugged in 24/7 and refilled as needed. Note that a whole gallon of water is contained in an extremely well insulated container while the boiler heats to 212F every single time one adds water! It takes about 2hrs for the insulated units to cool to 175F, which is painfully slow. If you insist on holding water at 175F, I suggest getting a non-insulated CD-LCC model. A workaround for CV-DYC40 is to boil about 2/3 of the water and top off with cold water.

The battery function is very nice as you can take the boiler anywhere in the house, coffee shop, outdoors for parties, catering etc. If you own a small coffee shop and are looking for a boiler/kettle for americanos and hot chocolate consider that this boiler is very slow (30-40min to boil a 4 liters) and you may end up using this boiler as more of a 'fancy' carafe, still using a regular kettle to boil water.

Lastly, for those of you who are tea aficionados, part of the tea flavor comes from oxidation. As the water sits in the boiler at, say, 195F or 208F oxygen and other gases escape which may lead to some teas tasting slightly different. But, hey! If you can't tell a difference then who cares?

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Afraid one day I'd forget a pot on the stove, I spent a month researching electric water boilers. I've used electric kettles in the past and I love their fast operation: Push a button and come back later for a kettle of boiling water.

Features I initially wanted:

1. Boils water.

Throwing my hands up in indecisive frustration, I ordered the Aroma AWK-115S Electric Kettle. On the second day, it failed to shut-off, happily boiling away an entire 1.5 L of water and burning my house down if I hadn't intervened. The metal housing had no insulation, so I'd have had to re-heat it frequently. Additionally, it had a low capacity and required manually heating it several minutes before I wanted the water (I calculated that 2 minutes each morning and night waiting around for water to boil is over 24 hrs per year!)

Features I eventually wanted:

1. Boils water.

2. No reported errors with automatic shut-off.

3. Made somewhere other than China.

4. Doesn't rust/corrode.

5. Well insulated.

6. Portable.

7. At least 3L capacity.

8. Always hot.

9. Stainless steel exterior to match my other appliances.

10. Metal or glass interior.

Then I discovered the Zojirushi DYC-40 VE.

It checks off 8.5 of my 10 requirements in various amounts. Where it isn't a home-run:

There is a 1-2 second delay before getting relatively slow-running water. *Every* time you dispense water, you have to push an "UNLOCK" button before holding down the "DISPENSE" button! Every time. You get to push 2 buttons sequentially! Seriously? I scoured the manual and there is no way to disable this child safety feature. It's an absolutely terrible user experience considering the water already comes out at a very slow rate and requires *holding down* the "DISPENSE" button! How would you even cause an accident considering you have to hold the button down anyway? Bad design.

The interior is coated with a thin layer of polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) to prevent corrosion. According to studies, this non-stick coating begins to emit toxic, carcinogenic gasses when heated over 400 degrees. Since water boils at 212 degrees, you'd assume we would be safe. But what if the heating element heats the walls above 400 degrees in order to boil the water? I tested this with an infrared thermometer and determined that the non-stick coating is roughly the same temperature as the water because the heating element is located separately, below the insulated water reservoir!

The "stainless steel" exterior is really just a plastic veneer with a stainless steel appearance. Mine even had a deep scratch on it when it arrived.

Porting the pot around wirelessly requires 2 AA batteries. For some reason, my high-quality rechargeable Eneloop batteries fully charged are not recognized as having any charge.

Finally, it really does keep water hot all day long at a reasonable cost (~$70/year -the unit paying for itself in about 5 years when compared with an uninsulated kettle): only 19 watts (the box says 17 watts, but my house is unheated so this is fairly accurate). Unfortunately, this is at 195 degrees, which is too cool for some of my uses. You may keep water on-demand at 205 degrees, but even the vacuum insulation is insufficient to keep that electricity usage below 39 watts.

Overall, this is a modern convenience, and I'm really happy to have it in my kitchen. It ultimately saves me about 90% of the time I spent heating (and re-heating) water with a stove or typical electric kettle (a net return of about 22 hours per year)!

So maybe in a couple years, I'll break even with the time I spent researching electric kettles.

Discount Vitapur VWD1006BLP-BL Bottom Load Water Dispenser

Customer Ratings:

I chose to return this item before I even used it. The product description does not accurately describe how it works. I've had a similar item by a different manufacturer for 4+ years until it recently broke. To replace it I thought I would try a sleeker looking brand of the same item. Well, it's not the same. My old unit provided INSTANT Hot water. The Vitapur instructions booklet explains that to obtain hot water you have to press a red button then wait up to 3 minutes for Hot water to dispense. In 3 minutes I could boil water on the stove and not need this unit! The item description did not detail this part of it's functioning.

Also, every time I opened the door to the lower storage area where the water bottle is place, the door would fall off! The hinge mechanism (if you can even call it that) is one of the cheapest designs I've ever seen and clearly does not work! For an item that is over $200 it is Not worth the money!

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Although some reviews said this product was noisy, I do not agree. There is some mechanical noise when the unit is recharging its fill tank, however it only lasts a few seconds. Water is served hot or cold and works great! This is a quality built stand-alone water cooler.I am very pleased with this water cooler.

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I read on other reviews of this product that said it was a bit noisy and they were true. The noise is similar to an older wall mounted air conditioner. For me it's worth not having to wait for my bf to pick up the water bottle or spilling some of it on the floor when I do it myself. It's much better looking than the top loading ones with the exposed bottle, it also has lighting in the cup area that's bright enough to not need additional lighting for a late night cup of water or tea.

Update 5/2013: It is much louder now when it is even close to empty (1/3 of a bottle left) but otherwise at the same level noted above when just cooling/heating or pumping water into the dispensing part. I have to advise that when it is close to empty it's very, very loud now (& was not as bad previously). I still like it because of the ease of use, but had to downgrade it to 3 stars because the increased noise can't bode well for it's longevity (it is cleaned every other month with a vinegar and water solution-I used to rent a water disp at work and that's what they cleaned them with ev 3 months). I started cleaning it more often (1x per mo), in case build up was causing the noise, but that did not improve it.

Honest reviews on Vitapur VWD1006BLP-BL Bottom Load Water Dispenser

I was looking for a stainless steel water dispenser to complete my theme in my new kitchen and after several purchases and returns, I found the Vitapur dispenser and I love it. It is quite and only makes noise when it is filling up after use. If you need instant hot water, this machine is not for you because you have to wait at least three minutes which I don't mind. Anyway, hope it last a very long time because it is awesome.

Love it Val

Humble, TX

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I really like this dispenser. The water bottle is stored in the bottom and easy to hook up. I recommend it.

Cheap Dimplex Compact Electric Fireplace

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List Price: $499.99
Sale Price: $349.59
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Perfect size for a small apartment. The remote works well. Haven't used it for heat but the fire is very cozy even though it's not the most realistic flame. Very happy with the rich color and finish.

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Review of 9w Nail Curing Uv Light Gel Dryer (Model: M010509)

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I am not convinced the gel nails are better than the regular polish. The light gel dryer works fine but I just don't think I should have purchased this. Will probably not use very often.

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Discount Cadet Manufacturing 09950 240-Volt White Baseboard Hardwire

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List Price: $37.99
Sale Price: $24.15
Today's Bonus: 36% Off

I like the Cadet products. These appear very well made, with good quality heating elements inside. I probably undersized mine because I had limited electric power capacity (60 Amps whole house), but, let 'em run. I hooked them up to Honeywell basic line-in thermostats on the wall. Mine are 240v 500 watt (uses about 2 amps). After the initial new smells burn off, they are quite pleasant. Installation, other than runniing all the wiring, was a snap.

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Reviews of Brookstone Beverage Warmer

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List Price: $44.99
Sale Price: $24.99
Today's Bonus: 44% Off

I bought this thing to replace my Mr. Coffee mug warmer. This Brookstone is basically useless as a warmer unless you are perhaps using a mug with an entirely FLAT bottom (which would allow more contact with the heating element.) I've yet to see such a coffee mug however, and I have looked a lot.

The Mr. Coffee I own is adequate in that it keeps the coffee warm, though not nearly as hot as I'd like. The Brookstone, with it's "high and low" heat settings doesn't improve things any, as even on the high setting it is not as hot as the Mr. Coffee model.

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I purchased this to replace an identical warmer that lasted for several years in almost daily use in my office. My old one did not have automatic shut-off, and as a consequence was sometimes left on as long as over a weekend. I've titled this review "Better than expected" only because of the many negative reviews associated with the product. After using the new one for a couple of months, I can report that it performs exactly as advertised, and the automatic shutoff is a much appreciated added feature. I use several different styles of coffee mugs on this warmer, all with rimmed bottoms. Set on high, the warmer keeps my coffee HOT. Just barely cool enough to drink. And, it looks cool too.

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Luckily, a friend gave me this Brookstone warmer (used) so I didn't waste any money on it. She gave it to me because she accidentally broke the $5 Target cup warmer I had. I thought "oooh, a Brookstone. looks fancy" but it's mostly useless!

My cheap Target warmer kept my drinks much, much hotter. This barely keeps them above room temperature. And I thought it was because it was used that maybe it had lost its effectiveness. I can see by the other reviews, that's not true.

I can't believe how much this costs new. What a waste.

I wish I could find the same Target model I had, but I've never seen them there again :(

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I purchased this expensive item (from an Amazon seller; fulfilled by Amazon) because it has an auto-shutoff feature. That worked, but the base of the warmer became so hot that if it had not been on a glass surface, it would surely have scorched the wood. I returned it as defective and hoped to hear back from the seller offering a replacement, but I did not. It makes me wonder if the product was actually working properly but designed very poorly.

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This product is pretty much worthless. I first tried with a mug that had a raised ring bottom (i.e. not a lot of contact area). That one didn't work at all. I brought in a stoneware mug with a completely flat bottom still didn't keep the coffee hot. Used it on the high setting.

I contacted Brookstone directly. They completely blew me off. Would not do a thing for me.

Review of Sunbeam Ceramic Heater

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Bought at Walmart for $30 in February as a little heater to warm up my wife's craft room since its a back bedroom and we only open to receive heat from the rest of the house when she is working in it. However, I will be taking this heater back. The heater is a handsome little unit: 10" tall, 14" wide, and 8" deep. It sits on a 7"x9" base that makes the unit very stable and resistant to tipping over from accidental bumping. The base allows 360 degree rotation and about 15 degree tilting. The heater's operating modes (per the manual) are: Fan Only, Low Heat ("if applicable..." said the manual. This unit did have Low Heat mode.),Eco-Smart, Max Heat, and Thermostat Control. Max Heat runs continuously at 1500 watts. Low Heat (if it were available) would run continuously at 750 watts. Eco-Smart "cycles between High Heat (1500 watts) and Low Heat (750 watts) settings...". Thermostat Control only has four room-temperature settings: 70, 75, 80, and 85 degrees. The extreem left of the thermostat scale has a "Frost Protect" setting (thermostat control set for 40 degrees). The extreem right of the thermostat scale is "Constant On". While the front of the heater presents a good sized 8"x14" grill, it is for looks only the actual heat producing opening is only 2"x6". The remainder of the area behind the grill is just black plastic. When the heater is on and at 6" from the front of the heater, you feel VERY hot air at 18" from the front you feel no hot air. This is my first point about the poor functionality of this unit: the output of the internal fan is so pathetic that it can barely produce enough of a wheeze of air to get the heat only a few inches out of the heater and then (hot air rising) goes straight to the ceiling. Perhaps this is a general trait of all ceramic heaters: they can produce very hot air without using red-hot (read: accidental ignition source) heat elements; however, they cannot support large volumes of air being passed through them. Here is my second point on the poor functionality of this heater: Although the box advertises: "High/Low Heat Settings" the low setting is not actually selectable. The unit seems to run at a high heat output all the time I did not discern any "cycling" between a high and low heat output in the lame "Eco-Smart" mode. The third point is the thermostat control: only four choices: 70,75,80, and 85 nothing inbetween and nothing below 70 degrees room temp is available, and it seems to operate at max heat when in thermostat mode. Dear Sunbeam, What I wanted to know about a heater is: the heat wattage of the settings, the operating range of the thermostat, and can the low heat only setting be selected for thermostat control. You're packaging told me absouluty nothing about the details and specifications of a heater that are actually important. Oh, by the way, people are tired of, and turned off, by manufacturers who trot out the same mediocre, half-hearted designed products but think that by putting a green leaf on the box and use the word "eco-" that consumers will think that the products received an improvement of some sort.

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This heater is a great idea, and the functions work great. It is one of the best space heaters I have owned with one major exception. I think they undersized the wiring on it, because the power cord gets very hot, and I'm afraid it will catch fire. It actually melted my Kill-A-Watt power meter I had it plugged into. I wouldn't buy this item. It does heat very nicely, but it is a fire hazard in my opinion. Made in China...

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In less than a month the heater not only just quit working, but a wire inside melted when fortunately I was at home. I opened the machine and there it was, the burnt wire. It could have burned down my house

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This heater started out heating a small bathroom and washroom quite well.Like other products I have purchased I bought before looking at reviews.After 30 days the heater started to blow cold air.At this point I looked up the reviews and saw where mine wasn't the only one that has done this.Rather than to take it back and let them throw it away and not do anything about it I decided to take the heater apart and see what was causing the problem..If costing me $30 keeps one house from burning down it has made the loss profitable. There are 3 wires leading to the heating elements 2 red and 1 black in the middle.The black wire in the middle had been hot and melted the plastic cover on the wires and had burnt in two.I have pictures but cant upload them here.Just another Chinese piece of DANGEROUS JUNK.

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We've had this about a year. Have not had any issues and we use it every day; placed near where we sit. However, when used in a bedroom sized space (our office) and keeping the door closed, it heats up the area quite nicely and soon we turn it off when it reaches a heated comfort level for us. However, due to reviews about a burned wire, I will be more careful in how long I let it run and I do always turn it off and unplug it when I leave the space.

Review of iHeater 1500 SQ FT Infrared Heater

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List Price: $379.00
Sale Price: $219.00
Today's Bonus: 42% Off

iHeater IH-1500 Quartz Infrared Heater Best Value on Amazon

I am very pleased with this product. It lives up to all they say about it, with possibly one exception. It costs more than a $1 a day to run. It did raise my electric bill considerably, but it lowered my gas bill as well. I've given it one less star than top rating because dealers are misrepresenting the cost to operate.

What is so great is that I was much more comfortable running this heater. It keeps my whole home (granted, a small home 1100 sq feet) warm. It is such a comfortable, even heat. Not like my forced air furnace which makes the room either too hot or too cold about 50% of the time. And the heat is even throughout the house, unlike the furnace where some rooms are too warm and some too cold. I don't feel the drafts as much, the air isn't dry and I don't have to run a humidifier. My furnace rarely kicks in.

It is hard to believe that a small compact unit can do such a big job and do it safely. Only the small output area gets hot. Having a remote and being easily programmable is a definite plus also.

I am so pleased I made this purchase.

Bobbie's Buttons and Bows

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I ordered one of these after I got a $460 power bill in this crazy winter in the mid-Atlantic region, after the power company raised their rates through the ceiling and I read the reviews on what an incredible innovation in heating this unit is. It's a nice space heater; looks great, great controls, very quiet, etc. But it is what it is a 1500 Watt space heater. It won't cut your electric bill in half, unless you're willing to freeze in the process. The hype is transparent to me now, and I could have spent a lot less for the same heating output, though it certainly wouldn't have been as nicely adorned wi5h features that are expensive but in the end add nothing to the real goal...staying warm cheaply!

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I had the opportunity to use two of these units. I had an area of about 500 square feet to cover and thought that this would work well at supplementing the heat from electric baseboard heating.

This heater works a little different in that it does not really increase the temperature of spaces. It is designed to maintain the temperature in a room after you have getten it high enough using your main heat sources. They said to leave it on continuously for two days to bring all of the surfaces up to temperature and then turn down your main heat source about 10 degrees and let the heater maintain the temperature.

Unfortunately, the heater was not able to maintain the temperature very long at all and the unit remained on all of the time so I was burning through about 36KWH per day just for the iHeater in addition to the cost of running the electric baseboard heat which ran quite a bit as well. In my application, the energy costs were actually higher for me than they were before using the iHeater. In addition, the heat was very uneven across the area being covered. The unit does not blow that much air through it so it has a real limited coverage area, and that was on the 1500 square foot setting.

This might work in a very small room but not in any larger spaces. I had much greater hopes for this product than it was able to deliver on.

Honest reviews on iHeater 1500 SQ FT Infrared Heater

We recently had 2 of the 1500 model iHeaters bought for us as gifts from my parents. After getting them I looked at some of the reviews online and never really felt like I got very good information. At least I never saw anything written on how to actually use the heaters... I understood the concept -"your central heat doesn't turn on as much and therefore you save money". Made sense to me but what were the best settings to use? What should I expect? Etc...

Here's some background which should be useful:

This particular house I'm heating is a double-wide trailer, therefore it doesn't have Pella windows and isn't insulated like a brick & mortar home "should" be. We live in the mountains of Western NC. When we moved into this home the previous owner had just installed a brand new propane-powered central heating unit -it is NICE and it puts out the warmest heat I've felt from any central unit. The unit was so new that last winter was its first winter to actually be used. Last winter my parents were living with us, and as many people getting up in their years, they were both cold-blooded -so all winter they kept the thermostat at 72 degrees. 72 degrees meant that we paid somewhere around $500 every 6 weeks for propane! My parents moved out last spring and got us the 2 iHeaters to try this winter -paying $500 every 6 weeks for propane (excluding any electric bills) seemed ridiculous! I guess they figured that anything could help and nothing could hurt, so why not an iHeater (or 2).

Open the Box, Read the Directions:

At first the iHeaters seemed nothing more than "Ok". I got them when it was still warm outside and I was undoubtedly prejudging them. Mine are the fake wood models which I didn't find all that aesthetically pleasing. They didn't seem to put on a very "warm" heat in comparison to a ceramic heater. I needed to remember that the iHeater wasn't a ceramic heater and was actually meant to save money, which the hot-heat of a ceramic does not do. I thought the remote was cool and the back lighting looked good. I have 2 young children and these seemed very safe, which is important. I liked the fact the iHeaters are on rollers. For some reason I really like the oversized power button on the back of the unit. I needed to hold off on most of my judgments until I got them into action during the winter.

As I stated above, I didn't really know how to set them or what to expect. The directions that come with the iHeaters are no help. As an example, one of the iHeater settings says: "Small Room/Medium Room/Large Room". The only thing the directions tell you about these settings is that they are on the unit and can be controlled by the remote... What do they actually do? What is considered a small room and what is considered a large room? You have to find that out on your own I suppose. I honestly still don't exactly know what these buttons are for. I don't know if changing the room size setting changes the angle of the heat exiting the iHeater. I thought changing the room size setting might change the fan speed, but the best I can tell, it doesn't. Perhaps it somehow changes the fan setting or heat setting to use less electricity? I just have no idea...

One of the 2 iHeater units that we got has an extremely loud fan (in comparison to the other model 1500) and will have to be sent back to be fixed before the 1-year warranty runs out. If I didn't know how quiet the other unit was I would think it is normal (meaning it is not unbearable or anything). The unit that has the quiet fan is extremely quiet -you can hardly tell it is running. I returned my warranty cards and registered online with iHeater as soon as I got the unit out and realized how loud the fan was in comparison to the other unit. The faulty fan allowed me the opportunity to call iHeater and speak with their customer service. The young lady I spoke with had no accent and sounded young. Since it had been over a month since I registered the warranty she was able to pull up my information from their system easily. I have to admit that I was not very impressed with iHeaters customer service representative, at all, but between her coughing and gagging into her headset (and my ear!), she gave me the information I needed. It definitely seemed like talking to me on the phone was the last thing on her mind. It was almost comical how disinterested she was. I literally thought of the Discovery card "This is Peggy" commercial. Heh.

FIY: iHeater simply told me to box the unit back up and ship it to their Indianapolis, Indiana facility. They had pretty specific directions about how to box and ship the unit. I was told that I would have to pay to ship it to them and they would either fix it or replace it and get it back to me. I have since decided that I would keep the loud-fanned unit for this winter before sending it back. I simply am saving too much money to lose it for no telling how long (in the middle of winter).

Winter is Here! Running the IHeater:

One of the keys to using the iHeater is finding the right thermostat level between your central heat thermostat and your iHeater thermostat settings (the sweet spot). We found that if the central heat is set at 68 degrees the iHeaters (2 running at the same time in different parts of the house) will put out enough heat that our central heat will not kick on AT ALL, all night long. Sometimes the central heat will kick on 3 or 4 times first thing in the morning, but that's it. This example is when the outside temperature daytime highs are around 32 degrees Fahrenheit and the nighttime lows are from 10 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

Again, we have 2 iHeaters so we had to find the right thermostat level for EACH iHeater unit. One is set at 77 degrees and one is set at 72 degrees. With the discrepancy in settings between units this may mean that one of them is giving a faulty thermostat reading -not sure. There is also a big difference between the iHeater thermostat and the central heat thermostat -not sure why? At any rate, with these settings (77 & 72) both units will kick on and off if the daytime highs are in the high 30s and above. If the daytime highs outside are in the low 30s, both units will pretty much run all day long; however, the central heat thermostat level will not fall below 68 degrees and therefore the central heat unit will not engage, at all. The iHeaters are heating the entire house on their own to 68 degrees.

If my central heat's thermostat is set on 69 degrees the central heat will still turn on and off all night long. I'm not sure if the central heat runs as often, or not; however, I can for certain say that it runs on multiple times each hour. Again, while running the iHeaters the central heating unit does not turn on at all, but there is a big difference with the central heat between what happens at 68 degrees verses what happens at 69 degrees. 68 degrees is the "sweet spot" that you want to look for if you have an iHeater -the temperature where your central unit does not cycle. I submit that if I had better insulation and windows the "sweet spot" would be 70 or above. I would expect that the cost savings would greatly increase, too.

As winter approached I paid close attention to my electric bills and to my propane level. The propane tank started the winter in October at 41% full. At the beginning of December (after 2 months of weather cold enough to use the central heat, and one month of weather cold enough to use the central heat all day long every day) the propane reading was 37% full. So I only used 4% of the propane in the tank during October and November. Our usual "summer" electric bill was around $100 per month. Our November electric bill was $160. Obviously the iHeaters used quite a bit of electricity ($30 a day to be exact); however, the enormous savings in propane easily offset any electric costs (I really need the electric bills from last November -my guess is that the bill was close to $150 just powering the central heating unit). I suspect that the electric bill will go up substantially in December since the iHeaters are running more often. As I mentioned, when the outside temperatures are at or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit all day long, the iHeaters pretty much run all day, nonstop.

We are more than happy with the cost savings, so far. I feel that if I had better windows, doors and better insulation I could save much more money, but I'm not going to fault iHeater for the construction practices of trailer manufacturers. I figure you know something is good when directly out of the box it is not running like it should -which leads you to find out that the customer service is laughable -not only do those things not bother you, but you wouldn't give the item up for the world because you are saving so much money by using it!

Sam

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Lat year, I bought the i-heater for the first floor of my house, to cut down on fuel costs. It lowered my oil bills considerably, and did not significantly raise my electric bill. It was quiet, easily portable, and heated about 1500 sq feet rather well, considering that I have several rooms coming off a central hallway,and not one large open space.It heated all the rooms evenly, without drying the air and without hot and cold spots.

This winter I put it in the basement, which has no heat, after my pipes froze leading to the bathrooms on the second floor. Since it has been running, I have had no further problems with the plumbing.

An electric heat pump warms the second floor, but in 10-20 degree weather, it has been working very hard, almost constantly since my oil furnace shut down this past week.When the i-heater is on, the heat pump almost never kicks on.

Because of this, I am ordering another i-heater for the first floor and another for another property where the electric bill was about $800. this past month. I know that this heater will help lower that cost considerably.

I have paid almost $2,000. in oil bills so far this winter. I intend to use the i-heaters (2) to eliminate that cost entirely.

Like someone else, I only gave it a four rating because it does not run on a dollar a day, but since it will save me at least 100-500 per month in heating costs, I think that anyone would agree that it is an almost indispensable purchase.

Given that my furnace shut off on Friday afternoon during a snow storm in weather in the teens, it was, as I said, a life saver that weekend.

By the way, I have a neighbor whose furnace broke down and needed it replaced. I lent her mine for a couple of weeks and it kept her house warm until she could get that done. It is amazing that such a small machine can do such a good job.

If you want a hot room, this machine is not for you, but if you want a less expensive, portable and reliable heating source, I don't know of anything better.

Reviews of DryGuy Wide-Body Boot and Glove Dryer

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List Price: $89.95
Sale Price: $74.99
Today's Bonus: 17% Off

I bought two of these Dry Guy Boot Dryers and have been very happy with their performance. I play a lot of sports, and in the summer especially my shoes become drenched with sweat. Without a dryer it would take several days for my shoes to dry completely, and as a result I was always playing in wet stinky shoes -even though I was rotating 3 or 4 pairs (I play a lot!). Now after I get off the court I stick them on the Boot Dryer and after 3 6 hours they are usually totally dry, and ready for my next game. I can't imagine how I got by without a dryer before. I do have a few suggestions for changes that would make this a 5 star product. First, the timer has a max setting of around 3 hours. For damp shoes this is okay, but for soaked shoes, like mine usually get, 3 hours is not enough time, so I find myself having to reset the timer to get them completely dry. It is a bit of a hassle, especially at night when I am not awake to reset the timer. A simple on/off switch would be a great help. Or a moisture sensor of some kind. My second suggestion would be to make the unit a little bit bigger. I have size 13 shoes and it is hard to get two pairs onto the dryer in such a way that the heel part of the shoe is dried quickly. Otherwise, this is a great product and I usually have two of them going on any given day. I would certainly recommend it!

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Update: 5 years later 2013 Everything I said before. DryGuy is still going strong. Kids are older now, but now after going in the snow they put their own boots and gloves on it. The waterproof gloves that you can't get the inside dry using the dryer, this also works well on those too. The dry guy is simply that appliance you never knew you needed. Awesome!

Feb 2008 Review:

I have two kids 5 & 7 in New England. After we had our January thaw I knew I needed to do something. Both my kids have two pairs of snow boots that are "mostly" water proof, except when it comes to total submersion in puddles. After a few days of thaw both sets of boots were wet. And since they are mostly water proof I couldn't dry them out overnight, and that was even after letting them sit on the radiator. The next step was to break out a hair dryer and that sort of worked except my Sons boots really stunk. Pew And that still didn't do it because I wasn't willing to put in the hour or so that I would have needed. My experience with water proof gloves and the dryer told me that wouldn't work either because the outside dries, but the fingers remain wet.

I looked at local sporting good stores and they had a few different kinds of boot dryers. One for campers that uses propane and another convection one. Overall junk.

I finally decided on the DryGuy because it had good reviews. The one I ordered from Amazon was the standard body though I was looking for the wide body, but to my pleasant surprise the wide body your millage may very.

Once I unpacked it I was surprised that it was so small. It looked about two times larger in the picture my mind had painted. I set it up and put it on top of the dryer next to the washing machine so it would be out of the way and have a close power cord. Then I waited for another thaw as my wife made fun of me for spending so much.

The thaw came except this time we never ran out of boots. I never had two wet at any one time. My son came in with boots that were literally dripping wet from the inside. A little over two hours later for excessively wet boots and they were dry again. This thing rocks!!! One morning before school I noticed that no one had dried the boots. I stuck them on the DryGuy and went about getting everyone ready. Right before school toasty dry boots. By the way, the stink is gone as well. I'm sure that was from never getting them dry enough or taking too long to dry them in the past.

My wife has also been convinced. She was skeptical, but has been very impressed. Two things have changed for us with the DryGuy.

1. We don't keep a drying rack anymore for gloves and mittens. Stick one pair of wet gloves on with a pair of boots. It works excellent on gloves.

2. We will only need to buy one pair of better quality boots next season, since we had to buy two just to have a spare. We will eventually pay for the DryGuy in boot and glove savings. Ditto with not needing three pairs of gloves.

I have not used other boot dryers, but I'm sure this is the Cadillac of boot dryers after using it. It has literally just become and appliance for us. Meaning we don't think about it or question how well it works. It simply works.

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I've used the DryGuy for about a month to dry my surfing booties that always seemed to smell like week old road kill. I first tried a shoe dryer that does not have a fan but works by convection and that seemed to create the perfect environment for stinky bacteria. So far, DryGuy has worked great though I can't find my booties by smell any more. One caveat though, the heater is not so strong that it will dry your booties quickly in a cold garage so it is much more effective if used indoors.

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My husband and son took this DryGuy on a recent snowboarding trip, and both came home raving about it. Great for wet gloves OR for snowboarding boots. That's why I chose this model, in fact. Some dryers can only be used on boots. We wanted something that could dry both.

My only recommendation is that if you need it for more than 4 or 5 people, you probably want to get the DryGuy model that can dry more equipment at the same time to avoid switching them out constantly.

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We use the DryGuy Boot Dryer nearly every day. Although it is a little spendy it works great for drying boots, shoes, gloves and other things. It would be even better if it was a little heavier so that it wouldn't require careful balancing of heavy boots to prevent it from toppling over and if it had air vents further down on the drying posts for more thorough drying of items open at the top (like knee braces). And while most items dried just fine in three hours using the heat setting, it would be nice if it had an "on" setting for things needing a longer drying time (such as when drying thick items without heat).

Buy World Marketing KW-11F 10,000 BTU Radiant Heat Indoor Kerosene

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List Price: $149.95
Sale Price: $134.99
Today's Bonus: 10% Off

I've used one of these for about 3 fill-ups now: about 36 hours of use. (I don't think it will ever be 16 hours on 1 gallon, but 12 is fine by me.)

It's flawless. It smells a very little bit at start-up and shut-down, but while it's running it's essentially odorless. And perfectly quiet (a very soft gurgle once every ten minutes or so when it needs to sip some fuel into some internal tank) -and it puts out a lot of heat.

I have a room that's maybe 300 square feet with 5 big windows. On a cold night (close to 0 degrees F.) this thing can warm up that room by 2 or 3 degrees in 10 minutes, and maybe by 8 or 9 degrees in an hour. If you sit across the room and it's pointed straight at you, you can feel it right away.

It easy to fill up. There's a cannister that you carry outside (garage) and fill from your kerosene container with a hand-powered siphon. Worked the first time. This may not work if your outdoor kerosene container is too low, but then you can just use a funnel. The cannister stands up nicely by itself for filling, on a level surface (like a garage floor).

There's a little window on the cannister that lets you see when it's almost empty during use -and when it's almost full during fill-up.

When you want to turn it off, you press the "extinguish" button -the big knob in the middle winds rapidly counterclockwise -makes a loud noise -and the flame usually goes out immediately. Sometimes it may gutter for 30 secs or so before completely going out.

At start-up time the flame gutters a little for maybe 60 secs before the combustor starts to glow red, then the flame stabilizes and becomes perfectly quiet. You can't really see a flame except a little bit of blue -maybe a quarter inch at the very top of the combustor.

It's very easy to start up using the little battery starter device -you just push a red button, hold it for a second, then slowly release. I've done maybe 20 starts so far on one pair of batteries. You can start it with a match instead if you want to (or have to.) But the battery-powered starter is nice.

The back and the top and sides of the unit stay COOL TO THE TOUCH after an hour of use. Probably indefinitely.

This gadget is an example of a perfect combination of high-tech (the way the combustion works) and low-tech (it's .... kerosene, after all.)

There aren't many things this good. Cast iron pans, maybe? And ... um ... windmills that really work ? I don't know.

I don't see how I could ask this thing to be any better.

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I've been using kerosene heaters for about 25 years now and really like them. I picked this unit up at a local Tru-Value because my old Kero Sun was malfunctioning. My first impression of this product is it's well put together. It looks well designed and feels solid. I prefer the square units over the round ones as the square units have removable fuel tanks and thus are more convenient to refuel. This unit also has a few nice touches like a little lip on the fuel tank handle which makes it a bit easier to remove. Another nice touch is a cover for the batteries. This is the first time I've seen this on a kerosene heater. This helps resist battery corrosion.

I've used kerosene heaters for two purposes; to lower my heating bills and to have a backup source of heat during power outages. I use my main furnace to heat the house up to my desired temperature. I start the kerosene heater up at the same time and position it below a ceiling fan turning clockwise. Once the house is warmed up, the furnace cuts out and the kerosene heater keeps the house warm for the rest of the day. If your house is reasonably insulated, this should work for you as well. If it's really cold, like in the single digits or below, your furnace will kick on but a lot less frequently. I figure for every dollar I spend on kerosene I save three on my heating bill. I haven't had an energy bill over $200 and I have a 1700 square foot house. At this writing, kerosene is about $3.00 per gallon. Even leaving the unit on 16 hours a day, I spend about $60.00 per month on kerosene in the coldest months.

Kerosene heaters do require regular maintenance. If you don't clean the wick, you could be harmed by fumes emitted by a dirty wick causing the fuel to not completely burn. It's very simple. It's called dry burning. Place the unit in a well ventilated place, preferably outside. Remove the tank and put the wick in the ignite position. Light the unit and let it run dry. Once the flame is out, take an old toothbrush and brush the burned carbon off the wick then thoroughly vacuum the unit. Then put a new tank of fuel in and you're done. If you perform this maintenance for every five gallons of kerosene used, which should be once a week, you'll be fine. The unit should be fully cleaned and serviced once a year by a professional or by you if you know what you're doing.

For a little effort and common sense, you will save hundreds of dollars every heating season. The unit will pay for itself in just a few months.

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I am going on my third season with this heater and it is serving me well. My parents always used a kerosene heater and now I use one myself. They are really great...don't let propaganists try to tell you they are "death traps." I have a 1200 sq ft row house built in 1949 and frequently use my kerosene heater all winter long to take some stress off my heating bill.

It sounds like some of the other reviewers were not using the correct fuel. You should use UNDYED, clear 1-K Kerosene. Do not use kerosene that is dyed red (the IRS requires kerosene sold for certain purposes to be dyed). I tried this dyed kero once and it wreaked havok on my wick...the wick gets all gummed up with residue so it will no longer raise and retract after just a few gallons. This is just another way that the government screws up our lives.

With the correct fuel, this heater produces beautiful, radiant heat. It is very cosy, and like having a little fireplace in the room. Cats and dogs love to sleep in front of it. You do have to be a little bit of a "hands on" person to manage a kerosene heater, but it is well worth the little amount of work.

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I bought this heater to suppliment our oil furnace so I didn't have to heat the whole house. It works good as far as heat out put goes, easily heating 400 square feet of space. There isn't any kind of heat adjustment on it, other than to keep the wick burning at an optimum flame. There were times I wished I could turn it down a notch. I liked the fact you could remove the tank for filling, but the directions say to shut the heater off before doing so, so you can't expect to keep it running for extended periods of time. On one such fill up, I apparently didn't get the tank seated correctly, even though the top door did close correctly. The wick started going out and really stunk the place up. The heater does need to be lit and extinguished outside, which means carrying it very carefully so as to not trip the automatic shut off. In doing so, the wall guard which I still haven't figured out the reason for, tends to get in the way. The weight is also off centered with the tank being on one end. The heater isn't real heavy. You just have to compensate for most of the weight being on one end so you carry it level. The heater does need to be elevated at least a foot off the floor if you are using it on anything other than bare concrete, because it does tend to get very warm for about two feet in front of it. Fortunately, the bottom, sides, and top stay cool, so it can be set on most anything that is stable. If it were not for the having to light it, extinguish it, and let it burn outside for at least 5 minutes until the odor dissipates, I would give it more stars. It is probably just the nature of the beast and not a fault of the heater. I didn't have any other trouble with it, and it worked as advertised. I would say that it is a good heater to use in an emergency, but not one for ongoing suplimental heat.

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I bought this kerosene heater at local hardware store, not Amazon, but I own the same model. I have to say it was worth the $150. I had a big 'ol 100 year old home south of Buffalo, NY and this did a nice job of keeping it warm. I did leave the windows open a crack for fumes, but we didn't have central air so that didn't affect the furnace. My ignition button was "not firm" I want to say...can't think of how to describe it...but we are really rough on things. I don't think I used it but once..always lit the wick with a match and never had any problems. Like the other's say, to fill it, you have a one gallon rectangle tank you pull out, I go out on the porch to fill it up, then you cap it and just slide it back on in. It has a fuel gauge but I found that hard to see. I never had any other kerosene heater so I can't really compare it to anything. But, it does heat up well and that was its purpose. Oh, and I think it has an automatic shut off so if it gets tipped or something the wick gets extinguished which is very handy and always worked for us. (Look into that though...I used this a couple years ago.) And like the other reviewer, I think I got 12 hours on 1 gallon pretty sure I filled it up once in the morning then once at night. So, $6 a day just over $180 a month for heat if nothing else is used (we had a pellet stove too though). But I would DEFINITELY not recommend this for people with allergies or lung issues, or anyone that doesn't have common sense when it comes to fire. (Don't point it directly towards a couch, tablecloth, etc. cause it WILL get HOT! This product is worth the $150.