Best Total Chef TCFD-05 Deluxe 5-Tray Food Dehydrator Deals

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Enjoyed using this magic chef dehydrator for many years to dehydrate, fruit, vegetables and meat perfectly for backpacking meals, but even with rotation of trays and careful cleaning, over time and with repeated usage the trays will begin to warp and crack. Dehydrator tends to have hot spots, plus plastic dehydrator trays and liners absorb tomato-based products causing them to be permanently stained. Replacement trays are no where to be found so will have to buy a new dehydrator.

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This dehydrator works very well. You must be home to rotate the trays both in stacked positions and location on the base. One spot seems to be hotter than the rest so must rotate about a quarter of a turn every 2 hours. Once you figure this out works good.

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Yes indeed this 1 is the one! It works well beyond what I need and I use this 2x a week to make chicken jerky for my Yorkies. The heat and fan coming from the bottom is the key. The 1 I had before this was a top heat and it started on fire. I kid you not, talk about scary. It has not increased my electric bill running for 6-8 hours at a time either. They say not to put the trays in the dishwasher, but I do on the light setting top rack only for trying to hand clean in between the small grooves even after soaking in hot water, does not work and get all the residue off. That is the only drawback. If I were to do fruits and veggies would not be a big deal to me, but I do chicken , so need to have it super clean. I highly recommend this one for its' quality design with how it dehydrates.

Karla Z

Clawson, MI

Honest reviews on Total Chef TCFD-05 Deluxe 5-Tray Food Dehydrator

Bought one of these before and I just loved it. I used the heck out of it so I bought 2 more. I love it.

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I have been wanting one of these forever. Kids love it too, we do this for family time trying to come up with more ideas.

Discount Comfort Zone® Citadel Oscillating Ceramic Tower Heater/Fan CZ488

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List Price: $48.99
Sale Price: $34.99
Today's Bonus: 29% Off

This is actually my first time writing a review for any purchase I've ever made online and I frequently shop online; I felt compelled to put my feedback and stamp of approval on this product. For the price this is a great deal.

First and foremost: I did a lot of research and browsing both on and off of Amazon to find out safety concerns regarding space heaters. As many of you may see if you've been browsing other units, people complain that some units become very hot, as well as their plugs/cords, and that they pose a fire hazard. For this reason I did my research and not only does this unit have a tilt shut off (unit needs to be flat on the ground, if lifted it will auto shut) it also has a feature that if it overheats the unit will also shut off. These are both great features, I'm all about safety first.

Aside from these features, the heater works great for me. As others say, the fan is a bit weak, but this also makes the unit extremely quiet. Regardless of the fan being weak, this little unit does a great job of heating a medium sized bedroom. Set it on high, after about 30 minutes you feel a noticeable difference; walk away for an hour or two and the area will be very warm. Get the area you want to the right temp and set it on low and this unit will do a good job of maintaining the heat. After about 6 hours of use I was still able to touch the front grill of the unit and it was hot but not enough to burn me. Turn the fan setting on and the grill will be completely cool to the touch in under a minute. Also the cord and plug are both well insulated and have never even felt warm after hours of use.

On top of all this, I think not only is the unit being quiet and working well very attractive, but I also really like that there is no element that heats up orange on this unit. So not only is it quiet, but it is also not emitting disturbing light.

All in all I am very pleased with this unit. It serves my purposes quite well, it was a reasonable price, and the safety features make this unit a complete winner in my book. Do yourself a favor, spend a few extra dollars whether on this heater or a different one and make sure you get the safety features, its well worth it to have the piece of mind; protect yourself and the ones you love.

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This heater was exactly what I was looking for. It's small, easy to use and quickly heats up my fairly-large family room. The room is build on a slab, so it is drafty and cold. This does the trick. In fact, if I leave it on for a couple of hours, it heats the entire first floor of my colonial house. I highly recommend it!

Best Deals on Comfort Zone® Citadel Oscillating Ceramic Tower Heater/Fan CZ488

It can increae the temperature in our large family room by 2 degres in an hour. Liked it so much I bought a second one! Prompt delivery.

Honest reviews on Comfort Zone® Citadel Oscillating Ceramic Tower Heater/Fan CZ488

I live in a very old house with a poorly functioning heater. I live in Kansas and we have wickedly harsh winds that rip through the shoddy windows very swiftly. My room maintained a temp of about 40 degrees when it's below freezing outside.

I have this space heater in my room which is approx 12x9ft.

First night I plugged it in on high, had to get up two hours later because I was sweltering hot. I typically only turn it on after dark when it gets very cold outside and when I do I only need it on the low setting.

The safety feature I love a great deal is that if it's not completely level flat on its base it turns it's heating, rotating and fan elements off. You hear a click if you try to scoot it and trigger it. This does not require you to turn the knob to get it going again, just place it back on a level surface.

A GREAT buy, similar items are twice the cost at department stores. I am extremely pleased.

Hope this review helped!

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I bought this heater because I own a programmable thermostat (WIN100 Heating & Cooling Programmable Outlet Thermostat) that works with analog heat/AC devices. (Basically, you plug your analog heater/AC unit into it, and when the temp gets to a certain level, it activates the plug, starting the heater/AC.) My plan was to use the two devices together to heat only the bedroom in our apartment at night, rather than the entire apartment (since we only need the bedroom to be warm at night and would theoretically save energy/money that way). Why not just purchase a digital heater with a built-in thermostat, you ask? I already had the programmable thermostat, so I wanted to give it a shot. Anyway, this heater ended up working well for that purpose, but it almost didn't and required far too much user intervention (see below).

When I first started using the heater, I found that it would intermittently rattle; it sounded like a miniature jackhammer (very miniature, but a jackhammer nonetheless). The sound was loud/annoying enough that my wife and I had trouble sleeping when it occurred. I later opened the heater up (obviously not recommended, but at least I unplugged it first) and looked around for the source of the rattling. I'm still not sure exactly what it was, but I discovered that if I tugged slightly on part of the plastic housing that surrounds the fan, the rattling stopped. So I drilled a hole in it, anchored it with a cable tie and closed it back up. Now the heater is as quiet as it should be (about as quiet as a regular oscillating fan that's on "low"), but it certainly took some effort. Again, I don't know if this is a common problem or if I just got a weird one. In summary...

Pros:

-is relatively quiet when working properly (about as quiet as a regular oscillating fan on "low"; I'm a light sleeper and I can sleep through it quite easily) (note that there is no difference between the "low" and "high" modes sound-wise)

-puts out plenty of heat, in my opinion, for a small-to-medium-size room (may not work well for large/open rooms; haven't tried that)

-oscillates nicely, and the oscillation itself appears to be dead silent (you still hear the fan, obviously, but the oscillating doesn't add any noise compared to when it's not oscillating)

-low/high heat option is a good feature

-works with analog-heater/AC programmable thermostats

-in theory, it never gets hot enough to start a fire (my understanding is that this is a safety feature common to all ceramic-element heaters); briefly touching it during use is encouraging (it feels fairly hot, but not hot enough to start a fire)

Cons:

-mine rattled loudly enough to disturb sleep before I fixed it (and fixing it wasn't easy); might have been a fluke

Notes:

-feels somewhat cheaply constructed (it's about what you would expect from a little, inexpensive space heater)

-relatively small; might not work very well for heating a large and/or open room (not sure)

-the fan is fairly low-power (again, much like a regular oscillating fan on "low"); don't expect it to blow very far

Review of Mr. Heater 20,000 BTU Propane Blue Flame Vent Free Heater

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $284.58
Sale Price: $255.76
Today's Bonus: 10% Off

We bought this item originally as an inexpensive, alternative heat source in the Winter, when we can lose electricity for hours, even days, when a bad storm rolls through.

It quickly became our main heat source -as unlike the two, 15,000 btu, electric space heaters we'd been using -this can heat a cold room within 30 minutes. And, all by itself, heats the entire house better than those two other heaters running together. And we only once turned it to the third setting. It usually stays on 1.

To clarify, we live in a very small space: 750 square feet in a very old, single-wide, with windows that no longer seal well. The weather here is moderately cold -we drop into the teens rarely, but stay solidly in the mid 20s-early 30s at night in winter. Days stay in the 30s. With the exception of if we have one of those storms, then all bets are off.

We ran this, with a little supplementary electrical heat during the day -I suspect if we'd got the 30,000 btu one, it would have heated the house completely, even on the colder days.

We don't run it at night, as it's in the living room. And because we're a little chicken of running propane when we sleep. But, in the morning, it brings the room quickly back to toasty -never more than 30 mins.

We installed it ourselves -with a bit of help from my uncle. Runs with two 50 lb=10 gal tanks. One tank lasts just about a week in the colder weather, and costs $24 to fill. So it's only a hundred a month -half what our heating bill was last year.

Last year, even with 3, electric, 15,000 btu heaters running, the house was never as toasty warm as it is with this propane heater.

Only note: If you use the tanks, only turn the knob slightly on. We found it eats through propane quicker if turned fully on. But has no apparent ill effect if the tank is only barely turned on.

And?

The blue flames are just lovely. :)

Highly recommended!

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This has been a good little heater for me so far, I am using to heat a fish house. I'm not sure about the review stating that it need to be professionally installed though, to connect it to a 20 lbs cylinder (BBQ tank) you need buy a separate house with a regulator. It is available through Mr. Heater, part # F273072 (12' Propane Hose/Regulator Assembly), I purchased this at my local hardware store.

My only complaint on this heater is that the built in fan doesn't move any air. I'm not even sure why they put it in there, because it really doesn't do anything. I just bought a separate fan to circulate the air and have been pleased with it.

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I recently installed this unit in my two car attached garage. I ran black pipe through the wall and attached it to a 20lb LP tank from my grill until I can get a bigger tank. The unit puts out good heat. It comes on at full so dont think you can adjust the output. But what it does do is bring the room up to temp then cycle off per the thermostat. Has some odor but I think that will disapate as it ages and burns off any newness. Battery operated ignition works very well. The only fault I find is the fan. It appears big enough but does not move a lot of air, design flaw perhaps. What it does do well is cycle on and off on it's own if you put it on the auto setting, good feature. I have not had it long enough to determin the gas usage, have my fingers crossed on that one. Overall I am very pleased as it out performs my electric ceiling mounted heater as well as a 23000 btu kerosene heater.

Honest reviews on Mr. Heater 20,000 BTU Propane Blue Flame Vent Free Heater

I have one of these heaters that I bought locally. If you want to connect it to a BBQ type jug you have to buy a hose and regulator. This is no big deal and anyone that has ever turned a wrench can hook this up.

Puts out lots of heat! I'm very happy with mine.

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We are full-time rver's. Had a Glo Warm 10k propane heater for 14 years in our old 33 1/2' 5th wheel trailer. Worked great. Bought a new 38 1/2' 5th wheel. The old heater just didn't provide enough heat in sub-freezing weather. This Mr Heater 20k is great. Heats the whole place to comfortable very quickly. The fan is adequate (old heater didn't have a fan, so hard to compare). Best product for the priceMr. Heater 20,000 BTU Propane Blue Flame Vent Free Heater #VF20KBLUELP

Zojirushi CD-WBC40 Micom 4-Liter Electric Water Boiler and Warmer Review

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List Price: $159.00
Sale Price: $112.81
Today's Bonus: 29% Off

Who spends money on fancy water heaters? People who like to have fine control over the brewing of their tea. Also, probably some folks who like to have unusual gadgets so they can rub it in the faces of those who are less awesome, but for the sake of this review let's pretend you're not one of those people.

This particular Zojirushi holds enough water for 2-3 people to drink throughout the day. It boils the water first -this takes about 15-20 minutes -and then allows it to cool to one of four "keep warm" temperatures. The "keep warm" presets of 208, 195, 175, and 140 are perfect for most kinds of tea, cup o' noodles, baby bottles, and various kinds of water torture on intrusive guests.

The magnetic break-away cord is a fantastic feature that demonstrates Zojirushi's attention to detail. When your mother decides to rearrange your kitchen without warning, you can rest assured that the Zojirushi will be safe from electrical mishaps. Don't ask how I know this.

Other safety features include an automatic shut-down when it runs out of water, a dispenser that will not dispense until you "unlock" it by pressing a button, and a "steam-save" design that limits the amount of steam being vomited into your kitchen. This last feature is especially nice for those of us with wall cabinets extending over the counter. I like to steam my food on the stove, not while it's in storage, thanks.

This device is so simple to use that even my husband can do it. That said, due to the charming Engrish in the instruction book, at first I was under the impression that the timer existed to shut down the machine. I realized later that either my math skills were terrible, or in reality the timer was designed to start it up. Ignore the fact that I ended that sentence with a preposition. The point still stands. The good news is that having a timed start-up is more useful to me than a timed shut-down, so for once I was glad to discover further evidence that I am an idiot.

I had one concern prior to purchase. Would teapots fit under the dispenser? I am pleased to report that they can, despite the best efforts of the Zojirushi photographers to make it look like the spout is designed to work with cups alone. If you have an epic teapot that serves 300, you might have a problem getting it up under there. But a normal pot? Rock on.

This little device is now my favorite appliance next to the washing machine. Because as much as I love tea, I like clean underwear better.

--

Note: Confused about which Zojirushi water heater to purchase? Check the comparison chart! Amazon links to this chart in the Product Details section of the description, but the average person manages to miss it. It's like a ninja, but with fewer pointy edges.

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Update 1: It's now been over a year since I got my Zojirushi, and I am pleased to report that it still works like it's new. I have cleaned it twice with Zojirushi's cleaner -sold in packets here on Amazon -despite it never really looking like it needed cleaning at all. I did it simply because the company recommended it. I'm a follower like that. The Zojirushi has survived a move, three extreme power surges, and a switch to mineral-heavy tap water. I'm starting to wish Zojirushi had made my own body. I mean, think of the time I could save if I only had to be cleaned up twice a year! And I didn't survive the move in nearly as good a condition. Tsk. At least I'm not old enough for power surges yet.

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Update 2: And now we're going on 2.5 years of ownership. It's survived a second move, as well as an unfortunate mishap that left its inner container discolored orange. No, you may not have the hilarious but humiliating details. The official cleaning packets I mentioned in my previous update saved the day, so it's good as new again. (Use the keywords "ZOJIRUSHI INNER CONTAINER CLEANER" here on Amazon to find a box of the packets. You only need one packet per cleaning job.) I'm pleased to report that over the years the Zojirushi has not slowed down, started making odd noises, or in any other way complained. Best $125 ever spent, outside that marriage license thing. I think.

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Positive reviews are 100% correct regarding this product. We can't live without it. I do have one thing to say, though. Since it is not a thermal pot, it uses approx 90 watts to maintain a constant water temperature. I bought an International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor here on Amazon and this was the first product that I measured. My plugged in laptop only generated 40 watts of power....half of what this pot generates in standby mode. It comes in at 731 watts to boil water (my toaster takes 457 watts). We use the timer feature at night, but keep it on all day. So, figuring 16 hours of standby use and throwing in an average of three boils a day, we figure that it costs approx $12-15 per month to operate. We COULD take it off standby mode when not in use, but then it takes longer to boil....catch 22.

Bottom line? The product is so darn good at what it does, that we are willing to forgive the energy consumption cost.

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I'm a big green tea drinker. I was stuck with microwaving my water and trying to guess the temperature. This usually ended up with me getting either lukewarm tea or yellow, disgusting tea. I now do not have that problem with this neat little contraption!

The inside is stainless steel with a Teflon-like coating. There will be a plastic smell the first time you use it and I'm guessing it's coming from the spout, but don't worry. After draining it a few times (I had to dump out 5 liters of hot water), the smell will go away. I was a little bit worried about the Teflon, since I am not a big fan of eating the stuff, but there's no reason for you to ever even put your hand inside this thing as you're supposed to dump some citric acid in it and let it clean itself. No scratches, no problem. The coating is there to keep mineral buildup from occurring.

The water level indicator is super cool on this thing and it will tell you how much water is in the pot or if you need to refill it. There's a timer so that you can set it for six to ten hours later, which is handy if you want to wake up and use it. It doesn't take long to boil at all -usually something along the lines of 30 minutes. It does, however, take a long time to cool down to the lower temperatures, so if you're using this for green tea, you may want to set it to boil six hours after you go to sleep instead of eight or ten.

It swivels, so you can angle it so the steam isn't pointed at your cabinets while it's on. It will shut off automatically if there's no water in the pot and it has a few nice features such as lowering the temperature before boiling so there's less steam coming out of it. It's a handy little product and I totally recommend getting the larger sized ones because once you have it, you'll use it a lot more than you think you will.

Honest reviews on Zojirushi CD-WBC40 Micom 4-Liter Electric Water Boiler and Warmer

After much research looking for a perfect boiler for my husband and me, I came upon this one. With only a handful of reviews, I was a little reluctant to buy it. But the description was just what I was looking for. I was also reluctant because I thought it looked a funny shade of pink in the photo and wasn't crazy about that color. But I ordered it anyway, thinking I could return it if we didn't like it. Upon opening it Christmas morning, my husband filled it with water and plugged it in. We have been using it nonstop ever since! When the water level gets low, we just refill it, let it reheat, and have another 4 liters of hot water in just a few minutes. We keep it plugged in day and night so the water is always ready! Love it!

The magnetic plug is so convenient. It just pops on. No pushing at all. Also, the unit swivels too which is kinda cool. The color is nothing like the picture shows. It's more of a beige and cream. Very attractive. The dispenser is up high so you can put a very large mug underneath. Very convenient! There is a window on the front so you can watch the water level and fill when running low. There are three temp settings: 175, 195, and 208. The other thing I really like is the unlock feature. You have to push the unlock button before you can dispense the hot water. Very smart for households with small children who could burn themselves with the water. Another cute feature is the melody it plays when the water has heated up (whenever you fill it). It also has a timer so if you don't want to leave it plugged in overnight, you can set the timer and it will heat your water in the morning so it's ready when you get up. We use it for tea, oatmeal, instant coffee, hot chocolate, grits, etc. VERY VERY CONVENIENT!!! We love this machine! Not one negative complaint!

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I purchased the CDWBC40 (4 liter) version. I searched for a boiler that would stand at a preset temperature. This boiler handles that.

The fit and finish is pleasing, and I do not detect any hint of plastic taste--which I have detected in a few other boilers and coffee makers. I have used it for drip coffee and press coffee on both the 208 and 195 F settings. I like the flavor at 195 better than at 208. I use light-medium roast coffee, I think the higher temp would be fine with a darker roast.

There are a few things buyers should know which I have not seen in the reviews so far.

At least one reviewer said it took 15 minutes to reach a boil. With the unit filled with 4 liters of water, it took 35 minutes. Water from our tap is 72-75 F, and we are 1000+ above sea level. It took another 15 minutes to reduce the temperature to 195. The times increased to 45 minutes to boil and 60 minutes to reach 195 when we used filtered water from the refrigerator.

I fill the unit at night and plug it in so that I have hot water the next morning for coffee.

By the way the instructions are very clear about the time it takes to get your hot water to the correct standing temperature. They also recommend dispensing one cup before using the water as the temperature will be lower than the stand temperature--depending on the time the water has been standing. I found this to be accurate based on a digital probe thermometer. The first cup drawn was below 190; the second cup registered a bit under 195 (at the stand temperature set to 195).

I do not see any of this as being negatives for the product. It does seem to be counter to a few of the reviews on this site. With these types of products, I guess it is helpful to let users know what your ambient temperature, altitude, water temperature, and water volume is. I suppose it also would help to know the PPM of the water used. All of these affect boiling temperatures and time to boil.

Ambient room temp: 73 F

Water Temp: 74 F

Water particulates: 119 PPM

Altitude: 1023 ft above sea level

Barometric pressure: 29.9

The unit instructions state that it is able to change the standing temp at 208 to assure the unit does not continuously boil at higher altitudes. That does not apply at our relatively low altitude.

Discount Dura Heat DH2304 Convection Kerosene Heater, Portable, Indoor

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List Price: $220.80
Sale Price: $139.00
Today's Bonus: 37% Off

We purchased this heater from Home Depot. There are several sold under different names all in all the same unit.

We wanted to use this to preheat our family room and kitchen before the main heat kicked in when waking.

Follow the setup instructions to the letter using K-1 Kerosene there is barely a hint of Kerosene smell of any sort in the home.

We use it to pre-heat the areas above and just recently found the Klean Heat a orderless alternative to the K-1 Kerosene in four weeks of use I have not one complaint on the unit.

Home Depot carries the K-1 Kerosene at $36.00 for five gallons the Klean Heat is a bit expensive at $10.95 a gallon but last much longer than K-1 Kerosene and is completely orderless.

This unit is a winner in my book. Directions are easy to follow and definitely saves on our electricity bill. We are all electric it cost around $3.50 an hour for the electric heat strips in the fan coil on a call for heat and average around $4.50 for two days operation of the unit being used 2 hours in the morning and now 3-4 hours in the evening.

Wick maintenance is a cinch it is covered in the manual and searching on the model will take you to the distributor website it has photos and detailed instructions on wick changing.

Remember to use ONLY K-1 Kerosene in the heater for clean burns and Klean Heat for a complete orderless heat source.

Ventilate the home per the instructions while in use.

Always take the unit outside to light and extinguish due to the odor of unburned Kerosene being emitted from the unit on shutdown as well as initial 5 minute warm up when ignited.

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I wanted to use my garage as a woodworking shop. Dimensions are 12'W x 19'L x 9.5' H. It is lightly insulated and the door is leaky. I live in Northern VT. It was 8 degrees F outside Saturday and 15 degrees F in the garage. I have some cast iron in the garage such as the table saw and the chop saw. There are also some very large cupboards. These things really hold the cold.

I purchased this unit at Home Depot and 5 gallons of the HD 1-K. I fired the heater up in the garage. The garage temp went up about 1 degree F, each minute, for the first fifteen minutes. After the first half hour, it was up to 40. After the first hour 50. After 90 minutes it was up to 55. After two hours it was at 60. I found myself coughing a bit at this point. I opened the window about an inch. The room held about 62 degrees as I was working in shirtsleeves with the window open. This was a 58 degree variance between indoors and outdoors. I believe it would have gone higher but I completed my work and shut it down. It used about an 1/4 tank. Which is about a 2 quarts of fuel. The HD fuel works out to about $7.50 a gallon. So, I guess I used about $3.75 for 3 hours of heat. At $1.25/hr, I think that is about as economical an option you can hope for.

I had lit the unit in the garage. In retrospect, I would light it outside and let it burn for five minutes or so now before bringing it back inside. Those fumes might have caused my cough. It operates a bit like a diesel engine. It has to warm up before it becomes efficient.

I should mention that prior to buying this, I bought a propane unit at Lowes that boasted all over the box of being designed for indoor use. A Sales Associate there said he was going to get one himself. He responded to my propane/kerosene inquiry by stating that his frugal contractor friend swore by propane.

This particular propane unit was pricey, but my concern was safety, convenience, clean air, and heating capability. I also bought an extension hose, and a gas grill tank and propane. I was a couple of c-notes into it. I brought it all home and started hooking it up. Well, the directions and warnings all started to get to me. "Indoors", in propane speak, seems in this instance to quite literally mean inside a tent. And the directions explicitly state to not bring the big propane tank indoors. And it said not to leave the pricey little tanks hooked up and stored within the unit when kept indoors. I said "the heck with this" and returned it all. Kerosene may (or may not) give off an odor, but at worst, it is just flammable. It isn't an explosion hazard.

In that regard, I didn't think the kerosene gave off much of an odor. However, my wife happened to come out into the garage and said, "oh, it smells a bit, huh?". After I opened the window, I think it was totally unnoticeable. Opening a window an inch is recommended in the instructions, btw.

I am very happy with the purchase and thrilled to be able to use the garage in the winter. I think propane with a blower is probably the only way for a contractor to go. But in an enclosed, windless space, the gentle heat of kerosene is quite nice and economical.

Hope this helps.

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During the last snowstorm (am losing track of them these days) local power on this farm was out for almost 2 days. However, I was able to stay at least one night in this dark, cold house because of this great heater, which I put in the open doorway between 2 bedrooms. I ran it all night long, and into the next morning, and both bedrooms actually got 'too hot', until it finally ran out of fuel (Klean-Heat fuel). Had to vacate for a local hotel at that point. I'm not sure what Martha Stewart would say, but I even carefully made cocoa on this heater by sitting my mug on the top of the grill until the milk was scalding. Have oil heat as primary heat source, supplemented by electric space heaters, but this DuraHeat heater is my 'go to' heater to heat up any space where the other heat sources are failing to do their job. Needless to say, when there was no electricity, I was sincerely glad I had bought my DuraHeat. I can't tell you anything technical about it other than it is easy for a girl to figure out how to operate it. You won't be sorry you bought it.

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I was not in a pinch when I bought this unit. It was right after Sandy, but I happened to have electricity, gas, etc. While the electric was out it dawned on me that should another storm (or incident) like Sandy occur again, I would seriously need an alternative heating source. I purchased this unit at Home Depot and have not been disappointed at all. Home Depot was out of K1 Kerosene, so I dropped by my local Walmart and they had the 5 Gallon jugs in stock. This unit was super easy to put together (less than 5 minutes) and I was up and running (testing it) in about an hour afterwards (the manual states to wait for a full hour after first fill to let the wick have adequate time to soak).

This unit heated my entire living area so efficiately that I now use it everyday to 'pre-heat' my house. I keep the central heating at 65 degrees and with lighting this heater up twice a day (morning and evening) the place stays at about 70-72 degrees. Cheap, fast and no smell. There was more of a smell when opening the 5 gallon jugs than during actual burn. Kicking myself for not saving money on gas and electricity (for the heater blower) sooner.

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Great heater. Must be prepared to do work in using it from cleaning to putting in kerosene to--requires maintenance and careful watching. However, it puts out great heat. Just follow the instructions as it lends itself to open spaces or large rooms. Have to be careful when using this heater. Again, follow instructions.

Cheap Lasko 758000 Cyclonic Ceramic Electric Space Heater

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List Price: $124.99
Sale Price: $72.12
Today's Bonus: 42% Off

The unit is very nice looking but perhaps the size is a little overkill. I like being able to place it against the wall and out of the way. Does a decent job of heating a poorly insulated room that is about 300 sq. feet with no other heat source. I was able to maintain the room at 60 degrees when the outside temperature dipped to freezing recently. My main gripe is that the heat comes out near the top of the unit (about 2' above the floor). You can't direct the airflow any lower than horizontal so it stays pretty cold on the floor. Just being about to blow the warm air downward would make me change this rating to a 5 star.

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If you are looking for a cost-effective way to heat small rooms, the Lasko 758000 Cyclonic Ceramic Heater is a great buy. In order to be succinct, please find the "pros" and "cons" below.

Pros:

* Effective and easy-to-understand controls that allow for automatic settings governed by temperature objectives or heating by high or low output

* An illuminated display (easily viewable from 5-10 yards) that indicates the surrounding room temperature

* Directional control for heat output

* Nice form factor that allows for flexible floor placement in terms of space needed and general aesthetics

Cons:

* At higher temperature settings, the unit generates a little noise. To be fair, however, the sound is similar to and no more imposing that a PC or Printer

All in all, this is a good unit for rooms that central heating does not reach effectively. I would definitely buy another unit should the occasion arise.

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I bought this unit to heat a finished basement. Like everybody, I did the research, read the reviews and weeded through the hundreds of makes, models and different type space heaters. For the money this is a good unit. It does exactly what it advertises and I am a happy camper.

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YES IHAVE 3 OF THEM NOW AND IT IS OVER A YEAR NOW AND ALL ARE WORKING GREAT AS OF 3/31/2010. I have just purchased the 3rd heater of this model. The temp works just like they say, and is right on target. Set it at 72 and it kicks off at 74 and starts up at 71. The fan is quiet. As a safty they use and over heat sensor that works to cut the heater off if the air flow is blocked. I would still like to have a tip over switch. I did place my unit on it's face to see what would happen, and it did sut down within 15 sec. Other than the tip over switch that I would like as a back up. I have hunted the internet for hours and not found a better unit. Hope this helps you. If it will last more than a year, that would be very good.

Good luck Jerry

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I am truly disappointed in Lasko for this particular heater. We have had great service and satisfaction from Lasko products for years and thought they were invincible. This heater really let us down. It looks nice and heats well but has shortcomings and safety problems we just could not live with.

1. Although the direction of the airflow was variable, it sent the heat in the wrong directions and this could not be overcome. Straight forward to straight up was all it offers. Heated air needs to be directed in a downward path (heat rises, you know) to truly be efficient. My wife likes to put the heat near her feet to be comfortable and this was impossible. Nothing below the maximum downward flow (straight ahead) of this heater became appreciably warm.

2. This heater has an extremely small depth footprint. Although relatively unstable and easy to tip over accidentally on hard floors, it tips itself over forward (with NO effort on our part) on carpeting due to most of the weight of the internals being slung forward. To use it at all in the family room, we had to put a relatively wide board under it.

3. After a very little while on high heat, the power cord gets almost too hot to handle. Compared to other heaters we have (All Laskos), the cord on this model is very lightweight. We also noted that on other Laskos in this power range, they had 3 prong plugs and this one only has 2 prongs. VERY CHEAP and we never felt safe with it.

Thanks to Amazon's great return policy, we were able to send this back for a full refund. We then replaced it with another, better designed Lasko (from Amazon) that we are extremely happy with.

Thanks Amazon!

Presto HeatDish Parabolic Electric Space Heater Plus Footlight Review

Customer Ratings:

I purchased the Costco version of this Presto heater and LOVE IT, but it's critically important to know what you're getting into:

Infrared radiant heat from these parabolic dish heaters does NOT heat ROOM AIR much at all! It heats primarily water, things saturated with water (like we Humans), and coincidentally many Plastics---all assuming a narrow infrared focus range peaking at 3 microns (3000nm wavelength). Even longer wavelengths (3-10 microns) are possible but less specifically-aimed at human bodies and thus put heat into nearby concrete, wood floors, people, and most other materials, including many metals.

*Directional Infrared Heat* (i.e., focused Radiant Heat from these dish heaters) is VERY EFFICIENT if your goal is to put all/most of the heater's energy into YOU and not into a large room's air (or outdoor air).

BUT, this means you have to stand IN FRONT of the heater :) Otherwise, you'll barely notice much heat at all (just the small fraction of heat that escapes via convection into the air, or the wavelength falloff range that extends sufficiently to radiantly heat concrete, wood, rocks, plastics, metals, etc.

IF you use regular forced-air heaters (often the same tungsten filaments found in cheaper radiant dish heaters, nearly all quartz heaters, and heat lamps) you'll be heating most everything via convection through the air which means the larger the room and more objects to heat the more the heater's energy must be divided. That is, 500 watts of directional radiant heat will feel MUCH hotter to someone standing in front of the parabolic dish heater than would standing in front of a forced-air 500 watt heater due to air turbulence and molecules that don't have the opportunity to conduct by colliding into you (think of convection as touch-conduction in a fluid medium where each molecule of air/water/fluid is an individual messenger or heat carrier that drops off/transfers some heat to each thing it bumps into). However, you needn't stand in front of a forced-air heater vs a dish radiant one, but if you don't then the same watt forced-air heater will take a loooong time before you start feeling warm.

Most Metals Reflect Infrared wavelengths similar to a household mirror, which is why a parabolic dish heater's thin metal dish won't feel hot on its backside unless ran for extended lengths of time where convection and the non-100% infrared reflectivity efficiency losses have time to heat it (pure elemental gold metal reflects infrared best at around 95% and is why applied to backside of expensive quartz filament bulbs :)

The BEST filaments for radiant heating of water/humans are the pricier carbon filaments. They have near instant-on heat and generally peak closest to our target 3000nm wavelength we humans like to feel when we stand out in the sunlight warmth. I've not checked whether or not these dishes use carbon vs tungsten, but looks like decent tungsten upon casual inspection.

FYI: Old "radiant" steam heaters are a misnomer since they primarily heat the air by creating a natural heat-rise current in the air (aka: convection heating). Incidentally, this is the same reason why the gap size between double-glass insulating windows is so important since otherwise those windows become mini-convection heat-loss/heat-transfer panels in your wall :)

Try this at home: hold a piece of UNCOATED/UNPAINTED metal in front of a true parabolic dish heater with tongs/whatever such your hand doesnt heat the metal, and at same time place your bare hand at the same safe distance beside it and observe which heats up. Result: metal has barely warmed at all whereas your hand gets toasty fast and if too close even starts to get too hot feeling. If the metal is flat think of it as a mirror---you can make some of the heater's heat "turn a 90-degree corner" like using a mirror but to heat.

Plastics & Radiant Heater CAUTION: Some plastics like common polyethylenes coincidentally absorb infrared radiation optimally at 3500nm (3.5 micron wavelengths) which is near that of water's 3000nm. This means many plastics will absorb and heat as fast as you will in front of heaters like these, which weakens/ages them by fracturing polymer chains.

Finally, for those curious about what differentiates this type of 'radiation' from 'nuclear radiation', remember that any lightbulb (LED, CFL, FL, Incandescent), radiant heater, all radio and TV signals, lasers, x-rays, and of course sunshine is ALL electromagnetic radiation (EM) delivered by way of photons and it is the EM wavelength (energy per photon rather than number of photons) that determines whether the radiation is 'scary'. Scary or bad EM usually means ionizing radiation like UV, x-ray, or worse) whereas non-ionizing EM includes all visible light, infrared, TV/radio, microwaves, etc. Note, however, that right at the border of deep violet visible light and UVB/UVC ultraviolet is non-ioninizing UVA/violets now thought the principle cause of the deadliest melanoma skin cancers fueled by indirect DNA damage of free radicals generated by UVA/violets EM energy and catalysts (such as, ironically, non-metals-based suntan lotion as well as other naturally-occurring compounds in our tissues). Once you get into regular visible light and longer wavelengths (radio, microwaves, etc.) most people believe to be safe as the energy per photon falls to such low levels. Nuclear radiation, on the other hand, is entirely different yet and deals with non-EM particle radiation (e.g., stray neutron bombardment) which is extra 'scary' of course and not found in our heaters or lights LOL (unless you bought a second-hand looted chernobyl-irradiated heater I suppose).

Hope that helps. :-)

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This is a radiant heater, designed to throw a "beam of heat". As a science teacher explained in junior high some 40 years ago, they do not heat the air or a room, but the objects in the path. If you are looking to warm a room, especially quickly, you want a forced air ceramic/quartz heater. If you want to warm yourself in an otherwise cold room, this is your baby. Sadly, almost every time I go to CostCo, I see someone returning one of these. Reading reviews of similar products on the web, it is clear that many folks have no clue about radiant heaters.

Like one of the other reviewers, I bought this at CostCo but for some friends who smoked on their patio and froze during the winter. They've both passed on now and their relatives gave it back to me. (I also have one in my shop.)

Our furnace is out at the moment and it is doubtful we can afford to fix it before winter is over. Here in Las Vegas it is currently 41 outside with an expected low tonight of 29. Last night it was 21.

I'm sitting here writing this with this heater about six feet from me and on medium. I'm comfortable (and shirtless) even though it is only in the low 60s in the house. (We have a couple of oil filled heaters.) My right side (heater side) is hot to the touch, my left side is cool. Over all though, I'm comfortable.

Where this unit excels is in my shop which is basically a walled in carport, but walled in by louvers. I.E. it's 41 in my shop. But I just aim this at my workbench from about six feet away and stay toasty while there at the bench.

My wife is a lizard. Very cold blooded and is always cold if the room temp is below 80. All I have to do is aim this at her on the couch and she's warm and toasty without driving me out of the room.

If you use these types of heaters as intended, they are more than enough to cook you.

The one thing I really like about these is that at full power, they only consume 1,000 watts. Our oil filled and ceramic/quartz heaters start at 900 watts on low and go up to 1,500 watts. That will run up the electric bill (about $100 a month per heater) and two of them on the same circuit will blow our circuit breakers. So using these radiant dish heaters as spot heaters do a better job for less money.

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I owned this for about 3 years before it died. Purchased from Costco (there are more reviews on there).It gives off a tremendous amount of heat in a limited space of 3 feet but that's it.

The footlight is pointless and stop working after a year. One of the Costco reviewers had this to say: "Owned a few of these and the experience is the same and matching quite a few others here.This is an effective, LIMITED LIFE, product. It does what it says sends a very nice stream of heat in a very limited direction. BUT it has a limited life span of 1-3 years, depending on use and luck.

The problem always seems to come down to a faulty "tip" sensor, so that the "alarm feature" meant to warn you that the device has fallen off its perch goes off continuously, rendering the device useless. Clearly Presto has skimped on parts there and has little interest in correcting this as evidenced by user reports of this problem going back years... .

Note to Presto spend a few more pennies on parts and design improvement, and a few less on the marketing required to re-package the exact same thing every year and you have a winner here. As is however, strcitly, buyer beware."

I couldn't agree more.

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We purchased this two years ago for use primarily in the office, which happens to be one of our cooler rooms. It works very well for this. It is plugged in on the opposite wall and directed towards the desk which is approximately 8/10 feet away. You must remember it heats objects in the room not necessarily the room. If you are sitting/working at the same place it will keep you very comfortable. It makes a small hum when it comes on but not annoying. We have two other older coil type space heaters and an infra ray one. They all use more electricity than this one--1000w vs 1500w or 2000w. However, they do heat an area and not an object. So it depends on what your needs are: moving around more, space heaters might be better. In the same area most of the time, then the Parabolic would be my choice. It has three heat levels and off which gives a very good temperature range. It has a night light that I feel is not needed but it is only a 1.5 v bulb. I guess the only thing I sometimes think would be nice is if it was oscillating. This is the second winter and so far so good.

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Like many of the other users on here, I purchased this from Costco. I bought it about 2 years ago and just recently caught the first sign of its imminent demise, the footlight has stopped working and the buzzer started malfunctioning. Based on other comments I've read, it appears this is fairly common, so you should know that this product seems to have a ~2 year lifespan. Not bad, not great.

So ignoring it's lifespan issues, I have exactly two complaints:

1) Very limited ability to direct the heat the heat dish has a fixed angle and elevation, so if you want to prop this up and have it warm you while you're sleeping, you can't. So it pretty much only works if you're directly in the beams path.

2) No incremental heat the dial on top of the heat dish appears to have gradual levels of heat. This is an illusion. The dish actually has 4 modes: off, low, medium, and hot. Low is unusable because you have to be hugging the dish to get any heat. Medium is the only usable one, although you have to move the dish around every few minutes to avoid burning any one part of your body. Finally Hot is only useful if you're interested in setting your house on fire. Realistically, it's only useful at great distances and very short periods of time, otherwise you will actually burn your legs and face.

Some positive aspects include the really good range, and its ability to get hot fairly quickly. Overall, I felt the heat dish was very useful and worth the money, but my two complaints prevent it from being a great product.

As a side note, this heat dish (even in Medium mode) will probably literally set fire to leather, so keep that in mind if you planned to use the heat dish near a leather office chair.

Review of 3 Liter Digital Water Heater

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List Price: $124.99
Sale Price: $103.00
Today's Bonus: 18% Off

Many Asian households have this appliance but non-Asians seem to not know about it. This is a convenient way to always have boiling hot water at hand for making tea or instant ramen and instant soups. While the typical "American" electric tea kettle requires you to plug in and boil water each time it is turned on (thereby necessitating a wait of at least 3-5 minutes), this water heater boils water and keeps it boiling hot for days until you dispense all of it and have to refill/reboil it. I have found it very useful to have a personal water heater at my office desk (where it is the envy of all my colleagues yet somehow they are resistant to buying one themselves due to cultural suspicion), and also one at home. One caveat is that since it is constantly plugged in, it may use up a lot of electricity. Also you have to be careful of children accidentally dispensing it and scalding themselves (this model has a "lock" button). Lastly, you should never immerse the appliance in water and it is certainly not dishwashable. The Tiger model is not cheap but it is a high quality, well-made appliance that will last for years.

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I got this one to replace a Tiger water heater I got over 16 years ago. That one has to be pumped manually. This one is much better since it pumps the water out automatically.

I like the 6-hr timer (only single setting, single push to activate) that shuts the heater down for six hours then restarts it. This save energy since my house is 50 degree at night and I don't drink in these 6-hr time period. It also heats up the water before I get up. The 3-liter capacity is more than sufficient for my consumption rate of 1.2 L each time. My previous unit was 5-liter, which is too much to heat up.

The lid takes about 2 seconds to get use to. If you use the left hand to open it, you'd need to use your thumb to push down on the front-end which pivots the back end of the retangular latch upward, then use your pointing finger and/or the middle finger to lift the lid up. The lid is removeable for cleaning which is nice.

The insulation is quite good. I set the temperature at 208 deg F and my ambient temperature is 50 deg F constant so the water reheated about 3 hours each time for about 20 seconds. This is not bad at all. Even my bottled hot water heater reheat much often than this, about 20 minutes each time based on the same constant 50 deg F ambient temp.

I bought this unit after reading others' review and they were pretty accurate. I enjoy my coffee at 208 deg F instead of either not hot enough (bottled hot water heater) or too hot using microwave oven.

This unit has a lazy susan which make it very easy to rotate. The negative this is that the power cord is held onto the unit by two rather weak magnets so if you rotate the unit too quick or to much ( greater than 60 degrees), the power cord can detach from the unit easily. Be careful when washing the unit. Read and follow the instruction and the warning label on the unit.

The bottom line: a strong recommendation to buy.

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I bought my Tiger water heater in Korea in the mid 90s while working there. I keep it plugged in all day and love this. I was worried I'd not be able to replace this if mine ever quit on me so I just looked it up and so glad I will be able to get another one if mine ever dies. I have this instead of a coffee pot and really love it. Ever so often, I put a cup or so of vinegar into the hot water (fill to the line), unplug it and let it set overnight to clean all the minerals from my water. The next morning, I just wipe with dish rag inside and then I rinse well and fill up again. This keeps any build-up from inside the kettle. I'm just thrilled I was able to find this online to order when I need one. I might even order one soon as a "back-up" just in case. Yes, it's funny when my friends visit, they have never seen anything like this and act like it's an "Asian" thing. Now I can tell them they can get one, too.

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I have always found the Tiger brand very reliable and this hot water dispenser is no different. I purchased one for my son 5 years ago It is still in good working order although his had a mechanical pump. This one is all eletronics so when it is not plugged in you cannot dispense any water.

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This hot water dispenser is just great. The price is so reasonable for the good quality. It has a good capacity and very simple to use. My parents have the same exact product and they are happy with it as well.

Discount SUNBEAM Fan Heater, 1 Touch Electric Thermostat,alci Plug

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I purchased this little guy from a store a year ago. I loved it then, and it's still going strong now! The thermostat feature is perfect, because I change my mind on the settings constantly, and would otherwise melt/freeze before snapping out of my work to turn it on/off. Especially at night when I'm sleeping.

My two cats love it, too! It's been safe and fairly quiet, while providing a wonderful amount of heat for my living and bed rooms. I am now shopping for a second one to heat up more spaces more quickly.

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Great heater for large spaces. We love it. You can leave it on Low all the time and the rooms stay nice and toasty. The purchase price is amazing compared to other makers that cost more and do nothing

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I've had mine for 3 years and love it! In that time, my husband has had 3 in his bathroom... the last one just stopped working (a Holmes Bathroom Heater). I told him NOT to go out & buy another & I'd try to order him my Sunbeam 1 Touch. So happy that Amazon carries it!!! I recommend that you buy the Sunbeam 1 Touch Heater if you want a great performing heater that will last and last! But I don't understand WHY it's over $50 at Amazon and Under $30 at Walmart. Went to Walmart's website & got it there instead.

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I guess I just think this is overpriced for the tiny size and the repackaging it is sent in. But hey, it works so far.

Cheap Capresso 259 H2O Plus Glass Water Kettle, Polished Chrome

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List Price: $100.00
Sale Price: $53.48
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I ordered this kettle specifically to avoid heating up water in plastic. However, this kettle emitted a foul chemical odor that also transferred to the water. I boiled it a few times plus tried the water/vinegar suggestion in the brochure but nothing seemed to help. I decided that I didn't want to take the risk of drinking these unknown chemicals so I'm returning it it's not worth the risk. I can't figure out if it's coming from the "stainless steel" bulb (that feels like plastic to me if you tap on it) that covers the heating element or the plastic seal between the glass & the bulb. Plus the lid has a stong odor too & that is plastic covered in "stainless steel".

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I had mine for about 8 months and then the handle fell off while I was pouring a full kettle of boiling water into a teapot. I was lucky not to be badly burned. The handle is held to the lid with two small screws that are screwed into plastic. It looks cool, and maybe mine was somehow defective, but watch out (especially if you have small kids who might be in the way of the boiling flood).

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My biggest rave is the Amazon.com customer service. I fell in love with the look of this kettle and found the best price on Amazon.com (with free shipping!) When it arrived, it only worked if the kettle was oriented one way on the base -when it boiled, the water dribbled on the cord. Called Capresso Cust Svc -1st person said, it's supposed to do that. After another week, it got worse. Capresso would replace it if I paid it's shipping back to them. Called Amazon.com, got another in the mail days later, post-paid shipping back the first one to them. Wow! This kettle works just fine. Very rapid boiling of water, no complaints about anything. To keep the glass and that silver dome shiny, you do need to do the vinegar thing every now and again. Couldn't be happier.

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I bought this kettle because I loved the glass carafe and that I could see the contents of the kettle and I really liked the overall design. But I was completely disgusted with the results!

I always use filtered water for cooking and drinking because I am quite sensative to tastes and odors in my water. The filtered water I put in this kettle tasted FINE, but after the boiling routine was complete, the water smelled and tasted like a swimming pool. I took a sip of tea I made from this kettle and spit it across the room (a la Kramer)! The most foul chemical smell and taste I have ever known. I cannot believe that anyone else using this kettle, or in fact the manufacturer, would not notice it. I washed the kettle with soap and emptied it after each use, but even after a week, the same foul contamination was occuring as a result of heating the water in this kettle. If I left a small amount of water in the kettle for even an hour, I could watch a thick chemical buildup forming on the chrome heating dome that I could wipe off with my finger, like a BAD science project.

I don't know what is wrong with this thing, but it is truly scary. I am warning all consumers to stay away from this chemical hazzard producer and find another way to heat your water!

Note: If you want to better understand the problem, walk into any Bed Bath & Beyond or Linens & Things store and sniff the inside of the carafe they have on display. There is clearly something wrong with the materials used in the manufacturing of this item. It CAN'T be safe.

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Have had this for a month now and it works great. Heats fast, the level lines are nice ( not hard to see for me ), no dripping problems. But the silcone gasket around the heating element is still imparting a bit of an off taste and releases a plasticky smell. It's gotten a bit better but I still don't like it. The 'chrome' appears to be chromed plastic, didn't see that mentioned in description or reviews.