I love this country. We have many products we use to manufacture, but there are always the masters of the universe of marketing. No other country can take something as trivial as a stove from 1,500 watts and wrap like a second coming. A perfect example of this is genius marketing amish fireplace heat surge electric.
It Rolls! Lights! The heat wave heating miracle is a work of genius from the coast of China! True Amish craftsmanship goes into each hand! AndHeat Surge website quote: "It's not just a fireplace, is a beautiful piece of furniture".
But you have to ask: I want $ 587 for a mini-electric fireplace on wheels, no heat, more than any other 1500 watt heater space costs $ 500 dollars to spend less product?
Just to be fair, this is a legitimate question for all electrical fires, not just the heat wave. Believe it or not, you can easily spend more than $ 2,000 for a combination of electric fireplace / entertainmentCenter with the same 1500 watt unit heats up.
No matter how you pay for an electric fireplace, electric heater, the cost of about $ 250 (retail). So every dollar spent is about $ 250 for the fireplace. In the case of the Amish Cherry Fireplace, leaves $ 250 to $ 587 sale price $ 337 deducted for the cost of the coat.
Since the Amish Heater is a mini-electric fireplace, hard to find an equally large electric fireplace in the interestof comparison. The best I could come up with is the ProCom 24" cherry finish electric fireplace.
Although this fireplace is the smallest ProCom makes, and uses a similar 24" wide heating insert, it's overall dimensions are still 2 1/2 times larger than the Heat Surge.
The last time I checked, the ProCom 24" cherry finish fireplace was available online for 0. After subtracting 0 for the heating insert, the mantel piece for the ProCom costs 0.
So why would you be willing to pay more than twice as much for an Amish mantel less than half the size of a comparable fireplace costing 30% less?
It's the magic of marketing Baby!
If you buy an Amish electric fireplace, it won't be for the boring 1,500 watts of heat offered by every other space heater out there. What's going to get you excited enough to whip out your credit card is an unexplainable attraction to the Amish, the promise of superior Amish craftsmanship and pride of ownership.
I can't explain an unexplainable attraction, but I'll accept the claim of superior Amish craftsmanship. However, "craftsmanship" comes at a price. Over a three year period, the premium you pay for an Amish mantel piece will add an additional a month, or 0 to your actual heating costs when compared to the purchase price of a Pro Com 24" fireplace.
This leads me to the second problem I have with the marketing of this product.
If you go to the Heat Surge website you won't find one picture of the Amish fireplace with the wheels attached. The reason for this, in my opinion, is the wheels make it look "dinky" compared to the "substantial" look it has when pictured without the wheels.
So how much pride can you take in a product the manufacturer is embarrassed to show in its entirety?
This is a shame. The wheels are actually a selling point because they provide the means for zone heating - simply wheel the fireplace from room to room as needed. Zone heating, or heating only the room you occupy, allows you to dial back your home's master thermostat for substantial fuel savings.
On the other hand, attempting to "zone heat" your home for multiple occupants spread out in multiple rooms with just one Amish fireplace is impossible.
I have a few other issues with their marketing claims that I could delve into, such as "It uses about as much energy to run as a coffee maker" and regional energy costs, but they have little bearing on cost effectiveness when you pay 7 for a 1,500 watt space heater.
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