In a message dated 2/5/03 7:44:20 PM, mark_hb@HOTMAIL.COM writes:

<< The thing was honey combed... >>

Mark, my man, I never used a ceramic disc heater, but, heh, why should that
keep a fool from stating his opinion?  Years ago, one bitter winter when the
Pelonis was the latest and the greatest, I looked into buying one to heat the
cabin of my van in the morning.  They were priced at $150 and, I think, they
were being sold by former door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesmen mostly to old
people who had to chose between freezing or starving.

I saw that Pelonis made much of the 100% efficiency of their device; a rather
hollow claim since any resistive electrical devise is 100% efficient.  I then
saw all those tiny holes in the disc.  I wondered what happens after about a
week of use when all those holes become plugged with dirt.  The answer was in
the long toothpick which Pelonis supplied as their maintenance kit.

Instead of the Pelonis, I bought a 1500 W, force air, dual range electric
space heater at a garage sale for $3 (new, $29.95 retail).  It, too is 100%
efficient.

George