Bought a heater and... reviews are written by the dumb.

[eljefino]

Got a neato heater off FBM, 240V/ 20 amps (actually 3750 watts to keep it at 80% of a 20 amp breaker under continuous use.)

Found the same thing on amazon by searching for "240v heater." The reviews are... special. I guess there's hope for the world that some people still get it. Wonder what the Amazon returns rate is on these things by people who think they run on a normal outlet. There are also a sizeable crowd confused by the fan-forced nature of this heat, the fan runs pretty fast so the unit doesn't locally overheat and start a fire, Karen.

The owner's manual is available through the amazon link, and the manual states that the elements don't glow. (They look like a pretzeled oven element.) This doesn't stop people from typing "it's not glowing, it's broken."

The description covers the required electricity, over and over:

 

[Fordiesel69]

Most reviews are written by the dumb. And I'm finding in 2024, most of the general population lack basic knowledge to a point they have a difficult time being self sustainable.

The brand and type of NAS hard drives I purchased back in 2012 had horrific reviews. They are still spinning and pass with flying colors as I type this. Had I based my purchase off of the reviews I would have avoided them.

 

[Dave Sherman]

Oh yes, Amazon and Harbor Freight reviews are always highly amusing (and sad) to read. Among my favorites: The 5 star reviews where they admit they haven't used it yet. The 1-star reviews where they say "I'm giving it 1 star because I had to wait for it to get back in stock, but it works great". The 1-star reviews where it appears they meant to give it 5 stars, because there's lots of positive and nothing negative in the review.

 

[dnewton3]

The combination of lazy people not wanting to research details before purchasing, along with a general inability (or unwillingness) to understand what little they do read, leads to a less than desirable experience for many.

Caveat Emptor !

 

[Astro14]

And yet, we have people here who use Amazon and YouTube comments as scientific validation of their position…

 

[SC Maintenance]

So did someone actually find an adapter to take it down to 120V? So what happens if you put a 240V resistive heater on 120V? Does it just pull 1800W or???

 

[twX]

So did someone actually find an adapter to take it down to 120V? So what happens if you put a 240V resistive heater on 120V? Does it just pull 1800W or???

1/2 the voltage would result in 1/4 the power. An ac motor run at half voltage will run hot and probably won't last very long.

 

[Pew]

The brand and type of NAS hard drives I purchased back in 2012 had horrific reviews. They are still spinning and pass with flying colors as I type this. Had I based my purchase off of the reviews I would have avoided them.

Were they WD Greens or Seagate ST1000s?

 

[KGMtech]

When you've purchased something on Amazon, they start asking you if you can answer questions from other shoppers about the product.

I genuinely try to help when I can, but for some people you can't cure stupid with a typed reply.

 

[DriveHard]

So did someone actually find an adapter to take it down to 120V? So what happens if you put a 240V resistive heater on 120V? Does it just pull 1800W or???

View attachment 242183

Just a simple resistor...half the voltage = 1/4 the power!

Ohms law says the resistance stays the same
R=V/I

So if R is constant, and you cut V in half...then you cut the current in half as well.

Now power is simple V*I...if both values are cut in half you get 1/4 the total power out of the unit. Nothing overheats, nothing bad...just poor performance (at least from a simple resistor model)

 

[dnewton3]

So did someone actually find an adapter to take it down to 120V? So what happens if you put a 240V resistive heater on 120V? Does it just pull 1800W or???

View attachment 242183

I don't believe there is an adapter plug to convert a 240V outlet/plug down to 120v.

I believe that the OP of that comment (the Amazon reviewer) is of the flawed opinion that the plug is of a different country origin, as he states. He doesn't understand that the odd-looking plug is specifically designed to keep people from putting a 120v appliance into a 240v outlet, or vice versa.

 

[shortyb]

Just a simple resistor...half the voltage = 1/4 the power!

Ohms law says the resistance stays the same
R=V/I

So if R is constant, and you cut V in half...then you cut the current in half as well.

Now power is simple V*I...if both values are cut in half you get 1/4 the total power out of the unit. Nothing overheats, nothing bad...just poor performance (at least from a simple resistor model)

You're giving the dumb way too much credit to understand Sir George's creed. You say Ohm to them and they'll probably think you're talking about Yoga .

 

[Delta]

We're not gonna make it as a species are we?

 

[shortyb]

We're not gonna make it as a species are we?

Some will. Most won't.

 

[eljefino]

I don't believe there is an adapter plug to convert a 240V outlet/plug down to 120v.

I believe that the OP of that comment (the Amazon reviewer) is of the flawed opinion that the plug is of a different country origin, as he states. He doesn't understand that the odd-looking plug is specifically designed to keep people from putting a 120v appliance into a 240v outlet, or vice versa.

That's it, that reviewer is confidently wrong. It's stunning how far down the sunk cost fallacy they went, buying or making dumb adapters. And this heater being 80-something bucks instead of 20 like a walmart 120v space heater wasn't enough to deter the purchaser from buying it. Probably thought it "looked cool."

There are physical adapters that let you plug 120 into European 240 which work with switching power supplies that are tolerant of any worldwide voltage but I, too, don't know of any that go from that US NEMA 240 down to 120.

 

[PandaBear]

That's normal, we see that in vote based review (including elections) all the time.