We had to ask: What’s up with the Amish space heaters?

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The Super Bowl makes us think about commercials, and this year, we are thinking about the one product we hoped to see promoted zanily during the big game, since we see them advertised everywhere else: Those ‘Heat Surge miracle heaters’ with mantles handmade by the Amish.

Depending on how you consume your media (with a spoon!) you could have seen the oddly intriguing ads on TV, in the newspaper or in Rolling Stone magazine. Many of the spots picture what they say are ‘real Amish’ -- complete with beards, suspenders and bonnets -- working on the mantles, though the Rolling Stone ad features two shirtless blond women in a bed together, warming themselves beside the miracle heater with a bottle of champagne on the special mantle. (Really. See above.)

The ads tout the miracle heaters (which supposedly give the peaceful flicker’ of a real fire, without any flames or ashes) as well as the mantles surrounding the fireplaces -- made by ‘soft-spoken Amish craftsmen’ who have imposed a limit of two per household. And even stranger, the ads tell consumers they can get two free heaters by calling at a certain time (Californians, we are in the ‘cold zone,’ which means we should start calling at 8:30 a.m. At least we don’t live in Idaho, which is in the ‘frigid zone,’ which can start calling at 8 a.m.

The ad brags that ‘The Heat Surge miracle heater is a work of engineering genius from the China coast so advanced, you simply plug it into any standard outlet.’ (Cue the Amish: What’s an outlet?) The mantles are ‘beautifully hand-rubbed, stained and varnish’ and ‘actually roll[s] from room to room’ (without a buggy, we assume).

You can buy the heater insert alone for $249. But, if you buy the $348 oak mantle, or $388 cherry mantle, the heater is ‘free’!

We hear the Amish are moving away from farming and into small business, but this ad seemed odd for many reasons: Don’t Amish hate being photographed? Why can I only get two heaters? Who calls California a cold zone? So we checked in with Chris Pugh, multimedia communications specialist for Arthur Middleton Capital Holdings, who represents Heat Surge.

Here’s the skinny: The heating units are made in China, while the real-wood mantles are made by the Amish from two separate Amish communities near Heat Surge headquarters in Canton, Ohio. The men dressed as Amish in commercials are real Amish and agreed to the photographs under the condition that the pictures ‘focus on the quality of the product.’ The blond women in the Rolling Stone ad? Not Amish.

As for the strange household limit and calling rules, ‘our production is limited, in part, because the mantles are handmade,’ he said. Further, the call times are staggered so that the company can ‘manage production schedules of the Amish craftsmen.’ Having people in different zones call 30 minutes apart allows the company to ensure fast delivery, Pugh said.

Oh, and despite a picture in the ads featuring Amish on a buggy in the snow with a heater in the back, Pugh says the heaters are delivered via UPS.

We aren’t the only ones mystified by the ads: The Better Business Bureau said it has received 39 complaints about the company’s advertising (in addition to 56 it received about customer service issues and 54 regarding service issues). The BBB was able to verify that the Amish in the ads are real but asked the company to change a few other parts of the ads, including a claim that the heater uses the same amount of energy as a coffee maker. The BBB gave the company an ‘F,’ though a note on its website says the BBB met with Heat Surge representatives on Sept. 11, 2008, and the company has taken some steps to address consumers’ complaints.

Reviews of the fireplace online have been mixed, though the ads have inspired satires on YouTube (choice line: ‘order a dozen and we’ll thrown in a puppy’), which is surely a sign of success. So should you buy a miracle heater to cuddle up near during those cold California nights? Heat Surge is owned by the same company that advertised free digital converter boxes in June, but as our reporter Jim Puzzanghera discovered, they weren’t really free.

Maybe, if you’re looking for something to cuddle up with on those cold California nights, you should just buy a puppy. Or find those girls in the ad and buy them some champagne.

-- Alana Semuels

Photo credit: HEAT SURGE/ROLLING STONE