Cadet Heaters and the Mystery of the Howling Dog

I don't believe it exists a company with more health damaging power per size than Cadet Heating Company of Vancouver, WA.

They manufacture heaters mainly for apartments.


Small, cheap, they are great for landlords. Here are some of the health hazards that those heaters pose.

The ones with forced heat, have a hot resistor and a fan. The resistor's temperature is close to red hot. If the fan would stop, the resistor will glow. Made of high chromium and nickel alloys, they in time evaporate (resistor gets visible thinner in areas blown by fan before finally breaking). As a result, you get to breath heavy metals, a situation very similar with when vaping (the resistor, made of a similar alloy, is a consumable). Besides they burn whatever dust gets sucked in by the fan.

Easily installable inside the wall, that is you cut with a box cutter a rectangle in the inner wall  (usually 3/8-1/2 inch soft drywall) next to a stud and nail the d... thing on the stud with a couple of nails using one of the pre existing holes in the thin sheet metal. However the box have like maybe 20 holes for different installation position that remain open. Thus the fan also sucks "air" from inside wall and blow it inside. Could it be mineral insulation breakage or simply dust fallen from the apartment above from the space between wall and floor. Vibration from high rpm unbalanced fan helps shake and brake the insulation inside the wall.


In my case, litter dust.

I was intrigued yesterday by a howling dog in the neighborhood.

I don't use those. I covered the grills with tape. Instead i got some even cheaper heaters from Fry's. Of Italian design, they are the best. Low temperature convection heaters with oil inside and covered with ceramic. I move them around in places where the floor bulges to help dry it faster.

The neighbor upstairs use them. Actually only one. The one in the kitchen. Because of that it runs almost all the time, per thermostat.

Two days ago i saw some imperfection in the way i taped the grill for the heater in the same position or below hers. Small gaps, etc.. I removed the tape to put some new. Done something else in the meantime, forgot about, i re-taped it several hours later.

It was only last night, after more that 24 hours that i realized what happened. Though i covered most virtual nail holes inside the black box, there must be gaps cause without tape the whole place started to stink again like the litter dust that is still abundant in the wall since last summer's neighbors.

Face burning, dog stinking, it must have triggered the senses of the dog in the apartment at the other entrance.

Today i opened the back sliding door again and the dog started to howl again. Tilted the fridge, washed it under, mopped the floor, yada yada.