KOTATSU (Staying Warm in Japan)

[Yo_Mama]

13. They don't have to be hot enough to be able to cause a fire.

Because the heat is kept in by the blankets (really quilts), it's a very low heat source. Just like if we go to bed under a quilt, the 93 temp on our skins gradually heats up the bed.

It's actually a very safe way to be comfortable - much safer than most space heaters. And economical.

I would only want a Japanese-made one, though. Chinese made stuff is prone to melt even when it never possibly can. I had a Verizon cable model power supply short out and cause the modem to catch fire. The dog alerted me, for which I am thankful.

The modem was smoking when the dog finally convinced me that there was a genuine problem, but the power supply was partially melted. And it was a defect in manufacture, because the power supply was plugged into a power supply strip which tested out perfectly fine in controlled circs, and which I am still using.

Ever since then I have instituted new precautions for all electronics.

PS: The dog was smug for MONTHS. She never, ever let me forget that she was right and I was wrong. This happened when my husband wasn't there, and she kept trying to make the point to him that I was a dangerous firebug. It got so bad that when I would go to cook dinner and he was there, she would race histrionically into the kitchen and stand there staring with huge eyes and flinching as if the stove were going to blow up. She only did that around my husband, though. Ratfink!