The first one only worked about 10 times max. The second one we are 99.9999% positive was an old defective unit that was wrapped back up and put back in the box and someone did not quality check before selling it again. The screws on it were rusted in places, stripped, there was mud caked in cracks. I didnt even notice that at first, just some off red dust . We wipped it off and turned it on to let the new burn off. Well.. it did not. it just kept getting worse. That electrical fire burnt plastic smell. we took it in a large open room with the door open and a fan pointed at it so the chemicals would blow outside and the heater would stay cool enough to stay running at high heat to finish burning the new off. keeping an eye on it anf having to open all windows and doors, 2 and a half hours later with it running at max heat... it had not gotten the new smell off. It was only getting stronger. I went ahead and called lasko at this point. I would have taken it right back to sams at that point but we desperatly needed a heater and they were out of stock. Lasko looked it up for us and said they would replace it this one time with in 7 to 10 days. here we are 20 days later... no word, no heater. its now reaching mid 80s outside and there isnt much use for the thing for the rest of this season. We ended up getting kinda desperate and decided to do a serious clean on the unit to see if maybe it was just tons of factory dust sitting inside the heater. Thats when i noticed we were given someones defective old heater. I was able to get the screws outand pop the cover off so the heater could be properly cleaned. it was gently dusted with microfiber and light suction. Then we used a plug in air compressor the kind used to clean out small electronics like heaters and computers. no signs of dust or dirt in it at all after that. we did notice that a few of the heaters metal coils were actually smashed together at this point. very strange as there is no way for that to happen unless someone had taken it all apart and had that part actually detached from its casing. Not wanting to mess with anything that could make it work worse we put the clean cover back on the now dusted unit. turned it back on and crossed fingers. There was no indications of melting plastic, or burning wires at all. Thought it was perfect for about 3 minutes. It was pushing more heat, but very quickly begane to emmit the same chemical gross smell as before and the longer it was on, even with ventalation, the worse it got. never had a lasko smell like this. All new heaters or dirty heaters have a burn off smell at first or when taken out of storage. This went way beyond. Absolutley not safe to use even when its with in line of site because if it doesnt catch fire, youll choke on the chemical smell . We were very cold for the next 15 days. Its now all the sudden decided in our neck of the woods that it is going to go straight from freezing temps, to 85 in the day time. and again, we now have no use for the replacement we should have gotten over a week again. no word from lasko. very disapointing. Now that its no longer a sought after item since its pretty much summer, ill take it back up to sams as at least sams if very awesome about standing behind products they distribute. If you bought it there, they will exchange that puppy if the one that came from them isnt doing right. Too bad the manufacture left us hanging though. Dont get this model Lasko in particular. they all seem to have issues. i forgot to mention that my mother also had issues with this model as well. Over all 3 units. One worked maybe 10 times of being plugged in and turned on . The second started a fire in the wall socket! (yes it was the correct socket for it) and now this used and abused defective unit producing a noxious smell that is not dirt or wires. -2/10 doo doo