Parkhomov has addressed the primary concern that I had with his experiment (power levels required to bring it up to the temperature needed to initiate the reaction). Additionally, he confirms something that Rossi recently stated about it being possible to restart the reaction after it has cooled. And it is reported that he affixed a thermocouple on the outside of the cell, alleviating that concern.
http://www.e-catworld.com/2015/03/21/mfmp-reports-parkhomov-breakthrough-90-minutes-of-excess-heat/ On ECW, it is noted: "Dr. Parkhomov reports that the target temperature of 1200ºC in the fuelled reactor was achieved by the time the electric power had reached around 600 W (in contrast to 1070 W needed to reach 1200ºC in the dummy). Then within an hour, the regulator had decreased the input power to just 330 W to maintain the same 1200ºC. Approximately, this has been the power required to during the whole operation of the reactor. he thermocouple is fixed on surface of tube with fuel in the middle of the tube. Operation of the reactor was interrupted due to a heater burn-out at 10:50 on March 20 (Moscow time). Fortunately though, the tube with fuel wasn’t damaged. When a replacement heater was used, the reactor RESTARTED!! at 11:10 on March 21 and works still. This is the first independent report of high power LENR being able to be cooled down and re-started. It is difficult to grasp the significance of this information. Dr. Parkhomov, Thankyou." Possibly, this also addresses Dave's concern based on his models, but he'll have to weigh in on that. As long as the 600W wasn't more than was needed to reach 1070C, then you get a minimum COP of 1.8 (treating the experimental cell heat up power as its own control). I hate to nitpick, but it would be good to know what the max temperature would be if using 500W (e.g., 950C). The good thing is that the reaction will restart. He can turn it off again, and run 500W until it levels out at a maximum temperature. This is getting very close to ruling out alternative explanations.
