Heat Your Room with 1 Candle plus Flowerpots, Nuts and Washers

[yortbogey]

If you want to heat a room with just one candle and save even more money you need to create thermal mass and then radiate it with terracotta pots. It more simple than you could ever imagine.

After a crazy week when half a million people visited our site to check out the video, 'How to Heat Your Room for 8 Pence a Day', we thought you would appreciate a refinement of this idea that generates even more heat from a candle by increasing the thermal mass within the first pot. Please share this page too so that those who saw the first post can also test out this new design.

Putting it all Together

The process for putting together the candle heater is very simple:

What You Need

Some stainless steel nuts, washers and a bolt plus three flowerpots! Do not use zinc as it gives off toxic fumes when heated. Here's the detail.

One 4″ terracotta (not glazed) pot

One 2″ terracotta (not glazed) pot

One 1 1/2″ terracotta (not glazed) pot

Two 1 1/2″ x 1/4″ washers

Three 1 1/4″ x 1/4″ washers

Three 1″ x 1/4″ washers

Eight 3/4″ x 1/4″ washers

Seven 1/4″ nuts

One 3″ x 1/4″ bolt

Assembly Instructions

I think that the easiest way for you to learn how to put one of these heaters together is to follow the cutout image (to the left) I used from the heatstick.com site:

 

[yortbogey]

Making the stand

I found the simplest stand to make is to purchase three 4″ corner braces.

Then just put the three braces together with the middle brace facing the opposite direction and bend the outside two just enough to support the heater.

How it Works

The basic purpose of this heater is to capture the heat given from a candle flame and to concentrate it into a steel and ceramic radiator assembly. After some time, the ceramic surface will act as a thermal mass and begin to radiate the captured thermal energy into your room or office. Here's how heatstick.com describes it (image and description c/o heatstick.com):

Heat rising from a burning candle (or electric lamp) is first trapped in the Steel Inner Core and surrounding Ceramic (Terracotta) Inner Module.

The Inner Cores get very hot and radiate heat to the Ceramic Middle Core.

This entire inner region gets VERY VERY HOT! Heat synergistically builds up and 'boils out' of the Terracotta Inner Core into the Ceramic Middle Core. The Middle Core heats up and begins to Radiate Heat. Heated air 'boils out' into the Terracotta Outer Core.

The Large Surface Area of the Outer Core begins receiving Heat. The inner wall surfaces become very HOT! Heat travels through the wall to the Outer Surface.

The Outer Surface gets VERY WARM to HOT and gently begins to Radiate Heat into your home or office.

Cross-posted from: www.tacticalintelligence.net/blog/how-to-make-a-candle-heater.htm

 

[The OrigF/clred]

exactly how many btu is this super candle generating?

 

[Enchantre]

I put 6 tea lights in a glass loaf pan, set a clay flower pot over them (rests on the rim of the loaf pan) with the hole blocked with foil. Set a larger pot (hole open) over that, also on the rim of the loaf pan (I have a 6" pot and an 8" pot).

cheaper, easier, works great. Heat pours out the top hole, soot is all caught in inner pot. I've found that a couple of drops of essential oil, dripped onto the inner pot, makes a nice diffuser, too.

 

[Budweiser13]

Better yet why go through all that trouble and just buy a small electric heater for like 20 bucks...

 

[Coconutz]

I paid $30 for an oil filled rad
Its worked for 4 years

 

[canna woop!]

cool gizmo, it add's ambiance too

 

[LyryC]

because electric heaters are EXTREMELY INEFFICIENT.

and who said everyone has electricity?

And whats the fucking point of moving forward in society for lazy bum fucks who don't want to use their mind and challenge their skills...

 

[Yekke]

It could be cheaper than electricity

 

[The OrigF/clred]

because electric heaters are EXTREMELY INEFFICIENT.

and who said everyone has electricity?

And whats the fucking point of moving forward in society for lazy bum fucks who don't want to use their mind and challenge their skills...

actually, from what i understand, electrical heating appliances are 100% efficient - whatever energy goes in, comes out. Problem is electricity is expensive because the electrical plants or providers lose 70% in the transmission lines - ever notice the buzz you hear from overhead high power lines just after a rain?

- there was an article in the local paper recently where they interviewed our local power supplier, only reason i know

 

[Budweiser13]

because electric heaters are EXTREMELY INEFFICIENT.

and who said everyone has electricity?

And whats the fucking point of moving forward in society for lazy bum fucks who don't want to use their mind and challenge their skills...

I am no bum by any means but since you live under a rock I assume with no electricity go head and make one the thing is ugly as hell also but do what ever you want...

 

[supermanlives]

interesting . I am familiar with most heating . will try it. been around a lot of cast and stone heating systems.with my small temp area it would be interesting experiment. my electric is included so not an issue really.

 

[floralheart]

And whats the fucking point of moving forward in society for lazy bum fucks who don't want to use their mind and challenge their skills...

You make sense. But it's the opposite of what the general american culture is programmed to do. At least the newer generations.

 

[supermanlives]

I can stay warm with just nuts. all I need is a pussy to light the fire....... yeehaw

 

[mrcreosote]

This will work great for my mutherfuckin' St. Samuel candle.

 

[Happy 7]

Heat my room with that? Really?
Even the guy from who you copied the instructions said:

Despite the less-than-optimal testing conditions, still, in no way would it heat up your home (or even a normal size room for that matter), but in an enclosed area like your car I could see it having some benefit. Again I haven’t been able to truly test it so this is only conjecture.

Heating an enclosed area like my car? With an open flame?
What could go wrong?

 

[Garhart]

Bit like running a propane burner for CO2 , but on a smaller scale ? Sounds like good innovation to me, thank you much .

 

[trichrider]

might keep a grow tent warm...like 27sqf. and the co2 from the flame would be a bonus, but...
have already tried it and disappointed me, so i know whats up.
don't bother unless it's an experiment.

get some polarfleece instead. jmo.