very simple home made emergency heater

[colonel holman]

How To Heat Your Home Using Just Tea Lights And Flower Pots
DINA SPECTOR
JAN. 6, 2014, 12:28 PM



Dylan Winter/YouTube
Boat owner Dylan Winter explains how to make a DIY heater using just tea lights, a loaf tin, and flower pots.

As parts of the United States prepare for record-breaking cold temperatures, a YouTube video showing an alternative way to heat your home might come in handy.
The video, which we first found on Why Don't You Try This, was made by journalist and boat-owner Dylan Winter. All you need to make this do-it-yourself heater are tea lights, a loaf tin, and two clay flower pots.

You can find tea light candles at pretty much any drug or hardware store. A pack of 50 is only $5.99 at CVS, for instance.

In the video, Winter places four tea lights into a loaf tin and covers them with a small flower pot that's turned upside down. He then covers the drain hole on the bottom of the small pot with the metal casing from one of the tea lights. The small pot is covered by a bigger flower pot and the hole is not covered.

The system works because the inner core of the small flower pot gets very hot, says Winter, heating air between the two pots. The warm air then flows out the hole of the larger pot, warming the room.

It sounds like a great idea, although we advise anyone who experiments with this contraption to be very careful. Be sure to put the homemade heater in a safe place where the candles won't get knocked over.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-...a-lights-and-flower-pots-2014-1#ixzz2pwoVnpR8

 

[bw]

It may get hot, but there's not much heat contained in the wax of a tea light candle.

 

[Cardinal]

He was heating a very tiny room with it. See the vid at the link.

 

[energy_wave]

A real man doesn't use flower pots. Just start a fire on the floor and break a window or cut hole in roof to vent.

 

[Millwright]

A candle only generates 50-100 BTUs. The pots may help it heat air more efficiently, but there is only so much potential heat there.

This may work ok for an insulated tent, I wouldn't count on it for much more cubic area than that.

 

[energy_wave]

Now this would heat your house and then some...

 

[nchomemaker]

I made one of these. It works, it gets hot enough that you can't keep your hands on it. I use it in a small room that is down the hall from the wood stove in the living room. I have to get longer burning candles though, mine only last a couple hours. Would go through a lot candles if I kept it burning all day.

 

[Deemy]

I once cooked supper by putting a candle in a crock pot ,set it in the kitchen sink,placed a cookie cooling rack on top and set my pan on top. It took a half hour to heat a jar of my homemade beef stew but it worked.

 

[bw]

Would go through a lot candles if I kept it burning all day.

That was my point earlier. Light fifty or a hundred tea lights and it will warm up some space. It's a pricy way to heat.

Hint: buy old dinged decorative candles at garage sales. You can get boxes for pennies. That's cheap fuel.

 

[Possible Impact]

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[Double_A]

A candle only generates 50-100 BTUs. The pots may help it heat air more efficiently, but there is only so much potential heat there.

This may work ok for an insulated tent, I wouldn't count on it for much more cubic area than that.

Yep I've seen single candle heat a one man tent inside of a larger tent.

BTU's are BTU's it doesn't really mean much if they are getting the flower pots really HOT, it's about ENERGY/BTU's.

 

[Steel Chips]

I remember a simple emergency heater that was discussed in a certain training class years ago. Great for small areas and relatively cheap and portable. Large, metal coffee can with the lid; large, full roll of toilet paper; denatured alcohol (lower water content than rubbing) and matches or lighter. Store the roll of toilet paper in the can. When heat is needed pour some of the alcohol over the roll in the can and light it. Use the alcohol sparingly until a proper quantity is determined and be sure to keep it capped and away from the flame. The roll acts as a wick and the alcohol burns slow and clean.

During winter I keep the fixins' tied up in a plastic bag in the back. If used in a vehicle be sure to open a window about an inch or so and when you want to put the flame out just put the lid on the can. I think a quart of denatured alcohol will produce 10,000 to 12,000 BTUs of heat when burned.

 

[tanstaafl]

Unless it's combusting additional fuel, I'd imagine the total amount of heat generated is the same either with or without the flower pot. So unless my understanding of thermodynamics is wrong (always possible), I'd think all you're doing is creating a more obvious radiator.

 

[bw]

denatured alcohol (lower water content than rubbing)

Rubbing alcohol IS denatured. What you want is 90% or 99% alcohol. Rubbing alcohol is 70%.

Also bear in mind an alcohol flame is almost invisible. If you get some spillage on fire, you might not notice it right away.

 

[lectrickitty]

I'm going to give this a try in the laundry room. It's really cold back there and the cold finds it's way up here to the living room. IF that warms the laundry room, it would help keep the rest of the house warm. Not a good when the candle only lasts a couple hours, maybe I can use one of those 8 hour home interior candles and get some relief from the creeping cold.

ETA: I'm using an 8 day candle, one of the tall ones. Put it in a deep pan with a cookie cooling rack over it, the pots on top of the rack. There's about 1/2" between the candle and the bottom of the pots. Started it about 3 minutes ago and put a thermometer in the room to see if the temp goes up.

ETA: [FONT=Verdana,Arial]about 30 minutes... the thin coat of snow has melted off the outside pot, but it's still cold to the touch. I'm having serious doubts about this working. Could be cause of that gap between the pot and the candle, in the video it looks like they had a larger gap between their candle and pot. [/FONT]

ETA: An hour later and the little pot is heating up, but the big pot is still real cool, not cold, but very cool.

 

[lectrickitty]

moved this post to the one above.

 

[john70]

The Myth of Clay Pot Heaters – Do They Work?​

The Myth of Clay Pot Heaters - Do They Work? - Garden Myths

 

[hiwall]

A common small portable electric heater puts out 5100 BTUs.
A single candle puts out 80 BTUs.
63 candles equal one electric heater.

 

[WalknTrot]

​

Do Clay Pot Heaters Work?​

I love it when people ask if somethings works without defining what they mean by “works”. Without a definition, any explanation is useless.

If we define works as “producing heat” then clay pot heaters work, but so do candles on their own! This is easy to test. Stick your finger in the flame of a burning candle and you will convince yourself as you sit in the hospital waiting room.

If we define works as “producing more heat than the candles alone” then the answer is a resounding NO!

First Law of Thermodynamics​

The first law of thermodynamics says you can’t create energy. Energy can be converted from one form to another, but the total amount of energy in any closed system is fixed.

This is a fundamental law of science that is well accepted and taught in many entry level science courses. It was first published by James Watt in 1774 as part of his work on the steam engine but others helped refine the wording.

A burning candle converts the chemical energy in the wax to heat energy. One tea candle will produce around 30 watts of heat. The way you burn the candle does not change the amount of heat produced, provided it is fully burned. A candle outside a clay pot or inside a clay pot still produces 30 watts of heat.

The clay pot is the same before you light the candle and after the heater cools down. Since it does not change, the first law of thermodynamics says it can’t produce heat. Adding more clay pots or using different sizes of clay pots or any of the other suggested designs will not affect this.

Anyone who claims that one clay pot heater design produces more heat than another is deluding themselves because none are more efficient than just using the candles on their own.

(From John70's posted article above, emphasis mine. WT.)

 

[Illini Warrior]

for safety sake - make anything that utilizes open flame your last resort - especially if your personal situation involves kids & pets - if you need to use candles try to fasten down the holders using hot melt adhesives or velcro - don't use them for moving around the home - save your battery ops for that .....

 

[Illini Warrior]

A common small portable electric heater puts out 5100 BTUs.
A single candle puts out 80 BTUs.
63 candles equal one electric heater.

I have a few of the small electric cube heaters - simple thermostat - small circulating fan >>> if the temp gets extreme for a few days I'll deploy them into the closed off bathrooms & pantry to safety heat the plumbing - even with sub-zero temps they rarely run keeping it above freezing .....

 

[hiwall]

We heat with non-electric propane. We have a 2-3 year supply of propane. This year we are using some electric heaters for the first time ever. It is cheaper to heat with the propane but who knows what the propane situation will be next summer when we usually fill.

 

[helen]

Watch this first. 4:50

View: https://youtu.be/fnna1PAakV4