Fun fact Crisco is the name given to "Crystallized Cottonseed Oil." Cottonseed oil was first derived by people through the use of an oil press in order to find a purpose for the excessive number of seeds produced by cotton agriculture. The original purpose of cottonseed oil was to fill lamps and lubricate farm engines. Then a scientist found that you can change the structure of this lamp oil or machine lubricant by saturating it in hydrogen gas, which gives the unique solid properties usually reserved for saturated fat like butter. Then an aspiring entrepreneur found that you could sell this lamp oil as food oil, and as a butter substitute. Please. Do not consume Crisco.
Put the Crisco in the oven for 10-15 minutes, and the shortening will turn liquid. Then, lower the wicks to the bottom and let it cool. No pipes or curtain rod needed.
@@colinstace1758 get natural cotton cord from a fabric store and then you can just cut it to fit whatever length you want. Way cheaper than wicks, works the same.
I’m a new greenhouse owner, in Montana. I used your technique two weeks ago, on a night when it got down to 1 degree F (it may have been below zero, but I went to bed and didn't see). I would say it made a 20 degree difference in my 6 x 12 greenhouse. This stove was so easy to build- I did in the middle of the night, with a headlamp. As it was an emergency, I just pushed candle stubs right into the crisco, set it on the gravel, put the largest pot on feet made of cat food tins and piled on the little pots. I have been using thermal mass (water) and need to add more- but that night was just no match for it. With frost covers and the little stove, my plants were saved. Thanks for such clear and easy advice.
Bill Gates owns ECOLAB who add poison to over 35 thousand water treatment plants ... they have been adding Palm Oil for 2 years ... to increase viscosity is their reason. ... and less oxygen that was used to purify !
@@rockekoreis3160 I found the inside of the pot got very sooty, but nothing made it to the glass. Be sure to use small pots on the top to trap as much heat and soot as possible.
The cardboard Crisco containers can be substituted with paint cans from the hardware store if you are concerned with them catching on fire, and your windows can be covered with large bubble wrap and attached with water with a little kitchen soap, to be used as insulation, and this still gives your plants light. If one end of the green house has an opening, but blocked with leaves and straw, they will give natural heat to the room. Decomposition will do this, and you also can use it for mulch on the plants to help keep them warm. Also keep a fire extinguisher or fire blanket to throw over everything, and don't let your fuel run too low that it can catch on fire.
My grandad used to do this in his green house. I use it in my house too. Remember to seat the heater where you don’t have to move it. Once it’s hot you won’t be able to touch it. 👍
We had an older apartment with a big window n a cold bathroom, luckily there was a big tile counter connecting the bathtub. The terracotta stove made taking a bath very comfy!
Last winter it hit -22° with -60° wind chill over night. I had just moved and didn’t realize my propane was set to shut off during a power outage. Well, power went out. House went from 75° to 10° in two hours, and dropping significantly. Only thing that kept me alive that night was one of these terracotta heaters I made real fast when I realized how screwed I was. Kept it going with a soda can candle. It didn’t get 75° in the house, but it was warm enough where a few layers of blankets kept me warm. Power came back on 8 hours later. I would have probably died that night if I didn’t have this heater. Before you comment “you wouldn’t have died!” Or whatever, just know that -22° is no joke and with -60° wind chills you can freeze to death in under 5 minutes without proper insulated clothing.
If the air temp goes below only 64 degrees F, you can go hypothermic and die (if you didn't have clothes on, or very lightweight clothing), so it doesn't take as much chill as one would think to endanger your life.
I grew up in hot, humid E. Texas and now live in S. California. The coldest I've ever been in my life was 4 degrees while camping at Palo Duro Canyon in NW Texas during Winter (I don't recommend it). I can't even imagine temps below 0. I use 3 of these terracotta heaters, one is just for my parrot. They are my only source of heat when it's cloudy, which is most of the Winter. I live off-grid on solar/wind/battery power system, so on sunny days I can run electric heaters during the day. One thing I've added is that I put river rocks between the pot layers, and those stones stay warm for an hour after the candles are out. It warms the room by at least 20 degrees after a couple of hours.
Thank you for these added tips and verifying that these candles will not cause carbon monoxide poisoning or anything else that crack pots try to say to scare ppl away from using them. It's safer than burning a candle in a candle holder. With a normal room, a candle is not gonna produce enough carbon monoxide to kill a mouse. So thank you for proving my point to those naysayers
FYI if the Terra Cotta pots or some of them were coated in graphite it will add probably about 10° F more heat and become an infrared heat source as well. Has to be 100% graphite it's cheap at hardware store and your only going to use a small amount rubbed on the "Outside Only" of the TerraCotta pot. Can be messy take precautions. Be sure to use a temp gun before and after to measure the increase. Have fun
In my unheated and uninsulated wood shop, I use a couple bricks. I'll roast the bricks in the oven for half an hour. Then I take the bricks out to the shop. Set them edge up and then stack the terracotta pot on top of that with three large candles in between the bricks. Instant heat, and it lasts for hours
Can u add some photo how exactly does that looks? I need heating as have no heat over winter... how warm it is? How much breeks ubuse etc... Need for indoors for a two roots quite big...
One thing to note about terra cotta "heaters" is that they are heat collector/spreaders. A candle that outputs about 300 btu per wick (assuming 5 hour burn time and Paraffin wax) is not going to magically output more BTUs. However, it will spread it across the entire terra cotta surface and melt your candles quicker. So basically what I'm saying is keep them away from flammable things, and make sure your candle has sufficient air space between it and the pots to not melt too quickly.
This man uses a large vat of Crisco in a can, not a tiny free standing paraffin candle. Flammable items don't really catch fire from a hot terracotta pot either. What's ur point?
@@brianjustice908 The advantage of a heat spreader is that you can collect or dissipate heat more efficiently, which is the goal if you want to heat a space like a greenhouse. Yes, the same amount of total heat of combustion will be released, but the goal is to dissipate that heat into the surrounding space rather than just to get a small area really hot. Even if the candle burns faster, this is completely fine if that helps keep the greenhouse up to the desired temperature. It's better to need to burn through two candles if burning one candle in the same amount of time isn't enough to keep plants alive through the winter. (Also yes a solar heater or other style of electric heater would also probably be even more efficient, but the simplicity of vegetable oil and terra cotta offers a super low-maintenance and highly available heater setup even when more advanced technology is not available.)
@@ethanpayne4116 it’s a good off the grid solution- so for that situation we’ll worth exploring. I don’t believe the goal is to create noticeable heat but raising to the general temperature to eliminate the dangers of frosts or chills. If it saves your plants when you may be relying on them it could be a life saver
The terra cotta heater you made is awesome and I'm gonna make one myself. Here's a Crisco tip : slowly melt it into liquid then pour it and place your wick and let it harden. This way you get a longer and more stable burning of your candle.
I make portable heater using old tuna can coil cardboard in it pour in some wax and surround it with brick, puts out a whole lot of heat and burns for roughly 2 hours... Low cost to free to make, you can always find old used candles at thrift stores or garage sales for cheap if not free....
I could use this for heating my tent when camping! I'll never forget a summer camping and fishing trip years ago when it suddenly turned cold at night time. I was totally unprepared for an unseasonably very cold night when we had previously been having a heat wave. Even my labrador retriever got in the sleeping bag with me she was so cold. I never went camping unprepared for weather changes again.
Wow! I like that a lot. And if you have to hang around the greenhouse to work on some gardening, you can put a kettle on the large pot to heat up water for tea or a coffee percolator. Thank you for the awesome vid!
If you know this is something you plan to do, i might suggest candle wicks or cutting up a lantern wick but… set the can of crisco/lard in a hot car and just drop the wick in. You could also paint a terracotta pot black and place it into the sun with the lard underneath it. Also, if you fill and seal the top pot with sand before you heat it, sand will hold the heat longer and it will work more efficiently. I think they call them “sand solar batteries” or something. It just doesn’t cool off as fast as a thin pot would when the flame goes out.
Not sure that the additional pots do other than restrict the airflow. The BTUs are set by the Crisco fuel. If you want to spread out the time the heat lasts, then set a large terracotta pot on top and fill it with loose rock or similar substances. Anything that will let the combustion fumes through.
Great video. Lighting, editing and it was to the point! But if I may suggest an upgrade. Take one of your tomato cages and modify it so it fits somewhat snug over the top of it. Turn it upside down and cut it and then tighten it a bit so that it fits flush on the sides of the pots. You should be able to bend the ends near where you cut to into a hook to keep it tightened around the pots. I would also either choose a permanent spot in the greenhouse and then make some sort of system to latch the bottom of the cage to the floor. Alternatively you could make a base for it to sit on with latches to latch the cage down to.
Now i will share what other use i have for terracotta pots and that is making Ollas. My spelling may be off , and i dont have the link to show so i will briefly explain and hope you find this helpful and so glad to find your channel im very excited now. Ok Ollas are using the terracotta pot and a terracotta saucer to make a long term water source for plants in the ground . You place saucer right side up and turn pot upside down onto saucer and form a tight bond with small amount of cement joining both and then bury beside plants that are to far for your hose or maybe your going to be away and by filling the pot water slowly seeps out over a long period . Please share this idea if you like . Gardening is my passion when people say i must have a green thumb i say no its usually brown , you have to keep your hands in the soil. 🌱🌳🌼
You spelled Ollas correctly. Although you described it very well, an internet search for "ollas for watering plants" will give your readers a good idea of how they work.
I used carbon fiber weave fabric and put the strands in a brass tube then stuck it into crisco in jar. Wick lasts forever and draws oil through heated tube from bottom.
I use stone brick, I place 3-4 big Tealight candles underneath 2-3 bricks and that's plenty to raise the temperature in my small 8 square meter greenhouse . The candles i use have a good flame and last for 9-10 hours , the bricks radiate plenty of heat to the sides instead of the heat just going up with normal candle heating
Ive used 1/2" lamp wick. Soak in warmed crisco, add a washer to the bottom, poke down to the bottom with a wire. Ive seen a metal tub of water, with a lid, on top of the big pot, with spacers. Seemed to work.
I use broken bricks to hold up my clay pots. Or coffee cups. I have trouble keeping airflow and flame going. I will try a smaller opening at the bottom. good job going to center wicks instead of candles. I was going to suggest that but you figured it out. I've been using a smaller clay tray - just a little bigger than the crisco container - and put the brick parts around the edge of it leaving a good gap for airflow. I do like your stack better than layering them inside the big pot. that'll work better looks like. thank you
I was looking at Crisco a few days ago. Years ago it came in metal cans. Now it is in cardboard with a foil inside. I would be worried that the cardboard could catch fire and the heated oil could the run out and make a mess or bigger fire. I think i would use an old metal can and pour the warmed oil into it.
Melt the oil and pour into quart or pint glass jars then add wicks as it thickens so the wicks stand straight up. I braided waxed cotton during from the craft section and they worked great.
The thing is, just because you add the terra cotta above the heat source, the heat released from the burning of the fuel is not increased. So, the total heat energy released is unchanged. A simple open flame will release the same amount of heat energy into the surrounding air. With a fan going at all times, the heated air will mix and equilibrate just as it would with the terra cotta chimney. I'm not saying that the use of Crisco oil is not cool, because it very much is. I be it will burn for days!
I don't think increasing the heat is the goal...since there is that whole law of thermodynamics. My goal is the slowing/holding of the heat via thermal mass.
But in a room with human, air must be exchanged with the outside environment or you'll suffocate. The goal of the heater is to hold the heat in a solid/liquid so it can stay in the room and be slowly released.
Radiant and convective heat exchange are two different processes An open flame is convective and will heat the air Hot terracotta gives off radiant heat which heats the mass around it and then heats the air , much more efficient
Hello my friend I liked your style very much I have a suggestion I hope you like it To make a cone of wire by welding, like the one used in the tomato tower This is to contain and prevent pottery from falling😊
It looks like you could easily modify this setup to become a rocket stove mass heater. Just stick a pipe over the hole at the bottom of the pots, fill them with concrete, make sure the whole thing is tall enough to burn the wood gas completely, and Bob's your uncle. Robert Murray-Smith has a full playlist on his channel that goes into full detail on how to make a rocket stove if you are interested too.
The concept of a rocket stove is to more fully combust the fuel by forcing more air into the chamber. There is a finite amount of chemical energy in a candle or tub of crisco. If you caused it to combust quicker, you'd defeat the purpose of the slow, radiant heater, and you'd blow through the fuel. And Bob's your uncle.
The fuel source is a finite amount of heat. If the candle burns the same, trapping it more really makes no difference. It is the same amount of energy expended. The only thing the pots do are to help that finite amount of fuel radiate outward more than if the candle burned and more of the heat rose up with the exhaust gas. Either scenario is the same amount of heat.
You could stabilize the stacked pots with a section of copper pipe through the holes in the bottoms of the pots, long enough to end just inside the largest pot. Just have something on the top end to keep it from falling through. I suggest copper because it conducts heat well.
Terracotta pots MADE IN ITALY are true clay most other pots are just coloured terracotta made from some cement mix- I learned this from looking for clay pots to filter water!
Hmm I thought clay was clay. Wait so the terracotta army in China is a rip off? I mean if they only made clay and formed it then baked it. But if it didn't come from Italy it's not real?
Always works...3-dawg night...That was a rock band back in the day. Also, the sun is a great way BUTT how to store the heat for day(s)? Underground where the temp stays constant may be a good idea. Opposite principle here...I always wonder if water pumped thru a copper coil lowered into my 40-ft dug well THEN had a radiator with fan blowing across it would provide cooling?
i use an old candle votive, criso and birthday candles. i set my candle on an old stove burner under a pot with another burner on top.. keeps my coffee perfectly hot for sipping. made one with tin cans.. gonna use them in the shop while I putter.
Get an Oil lamp. Kerosene is cheaper than Crisco and it is much safer. Kerosene for a hurricane lamp is about $5.50 a gallon. At $8.79 for 48 ounces Crisco costs $23.44 im guessing they probably have the same thermal energy when burned. They also make Kerosene heaters but the oil lamp might give you the same btu.
YEAH, SINCE IT ISN'T MADE OF RENEDERD ANIMAL FAT ANYMORE BUT MADE WITH FREAKING SOYBEAN OIL. THIS IS THE ONLY THING I'D USE THE FAKE SHORTENING FOR NOW. EXCUSE MY CAPS PLEASE, I CAN'T SEE THE SMALL LETTERS WELL ENOUGH. THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT IDEA FOR USING THE TERRA COTTA POTS. ALL LARD "SHORTENING" IS NOW MADE OF WHIPPED SOYBEAN OIL.
@@WineberryHill Of course, sufficient ventilation is a must, but the CO output from a single wick in a can of Crisco should be minimal. If you're in any room larger than a closet it shouldn't be a problem. Also, if you have a few house plants, that should mitigate a large portion of that level of CO production. Bring in a battery-powered CO detector (which should be placed near your sleeping level, since it is heavier than air. That said, it beats freezing to death.
@@WineberryHill As I understand it, it would be the same CO risk as burning a candle, which tends to burn cleanly and completely. Vegetable oil and candles only produce carbon dioxide CO2 (conveniently, a candle emits about as much carbon dioxide as a house plant would consume sitting in the same room). There would have to be zero ventilation in a sealed space before the candle would use up all the oxygen in the room and begin to produce carbon monoxide. Even then, it would be very little and take a very time to build up to harmful levels if a human was inside the space. The method he’s presented here is fabulous! A genius way of increasing surface area, thus heat production and retention AND it can be used indoors. Maybe buy a detector, crack a window, or turn on a nearby exhaust fan to feed in a little oxygen if you’re nervous 👍🏻
The terra cotta is basically a heat sink... It will gradually get "intensely hot" and could possibly cause a flash fire... Trust me I know..The way to avoid this is simply set a fan to blow on the lowest pot.. The fans air current will cool the pot
@@stevenfraser6180 Convection fans run by the heat in order to spread out the air would be really cool. My aunt does this to spread out the heat from her wood fire stove.
I have a water source out in the middle of my pasture that is directly in the best place to put a large greenhouse on my property. Just no electricity. I bet this would be enough to keep some in-ground citrus happy out there on the coldest nights in my area. I wonder if bees wax candles would work for this too??? I am building an apiary at the moment that is beginning to expand. I now have lots of free-to-me wax.
Even if the beeswax wouldn't perform as well( dunno if it does or not) just the fact that you'll have it as a by-product of your work means it'll likely be way more economical. Generally you just need a long term flame, any candle should yield some results. Beeswax burns clean too, like soy, if I'm not mistaken, so no smoke worry. As an aside, you could consider a small solar power setup for your greenhouse. Your mileage may vary depending on where you live and if you're willing to set it up yourself or pay someone to do it. Worth some research. Good luck!
You could also put a piece of metal pipe through all the pots with nuts and washers on each end to make the entire top one piece. It would be safer that way.
Love the "cone head" (SNL flashback) heater! Yours is a brilliant design, with more surface to hold on to that heat. And your wick method, BRAVO! Husband recently bought inexpensive clay pots to break for drainage. He was shocked when he broke them, they aren't actually clay! "Yes, they are! Tag said clay, receipt said clay, they are clay in color"... examined them, He was right! They are simply PAINTED terra cotta. The core is now black glass, or ceramic, or? Shatters like glass. Sourced from Lowes or Walmart. Have watched other videos claiming the pots are bursting/exploding/shattering once they heat up. Which leads me to believe hubby may be onto something. Maybe he is the only one recognizing the industry change? Global sourcing makes them any which way you can for the least price perhaps? ~ Any insight into the faux clay? How do you identify a real clay pot? 🤔 Has it been a while since you last purchased one? I bet 4 year old pots are real, where as 2 to 3 year old may not be. THANKS for any advice.
Thanks so very much for sharing your excellent observations and insights! Without doubt, over the last several years the formulations of MANY things (we have previously taken for granted) have changed, e.g., look at the acidity percentage on a white vinegar bottle. Used to be the standard was 5%, which is what's required in many food preservation uses of white vinegar, but it's no longer consistently 5%. And that leads to potentially poisonous failures in food preservation if people are unaware. And of course, that doesn't even begin to address the recent addition of "bioengineered" (ingredients) showing up in the ingredient list on food labels...
This is a great video. Thanks for the clear illustrations of your implementation. I really liked how you suggested using candle wicks and how you showed placing them into the shortening can. Also the idea of stacking multiple pots atop each other to maximize the heat that exhausts out. Does the stacking of pottery also cut down on any un-burned residue ("soot")? Have you used a small fan to blow around any of the radiant heat? If so, has it detrimentally affected the operation of this by doing something like shortening the life of the candle itself with the increased oxygen flow?
How well would it heat a cold room, size etc? How long does the heater last? But love this. Thank you. It gets cold in some places in Australia. Black ice and frozen water pipes....oh and Drop Bears don't care about the temperature...hence we have vegemite.
Mmm I just seen a report saying Lard is better than the oils we've been using ... Just Saying , I switched back to Crisco in my fryer a man my French fries taste soo much better .. l was truely SHOCKED...😊
This will work with just about any size. You might want to go to a nursery...etc. and find the biggest pot you can lift, and then find which pots will stack on it correctly.
Great idea and it also looks good! One silly question.Say you want to extinguish the flame,how do you do it?Put on heavy gloves and disassemble it first?Muffle the base with something and cover the top hole to starve the flame?Would that work?
Could melt the crisco, Pour it into a similar sized terracotta pot with the can lid glued over the hole. Bonus: inserting the wicks into the grease will be easy while it's still liquid.
I have found that some wicks burn better than others. If adjusting the air mix (space at bottom doesn’t help you might need to use candles pushed down in center. Just have a spatula nearby to collect the extra fuel that pushes out. You can slowly add it back in later
What about using in an cold house or apartment, do you have carbon monoxide issues and what if the cat 🐈 flicks his tail against the pot, i am going to have an screaming cat running around the house with an burning tail??
This is Awesome! I love your methodical steps! Question: how long do the candles last? I am lucky to live in sunny CA where we only get a few light frost days per year!!
Fun fact
Crisco is the name given to "Crystallized Cottonseed Oil." Cottonseed oil was first derived by people through the use of an oil press in order to find a purpose for the excessive number of seeds produced by cotton agriculture. The original purpose of cottonseed oil was to fill lamps and lubricate farm engines.
Then a scientist found that you can change the structure of this lamp oil or machine lubricant by saturating it in hydrogen gas, which gives the unique solid properties usually reserved for saturated fat like butter. Then an aspiring entrepreneur found that you could sell this lamp oil as food oil, and as a butter substitute.
Please. Do not consume Crisco.
for real, its not needed in anything as an ingredient, in 43 years of life, I have never purchased a drop
Or ANY hydrogenated oil.
Then the marketing was geared towards people that they were poor if they didn’t use Crisco so people stopped using lard etc. and started using Crisco
Crisco is fine to eat. Also helps make great pie crusts, especially when combined with butter.
@@mattypantsNO….it is NOT fine to eat! It’s a toxic and nasty slow genocide!
Put the Crisco in the oven for 10-15 minutes, and the shortening will turn liquid. Then, lower the wicks to the bottom and let it cool. No pipes or curtain rod needed.
& It Could possibly be put in a taller can so one wouldn't cut as much wick off?? Maybe?
@@travelchannel304 get shorter wicks
@@colinstace1758 get natural cotton cord from a fabric store and then you can just cut it to fit whatever length you want. Way cheaper than wicks, works the same.
What temperature for the oven? Thank you
@@travelchannel304
You can buy a spool of wick and cut them to whatever length you need or you can get wicks of different lengths
I’m a new greenhouse owner, in Montana. I used your technique two weeks ago, on a night when it got down to 1 degree F (it may have been below zero, but I went to bed and didn't see). I would say it made a 20 degree difference in my 6 x 12 greenhouse. This stove was so easy to build- I did in the middle of the night, with a headlamp. As it was an emergency, I just pushed candle stubs right into the crisco, set it on the gravel, put the largest pot on feet made of cat food tins and piled on the little pots. I have been using thermal mass (water) and need to add more- but that night was just no match for it. With frost covers and the little stove, my plants were saved. Thanks for such clear and easy advice.
Awesome, that's great to hear!
@@WineberryHill it really looked awesome, too. Like a little rocket getting ready to take off.
Bill Gates owns ECOLAB who add poison to over 35 thousand water treatment plants ... they have been adding Palm Oil for 2 years ... to increase viscosity is their reason. ... and less oxygen that was used to purify !
Looks great, can't wait to try it. Does it produce any oily byproduct that stick to the greenhouse glass?
@@rockekoreis3160 I found the inside of the pot got very sooty, but nothing made it to the glass. Be sure to use small pots on the top to trap as much heat and soot as possible.
The cardboard Crisco containers can be substituted with paint cans from the hardware store if you are concerned with them catching on fire, and your windows can be covered with large bubble wrap and attached with water with a little kitchen soap, to be used as insulation, and this still gives your plants light. If one end of the green house has an opening, but blocked with leaves and straw, they will give natural heat to the room. Decomposition will do this, and you also can use it for mulch on the plants to help keep them warm. Also keep a fire extinguisher or fire blanket to throw over everything, and don't let your fuel run too low that it can catch on fire.
I am concerned about the safety of burning inside the crisco or plastic tubs...
How does it catch fire just from being low?
My grandad used to do this in his green house. I use it in my house too. Remember to seat the heater where you don’t have to move it. Once it’s hot you won’t be able to touch it. 👍
Exept with oven mittens
And it's not as if a situation of oxygen starvation/dander to humans is to be caused.
we just use a big compost pile in the greenhouse and that is it...
We had an older apartment with a big window n a cold bathroom, luckily there was a big tile counter connecting the bathtub. The terracotta stove made taking a bath very comfy!
Last winter it hit -22° with -60° wind chill over night. I had just moved and didn’t realize my propane was set to shut off during a power outage. Well, power went out. House went from 75° to 10° in two hours, and dropping significantly. Only thing that kept me alive that night was one of these terracotta heaters I made real fast when I realized how screwed I was. Kept it going with a soda can candle. It didn’t get 75° in the house, but it was warm enough where a few layers of blankets kept me warm. Power came back on 8 hours later. I would have probably died that night if I didn’t have this heater.
Before you comment “you wouldn’t have died!” Or whatever, just know that -22° is no joke and with -60° wind chills you can freeze to death in under 5 minutes without proper insulated clothing.
If the air temp goes below only 64 degrees F, you can go hypothermic and die (if you didn't have clothes on, or very lightweight clothing), so it doesn't take as much chill as one would think to endanger your life.
I grew up in hot, humid E. Texas and now live in S. California. The coldest I've ever been in my life was 4 degrees while camping at Palo Duro Canyon in NW Texas during Winter (I don't recommend it). I can't even imagine temps below 0.
I use 3 of these terracotta heaters, one is just for my parrot. They are my only source of heat when it's cloudy, which is most of the Winter. I live off-grid on solar/wind/battery power system, so on sunny days I can run electric heaters during the day.
One thing I've added is that I put river rocks between the pot layers, and those stones stay warm for an hour after the candles are out. It warms the room by at least 20 degrees after a couple of hours.
Thank you for these added tips and verifying that these candles will not cause carbon monoxide poisoning or anything else that crack pots try to say to scare ppl away from using them. It's safer than burning a candle in a candle holder. With a normal room, a candle is not gonna produce enough carbon monoxide to kill a mouse. So thank you for proving my point to those naysayers
Making a blanket tent in your smallest room can help in emergencies. That way you emergency candles and and body heat will help.
Correct. Drop 10 degrees with that wind
FYI if the Terra Cotta pots or some of them were coated in graphite it will add probably about 10° F more heat and become an infrared heat source as well.
Has to be 100% graphite it's cheap at hardware store and your only going to use a small amount rubbed on the "Outside Only" of the TerraCotta pot.
Can be messy take precautions.
Be sure to use a temp gun before and after to measure the increase.
Have fun
Genius…Thanks for watching!
This video is an absolute gem.
In my unheated and uninsulated wood shop, I use a couple bricks. I'll roast the bricks in the oven for half an hour.
Then I take the bricks out to the shop. Set them edge up and then stack the terracotta pot on top of that with three large candles in between the bricks.
Instant heat, and it lasts for hours
Can u add some photo how exactly does that looks? I need heating as have no heat over winter... how warm it is? How much breeks ubuse etc...
Need for indoors for a two roots quite big...
One thing to note about terra cotta "heaters" is that they are heat collector/spreaders. A candle that outputs about 300 btu per wick (assuming 5 hour burn time and Paraffin wax) is not going to magically output more BTUs. However, it will spread it across the entire terra cotta surface and melt your candles quicker.
So basically what I'm saying is keep them away from flammable things, and make sure your candle has sufficient air space between it and the pots to not melt too quickly.
Yup, it's essentially, a thermal battery.
This man uses a large vat of Crisco in a can, not a tiny free standing paraffin candle. Flammable items don't really catch fire from a hot terracotta pot either. What's ur point?
@@brianjustice908 The advantage of a heat spreader is that you can collect or dissipate heat more efficiently, which is the goal if you want to heat a space like a greenhouse. Yes, the same amount of total heat of combustion will be released, but the goal is to dissipate that heat into the surrounding space rather than just to get a small area really hot. Even if the candle burns faster, this is completely fine if that helps keep the greenhouse up to the desired temperature. It's better to need to burn through two candles if burning one candle in the same amount of time isn't enough to keep plants alive through the winter. (Also yes a solar heater or other style of electric heater would also probably be even more efficient, but the simplicity of vegetable oil and terra cotta offers a super low-maintenance and highly available heater setup even when more advanced technology is not available.)
@@ethanpayne4116 it’s a good off the grid solution- so for that situation we’ll worth exploring.
I don’t believe the goal is to create noticeable heat but raising to the general temperature to eliminate the dangers of frosts or chills.
If it saves your plants when you may be relying on them it could be a life saver
@@ahveganpizzabella The point is be quiet and do your homework.
The terra cotta heater you made is awesome and I'm gonna make one myself. Here's a Crisco tip : slowly melt it into liquid then pour it and place your wick and let it harden. This way you get a longer and more stable burning of your candle.
How long does a can like this last?
@@IceManOregon a week
I make portable heater using old tuna can coil cardboard in it pour in some wax and surround it with brick, puts out a whole lot of heat and burns for roughly 2 hours... Low cost to free to make, you can always find old used candles at thrift stores or garage sales for cheap if not free....
I could use this for heating my tent when camping! I'll never forget a summer camping and fishing trip years ago when it suddenly turned cold at night time. I was totally unprepared for an unseasonably very cold night when we had previously been having a heat wave. Even my labrador retriever got in the sleeping bag with me she was so cold. I never went camping unprepared for weather changes again.
ouch!! Sounds so uncomfortable. I hope poochie kept you warm.
You will smell like french fries so watch out for the bears.
Me too, luckily another camper lent me a light blanket. I nearly froze to death. I shook violently all night!
Wow! I like that a lot. And if you have to hang around the greenhouse to work on some gardening, you can put a kettle on the large pot to heat up water for tea or a coffee percolator. Thank you for the awesome vid!
If you know this is something you plan to do, i might suggest candle wicks or cutting up a lantern wick but… set the can of crisco/lard in a hot car and just drop the wick in. You could also paint a terracotta pot black and place it into the sun with the lard underneath it.
Also, if you fill and seal the top pot with sand before you heat it, sand will hold the heat longer and it will work more efficiently. I think they call them “sand solar batteries” or something. It just doesn’t cool off as fast as a thin pot would when the flame goes out.
Great tips!
Such a good tip!
Not sure that the additional pots do other than restrict the airflow. The BTUs are set by the Crisco fuel. If you want to spread out the time the heat lasts, then set a large terracotta pot on top and fill it with loose rock or similar substances. Anything that will let the combustion fumes through.
Squeezing every calorie you can. Excellent.
This is the first I have seen of the terra cotta feet. Thanks for sharing.
You're welcome
There main use is to put them under your pots to allow water to drain away so plants don't get water logged.
Never saw the crisco vegore just tea light candles but that bid stack of terra cotta is very nice! Power and power outage ice storm saver!
Great video. Lighting, editing and it was to the point! But if I may suggest an upgrade. Take one of your tomato cages and modify it so it fits somewhat snug over the top of it. Turn it upside down and cut it and then tighten it a bit so that it fits flush on the sides of the pots. You should be able to bend the ends near where you cut to into a hook to keep it tightened around the pots. I would also either choose a permanent spot in the greenhouse and then make some sort of system to latch the bottom of the cage to the floor. Alternatively you could make a base for it to sit on with latches to latch the cage down to.
Good thinking!
Brilliant and beautiful! And I love your readers tip to use a fan to disperse the heat and avoid a flash fire.
Thank you! 😊
Now i will share what other use i have for terracotta pots and that is making Ollas. My spelling may be off , and i dont have the link to show so i will briefly explain and hope you find this helpful and so glad to find your channel im very excited now. Ok Ollas are using the terracotta pot and a terracotta saucer to make a long term water source for plants in the ground . You place saucer right side up and turn pot upside down onto saucer and form a tight bond with small amount of cement joining both and then bury beside plants that are to far for your hose or maybe your going to be away and by filling the pot water slowly seeps out over a long period . Please share this idea if you like . Gardening is my passion when people say i must have a green thumb i say no its usually brown , you have to keep your hands in the soil. 🌱🌳🌼
You spelled Ollas correctly. Although you described it very well, an internet search for "ollas for watering plants" will give your readers a good idea of how they work.
I have a few for emergencies. Back up heat for over a month at a decent cost. 👊
I used carbon fiber weave fabric and put the strands in a brass tube then stuck it into crisco in jar. Wick lasts forever and draws oil through heated tube from bottom.
I use stone brick, I place 3-4 big Tealight candles underneath 2-3 bricks and that's plenty to raise the temperature in my small 8 square meter greenhouse .
The candles i use have a good flame and last for 9-10 hours , the bricks radiate plenty of heat to the sides instead of the heat just going up with normal candle heating
Finally- a use for the lard I skim off my stock!
Clever yes, Thanks for sharing.
I will not use crisco based on its content.
Big diff in keeping plants alive and people warm🔥of course some almost frozen people can live,,like veggies.
Ive used 1/2" lamp wick. Soak in warmed crisco, add a washer to the bottom, poke down to the bottom with a wire.
Ive seen a metal tub of water, with a lid, on top of the big pot, with spacers. Seemed to work.
Yay now i can make hot cocoa if the power goes out!!! I like your ingenuity
@@cynthiabehr1870 NOW..... swap the Crisco for bacon grease and your greenhouse smells like fresh cooked BACON!!!! :D
So simple...sooo effective
I use broken bricks to hold up my clay pots. Or coffee cups. I have trouble keeping airflow and flame going. I will try a smaller opening at the bottom. good job going to center wicks instead of candles. I was going to suggest that but you figured it out. I've been using a smaller clay tray - just a little bigger than the crisco container - and put the brick parts around the edge of it leaving a good gap for airflow. I do like your stack better than layering them inside the big pot. that'll work better looks like. thank you
So much brilliance in this, not to mention great hair and surprisingly nice pecs.
Best terracotta heater I have seen I think ✅🙏✌️❤️🌍🌈
I was looking at Crisco a few days ago. Years ago it came in metal cans. Now it is in cardboard with a foil inside. I would be worried that the cardboard could catch fire and the heated oil could the run out and make a mess or bigger fire. I think i would use an old metal can and pour the warmed oil into it.
I would not attempt this unless the container was real metal.
Melt the oil and pour into quart or pint glass jars then add wicks as it thickens so the wicks stand straight up. I braided waxed cotton during from the craft section and they worked great.
The thing is, just because you add the terra cotta above the heat source, the heat released from the burning of the fuel is not increased. So, the total heat energy released is unchanged. A simple open flame will release the same amount of heat energy into the surrounding air. With a fan going at all times, the heated air will mix and equilibrate just as it would with the terra cotta chimney.
I'm not saying that the use of Crisco oil is not cool, because it very much is. I be it will burn for days!
I don't think increasing the heat is the goal...since there is that whole law of thermodynamics. My goal is the slowing/holding of the heat via thermal mass.
But in a room with human, air must be exchanged with the outside environment or you'll suffocate. The goal of the heater is to hold the heat in a solid/liquid so it can stay in the room and be slowly released.
It is nice to see that at least one person in one hundred paid attention in high school physics.
@@minhducnguyen9276 this is meant for a greenhouse not inside a persons house. If anything the extra CO2 would be good for the plants
Radiant and convective heat exchange are two different processes
An open flame is convective and will heat the air
Hot terracotta gives off radiant heat which heats the mass around it and then heats the air , much more efficient
Hello my friend
I liked your style very much
I have a suggestion I hope you like it
To make a cone of wire by welding, like the one used in the tomato tower
This is to contain and prevent pottery from falling😊
If you using wooden matches. Put the used one into the crisco. it will make a wic. i do that with candles when the wics kind of drowning out.
I love this idea! Never seen one raised that big like this, makes sense as heat rises 😉
It looks like you could easily modify this setup to become a rocket stove mass heater. Just stick a pipe over the hole at the bottom of the pots, fill them with concrete, make sure the whole thing is tall enough to burn the wood gas completely, and Bob's your uncle. Robert Murray-Smith has a full playlist on his channel that goes into full detail on how to make a rocket stove if you are interested too.
The concept of a rocket stove is to more fully combust the fuel by forcing more air into the chamber. There is a finite amount of chemical energy in a candle or tub of crisco. If you caused it to combust quicker, you'd defeat the purpose of the slow, radiant heater, and you'd blow through the fuel. And Bob's your uncle.
I know with candles if you put them in the freezer, when you come to use it, it lasts longer. I wonder if this idea would work with your Crisco
I never knew that!
Going to make one for emergency heat source for power outage in my small all electric apartment!
Be careful
You can get a long screw and loaded up with Lugnuts and that will also help trans a large amount of heat
Good tip.
If you put a size smaller in the bigger one first you'll trap even more heat
The fuel source is a finite amount of heat. If the candle burns the same, trapping it more really makes no difference. It is the same amount of energy expended. The only thing the pots do are to help that finite amount of fuel radiate outward more than if the candle burned and more of the heat rose up with the exhaust gas. Either scenario is the same amount of heat.
You could stabilize the stacked pots with a section of copper pipe through the holes in the bottoms of the pots, long enough to end just inside the largest pot. Just have something on the top end to keep it from falling through. I suggest copper because it conducts heat well.
Great idea!
That could be counter productive jettisoning the heat directly out the top instead of the heat welling up and heating each pot/chamber on the way up.
If you cap the bottom of the tube and you get the right size copper tubing and you flare the top would keep it from falling thru and easily removed. 😊
second set of spacers and a pot with out a hole in the bottom... fewer chambers and no heat loss out the middle
Terracotta pots MADE IN ITALY are true clay most other pots are just coloured terracotta made from some cement mix- I learned this from looking for clay pots to filter water!
Hmm I thought clay was clay.
Wait so the terracotta army in China is a rip off?
I mean if they only made clay and formed it then baked it. But if it didn't come from Italy it's not real?
Great idea for stationary heater
Thankyou - I find the music distracting but I love the ideas ❤
Always works...3-dawg night...That was a rock band back in the day. Also, the sun is a great way BUTT how to store the heat for day(s)? Underground where the temp stays constant may be a good idea. Opposite principle here...I always wonder if water pumped thru a copper coil lowered into my 40-ft dug well THEN had a radiator with fan blowing across it would provide cooling?
i use an old candle votive, criso and birthday candles. i set my candle on an old stove burner under a pot with another burner on top..
keeps my coffee perfectly hot for sipping. made one with tin cans.. gonna use them in the shop while I putter.
Get an Oil lamp. Kerosene is cheaper than Crisco and it is much safer. Kerosene for a hurricane lamp is about $5.50 a gallon. At $8.79 for 48 ounces Crisco costs $23.44 im guessing they probably have the same thermal energy when burned. They also make Kerosene heaters but the oil lamp might give you the same btu.
Finally . . . a good use for crisco. lol
YEAH, SINCE IT ISN'T MADE OF RENEDERD ANIMAL FAT ANYMORE BUT MADE WITH FREAKING SOYBEAN OIL. THIS IS THE ONLY THING I'D USE THE FAKE SHORTENING FOR NOW. EXCUSE MY CAPS PLEASE, I CAN'T SEE THE SMALL LETTERS WELL ENOUGH. THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT IDEA FOR USING THE TERRA COTTA POTS. ALL LARD "SHORTENING" IS NOW MADE OF WHIPPED SOYBEAN OIL.
It could be useful as emergency heat in your home during a power failure, too.
The carbon monoxide risk might not be worth it, this is best for greenhouses
@@WineberryHill Of course, sufficient ventilation is a must, but the CO output from a single wick in a can of Crisco should be minimal. If you're in any room larger than a closet it shouldn't be a problem. Also, if you have a few house plants, that should mitigate a large portion of that level of CO production. Bring in a battery-powered CO detector (which should be placed near your sleeping level, since it is heavier than air. That said, it beats freezing to death.
@@WineberryHill - How long would that burn before eventually running out of fuel?
It might be a good way to keep pipes from freezing when there is a power outage?
@@WineberryHill As I understand it, it would be the same CO risk as burning a candle, which tends to burn cleanly and completely. Vegetable oil and candles only produce carbon dioxide CO2 (conveniently, a candle emits about as much carbon dioxide as a house plant would consume sitting in the same room).
There would have to be zero ventilation in a sealed space before the candle would use up all the oxygen in the room and begin to produce carbon monoxide. Even then, it would be very little and take a very time to build up to harmful levels if a human was inside the space.
The method he’s presented here is fabulous! A genius way of increasing surface area, thus heat production and retention AND it can be used indoors. Maybe buy a detector, crack a window, or turn on a nearby exhaust fan to feed in a little oxygen if you’re nervous 👍🏻
Use copper you can burn dirtier stuff. Carbon fabric too as wick.
tell us more about it?
The terra cotta is basically a heat sink... It will gradually get "intensely hot" and could possibly cause a flash fire... Trust me I know..The way to avoid this is simply set a fan to blow on the lowest pot.. The fans air current will cool the pot
Great tip!
The fan is a great addition. I use a stovetop fan on my tealight heater. 2 x 12 hour tealights keep a constant 65c on the top brick.
@@C1223opuv Is this enough to cool the pot? Trying to heat a greenhouse with no power to it.
@@WineberryHill Perhaps a fan driven by the convection?
@@stevenfraser6180 Convection fans run by the heat in order to spread out the air would be really cool. My aunt does this to spread out the heat from her wood fire stove.
I would love to see how you dismantle this in the morning and blow out the wicks.
Thanks! Our greenhouse will use this...
Never heard of this before . Wow i cant believe i didnt know this method. Thank you thank you .
At 200F, you might want to try a heat powered fan. It might surprise you, I was.
I have a water source out in the middle of my pasture that is directly in the best place to put a large greenhouse on my property. Just no electricity. I bet this would be enough to keep some in-ground citrus happy out there on the coldest nights in my area.
I wonder if bees wax candles would work for this too??? I am building an apiary at the moment that is beginning to expand. I now have lots of free-to-me wax.
Even if the beeswax wouldn't perform as well( dunno if it does or not) just the fact that you'll have it as a by-product of your work means it'll likely be way more economical.
Generally you just need a long term flame, any candle should yield some results.
Beeswax burns clean too, like soy, if I'm not mistaken, so no smoke worry.
As an aside, you could consider a small solar power setup for your greenhouse.
Your mileage may vary depending on where you live and if you're willing to set it up yourself or pay someone to do it. Worth some research.
Good luck!
for the wicks, melt a spoon full of Crisco pour over wicks and wait to cool , no worries friend hole plugged
You could also put a piece of metal pipe through all the pots with nuts and washers on each end to make the entire top one piece. It would be safer that way.
Good tip
Love the "cone head" (SNL flashback) heater! Yours is a brilliant design, with more surface to hold on to that heat. And your wick method, BRAVO!
Husband recently bought inexpensive clay pots to break for drainage. He was shocked when he broke them, they aren't actually clay! "Yes, they are! Tag said clay, receipt said clay, they are clay in color"... examined them, He was right! They are simply PAINTED terra cotta. The core is now black glass, or ceramic, or? Shatters like glass.
Sourced from Lowes or Walmart. Have watched other videos claiming the pots are bursting/exploding/shattering once they heat up. Which leads me to believe hubby may be onto something. Maybe he is the only one recognizing the industry change? Global sourcing makes them any which way you can for the least price perhaps? ~ Any insight into the faux clay? How do you identify a real clay pot? 🤔 Has it been a while since you last purchased one? I bet 4 year old pots are real, where as 2 to 3 year old may not be. THANKS for any advice.
fascinating and disappointing!
Thanks for this info. I'm also wondering if that's why some people's pots are shattering.
Thanks so very much for sharing your excellent observations and insights! Without doubt, over the last several years the formulations of MANY things (we have previously taken for granted) have changed, e.g., look at the acidity percentage on a white vinegar bottle. Used to be the standard was 5%, which is what's required in many food preservation uses of white vinegar, but it's no longer consistently 5%. And that leads to potentially poisonous failures in food preservation if people are unaware. And of course, that doesn't even begin to address the recent addition of "bioengineered" (ingredients) showing up in the ingredient list on food labels...
I use meat grease. I bought some floating metal discs on amazon to hold the wicks.
Clever!
an empty coffee can also works suberbly!
Salute from Scotland
Why not, after putting the wicks in, just pour some melted Crisco into the hole and let it cool?
Great idea and thanks for sharing. Definitely going to put this in practice.
You are so welcome!
I've got neighbors from OK, they keep breaking in and eating the shortening!
Grrrrr!
This is a great video. Thanks for the clear illustrations of your implementation. I really liked how you suggested using candle wicks and how you showed placing them into the shortening can. Also the idea of stacking multiple pots atop each other to maximize the heat that exhausts out.
Does the stacking of pottery also cut down on any un-burned residue ("soot")?
Have you used a small fan to blow around any of the radiant heat? If so, has it detrimentally affected the operation of this by doing something like shortening the life of the candle itself with the increased oxygen flow?
How well would it heat a cold room, size etc? How long does the heater last? But love this. Thank you. It gets cold in some places in Australia. Black ice and frozen water pipes....oh and Drop Bears don't care about the temperature...hence we have vegemite.
what's a drop bear. Would this be Tasmania? Or even down Adelaide area?
Wow, watch something like this first time ever, does this really works???
That's the best thing for crisco, since that stuff is not fit for human consumption.
Will need to try this.
Mmm I just seen a report saying Lard is better than the oils we've been using ... Just Saying , I switched back to Crisco in my fryer a man my French fries taste soo much better .. l was truely SHOCKED...😊
This is so clever, thank you!
Glad you like it!
Neat and ingenius idea! Thanks for sharing!
Glad you liked it!
very cool! thanks for a clear explanation.
Merci from Montreal, Canada.
Try using a rolled-up piece of carbon fiber welding blanket for a wick.
It will burn longer with the Taper Handel's. They are wax and burn slower, forcing them to mix and burn at a fixed rate.
Candel's*
Hi! I love this! Could you please tell me what size pots you used to stack for this? Thank you!
This will work with just about any size. You might want to go to a nursery...etc. and find the biggest pot you can lift, and then find which pots will stack on it correctly.
That's an impressive greenhouse!
Thanks!
Great idea and it also looks good! One silly question.Say you want to extinguish the flame,how do you do it?Put on heavy gloves and disassemble it first?Muffle the base with something and cover the top hole to starve the flame?Would that work?
Yes, exactly. Gloves take upper few off and blow the flame out through the top hole.
@@WineberryHill How long does a can last?
Cool, best use for that stuff I've seen.
Thanks ❤
Thanks for the video. I will have to make one.
Thank you!
I think it is a great way to use up any crisco that you forgot about, that went rancid on ya. *speaking for a friend*
Yep
Great video!! Two questions: Why 3 wicks instead of 1? Why all 3 in the middle instead of evenly distributed? Thanks!
more heat generated from 3 or 4 wicks than just 1
You should put the crisco in something non-flammable.
It's in a tin can, tin is non flammable
@@colinstace1758 it's cardboard, only a thin sheet of metal on the bottom for stability.
Could melt the crisco,
Pour it into a similar sized terracotta pot with the can lid glued over the hole.
Bonus: inserting the wicks into the grease will be easy while it's still liquid.
Help!
I did like you did with the wick only no candles. The Crisco by itself keeps putting out the candles.
Any advise on how to stop this?
I have found that some wicks burn better than others. If adjusting the air mix (space at bottom doesn’t help you might need to use candles pushed down in center. Just have a spatula nearby to collect the extra fuel that pushes out. You can slowly add it back in later
What about using in an cold house or apartment, do you have carbon monoxide issues and what if the cat 🐈 flicks his tail against the pot, i am going to have an screaming cat running around the house with an burning tail??
Really this will only work in a greenhouse...
Thank you so so much
Time to warm up!
The Terra cotta battle continues...😁🤟
Very nice greenhouse!
Thanks!
Neat idea! Unfortunately it wont work here in Minnesota where its -40 in January.
This is often used with other methods (like G.A.H.T), at can sometimes make the difference between plants surviving a cold snap or not.
Thank you.
GENIUS! So is that a 12, 6,4 and 2 inch terracotta?
Sounds right!
Thank you bro, nice design!!!
Stealing it :)))
This is
Awesome! I love your methodical steps!
Question: how long do the candles last?
I am lucky to live in sunny CA where we only get a few light frost days per year!!
a week or two