I made one of these, and used it during a snow storm when the power went out last winter. It did heat. It wasn't comfortable warm I still had to wear a jacket in the house. It kept the living room survivable warm and when you went into another room of the house you could tell the other rooms were colder.
@@RobMacKendrick I don't think the "experts" meant to say that it won't output heat, just that it won't output more heat then the candles without pots. What it will do though, is to keep the heat from rising to the roof as fast as standalone candles would and if in close proximity to your body you could gain warmth from the radiated heat stored in the pots.
@@ScinnerNo1 Exactly. In my experience, you can't heat a space with candles alone. This device apparently "banks" the heat so it's conserved in one place and released over time, which makes sense to me.
In case you slept through science class; the pots do not increase the amount of heat generated by the candles. The ceramic pots absorb the heat from the candles in a way that slows down the thermal energy produced by the candles from immediately equilibrating with the air in the room. The ceramic's heat capacity allows it to reach a higher temperature before "releasing" the heat into it's immediate surroundings. As a result, the pots warm the air adjacent to them to a comfortable temperature for warming your hands; something that a candle doesn't do well on it's own. A candle without the surrounding pots feels apparently cold about a foot away, and scolding hot within a few inches. By slowing down the transfer of thermal energy to the surroundings you get a small volume of comfortably warm air beside the pots.
To: Mr. Ydstie , Isaac, 🔵 Also...I believe he could also get a greater heat output by closing off the lowest area a-bit more by either raising the candle platform higher, or lowering the top accumulator and adjusting the flu-effect coming in around through the open edge of the lower plate to increase the velocity of the air coming into it. The candles would burn-faster at that point but the unit would Supply a greater amount of heat during that time.
Pro-tip: Put the nuts on the threaded rod before cutting. This will give you a more stable position to hold it on a table as you cut, raises it just off the table, and lets you straighten the threads on removal as they will be mangled somewhat.
We did something like this in our utility room during “ice-pocalypse” last February. It’s a small room off our kitchen with our food pantry on one wall and the washer/dryer on the exterior wall. There was a noticeable warmer temp difference once we set up the 4 wick candle under the clay pot.
A tip for cutting threaded rods and also bolts of course, put a nut on the rod just past where you need to cut it. Cut it with a hacksaw as normal, file any major burrs off the cut rod and then unscrew the nut again. It'll make certain the threads are good after cutting acting as a follower and always be easy to take on and off. For those that are laughing at this type of heater, it will adequately heat any small space like a van or hunting hide and things like that. It will also prevent freezing in slightly larger rooms so it is a useful design and very cheap to make and run.
I was checking out all the videos on this subject, and your tutorial is the best. It looks waaaaay better than some that I've seen. This is attractive enough to keep displayed when people come over... Thank you for sharing! 🥰
I think this would work to keep from freezing to death during a power outage. I remember my time years ago on military exercises in Germany during the winter. It was truly amazing how much one candle would warm up a pup tent. One guy did manage to burn his tent down though.
It is a very pretty design, and does look much more stable and safe than standard clay pot heaters. I can see enjoying this on cold winter nights in my apartment where there is no fireplace, just for the ambiance.
Made two of these using the same parts and method. It works great. it does not heat a large room but adds about 5 degrees to a 10x12 room. And it looks nice. This would work in a small area like a tent or small area. The point is it does work if your not expecting to much.
Hi, I'm planning to make such a thing. You say it's heated 5 degrees, is this in Fahrenheit or Celsius. Furthermore, you are talking about a room of 10 x 12, this is in meters or yards. Looking forward to your response.
Living one winter out in an old army tent, with down filled sleeping gear, and heating by candle. After a very cold February night (-14 and howling winds), I asked my friend how it went. He said, "It was a 3 candle night. And I only had 2 candles".
I just saw a candle made in jars using Crisco and birthday candles as the wick. Cheap and brilliant, the oil does not smoke. She used small jars for terra cotta pots. Love your design.
Hi and the Candle oil would you need these seperately? I been using empty paint cans, take out the cardboard from the toilet paper, then shove the toilet paper all the way into the empty metal can. Add candlewax at the bottom if you prefer, fill it almost to the top with isotropic alcohol. Myself I placed holes in the can lid so the fire only seeps through the holes I made in the lid then you light the toilet paper and your good to go. You can use this as a stove should you have no electric, you can also use 2 more empty cans if you would prefer.
This is fantastic, it looks really good and is great for keeping rooms you are not using regularly damp free. Also if you put one scented candle in it keeps the room smelling nice. Really great idea and it looks lovely in your rooms. Thanks so much for posting.
In dire times, multiple heat sources are indeed handy to have. Plans a, b, c, and d. I have electric, solar, gas, wood, propane and now candle heaters. Each one at the ready. Proper planning prevents poor performance. Good luck and may God bless.
i built and tested one of these in a lab in west texas with a starting temp of about 17F. i used a 3 inverted bases (stacked inside with a 1 inch separation) with an adjustable base and 4 candles. the structure was a 10 x 12 with a 7 foot ceiling insulated with 1/2 foam (doubled on the ceiling). (all measurements are in feet above) it took 2 hours to raise the temperature from 17 degrees to 45 degrees and about 1 hour more from 45 to 65 where it hovered for the duration of the burn. i used pots without holes and the heat that came off of them was pretty serious stuff. you can calculate the heat BTUs pretty easy, but for test purposes it worked well.
ppl are saying this won't work. but we just had a bad blackout in nb canada for a few days. a bunch tealights and candles kept my house at 63 degrees. with a watchful eye tho, everything was sold out at stores so fast you have to do with what you have and having these extra with the pieces of mind they are safer then just open candles in a home with pets and kids during a big blackout. anything helps. great vid
In my experience during blackouts people light all the candles they can get their hands on anyway, so why not use them in a way that gives off a little heat to the people hovering around the candles watching them burn? Without the flower pots, or something similar, the heat is going to rise up toward the ceiling. This way people can at least get their fingers warm. I might even put foot rests on one so I can keep my toes warm.
How many tea lights? All of them? How big a house? The whole house? Just the small room it was in? What did you use to measure temperature what was the out side temp?
@@lorib1696 candles give off heat.......The extra pot is useless and makes them less efficient. If you wanted to do as you said use a metal pot so it radiates more. Ceramic will heat up but it doesn't dissipate heat good Think of grabbing something hot outta the oven if you use fabric gloves they dont transfer the heat good, if you made aluminum gloves you'd feel it instantly. Think of a kiln It uses ceramics to keep the heat inside and not leaking out. where as a wood burner is metal so that all the heat the metal gets ends up being displaced to the air.
@@yaymidget Another hack you should know, when we lost power we had no gloves so we would alternate putting our fingers in my sisters who-ha to prevent frostbite. You can also put other appendages in there to warm them up.
Yes, because u have wind turbines that works only when is not freezing. Make some new nuclear power plants, if you have skillfull people to do that and operate them.
What most people are not considering when they complain about this not being effective is that it basically creates a heat battery which can be located lower in the room compared do where the heat would escape if not for the pots. The pots capture most of the candle heat, and then they radiate that heat. Without the pots, of course the candle heat would immediately rise directly to the roof (where it's not very useful). So there is some value to this general design. And in fact, for people using computers in cold environments, this is nice as you can periodically put your hands on it to warm them (while the rest of your body is staying warm from wearing multiple layers of good clothing).
That's just mind numbingly wrong. Candles only put out so much heat, and whether it's radiating from the pot or candle itself, heat rises immediately all the same. There are just not enough BTUs in this set up for heating a room bigger than a dog house. The only thing you can use this for practically is a hand warmer.
@@RockSleeper It's about how the heat is released. A candle with nothing, yes the heat will rise immediately to the ceiling. With the pots, the heat will release more slowly and radiate outwards much more than the candle. So yes it's the same amount of energy, just dispersed in a more useful way.
@@ross4 i literally explained how that's wrong. There is not enough energy to make a difference regardless of how the heat is dissipated. You can put a 1 tsp cube of icing at the center of a cake and have enough to enjoy the tiny section of that cake, or you can try to spread that 1 tsp of icing across the cake, and not even tell there's icing on the cake. How hard is it to understand that? It doesn't matter how you spread it out, the more you spread it the less heat per volume there is. And again, once it radiates from the pot it goes straight up anyways. It would have to be significantly hotter to radiated even a foot horizontally. Even full on oil space heaters barely radiate horizontally. This is just how physics works.
@@RockSleeper Omg 🤦♂️ It’s not more heat, it’s how the human body experiences the heat, by delaying its diffusion. Try building the device. You do not understand this at all.
It actually does heat the room fairly well. My cat saw those two dangling pots jumped on top of them crashed them into the floor the candles caught the carpeting on fire. Warmest fire I've had in that room ever! Great tip thank you.
Protip: Cats will find ways to kill you so be prepared. I tripped on one while walking down the stairs and I'm now typing this while in line waiting for Charon. Why the fuck don't they buy a larger boat?!
What a great way to save money and have a night light in the corner of the room. Brilliant! I liked it so much I went to Lowe"s and Home Depot to buy all the parts and make my own. Just have to wait for my order of tea candles and I'll be ready to warm up. Thanks for sharing...
Dont need tea lights. You can use crisco. Take crisco and put in small jars or glasses. Take a thin strip of natural cloth. Smoosh down with a knife coat top of your wick with some of the greese. Really its the only thing anyone should use that stuff for. Dont eat it or cook with it.
Watch you don't breathe in the melted paraffin, and the foil candle bowls can BWOOISH with flame as wide as the clay dish. Yep. A draft can do that. If you have an existing Chimney but don't need to light Firewood yet- that's a good place for these nifty emergency jobs. Not really for daily use (certainly NOT NIGHTLY or when out of the room)
I love the idea thank you. I saw in Walmart they have three heavy iron pot holders for $20.00 4.7” wide under to place a 3” candle and 9.4” wide to place a 8.5” clay pot. Pass it on.
I have tried this.... it only works in the summer (power outage forced me to use my flower pot heater as a light source). In the winter time, an 8 x 8 room, using 5 candles in the heater did not warm the room significantly (no difference recorded during the several hour period). Later, doing the BTU calculations, I determined that it would work for an extremely small room (closet or tent) or a car. But in all cases you have to make sure you have adequate ventilation to prevent carbon monoxide buildup, which removes much of the heat gain.... My mom keeps telling me of the family at the campground (I was 3-7 years old, 1960's) that were found dead in their tent from carbon monoxide poisoning, who used a similar heater, so I am keenly aware of the risks. Of course this was the sme trip my dad saved people from drowning in a small canal, which again, I have no direct memory of.... I remember the trip, especially the ice cold showers, just not other events....
The amount of carbon monoxide produced by candles is pretty small, so heating a small room shouldn't be dangerous, no more than burning a handful of candles in the bath.
Good design, nice... But there is one fatal flaw here, there is no hole at the top for the thermal convection to happen. You need to drill a few holes at the top 10mm will do 4 is enough. The whole idea behind this is to create a draw of cool air in from the bottom and super heat it as it escapes from the top, thus warming your room. The way you have it now will also work, all be it in a smaller areas. This design will work more like a space heater. When you have the convention current going it will get hotter and warm faster and a larger area.. I really like the design, the hanging of them, I also do this same way. Nice video, good job..
You are absolutely correct about having the hole in the top open so that it creates a flow of air. I also thought that the purpose of putting the plate on the top with it gapped to allow the air to flow through the top hole was so that it created more of a radiating effect of the Heat.
The candles when lit, release the same amount of heat per hour regardless of whether you put flower pots or anything else over them. All the pots do is act as thermal regulators by absorbing that heat and releasing it in the local area in a more gradual manner.
So what's your point!!! Is that's the whole idea, that you create to optimised the heat from those lite beauties to radiate heat. That's the point of the video.
@@joyceharris9296 The point (which you still don't seem to have gotten) is that these are pointless, besides creating a fire risk. They don't release any more heat than a candle, there is no optimising from this design, in fact it probably reduces mixing.
This looks amazing! We had a long lasting power outage this week and the house was freezing! We all had to bundle up and cuddle in the same room for heat. I'm definitely gonna make one of these before that happens again! Thanks for sharing this brilliant idea! :)
I've made one of these, and they will not heat up a room any more than a candle by itself. If you sit really close to it, you'll feel radiant heat from it, and that's all it's good for. But heating a room is nonsense. It can't increase the heat from a candle. Eight candles will put out a surprising amount of heat to heat a room anyways, but this contraption doesn't make it any more effective.
Little trick mate, though u probably know....... wind the nut onto the threaded rod before u cut it, once cut, wind the nut off the cut end, this rethreads the end of the rod...... still will need a quick file off, as u have said....
I did two of the bread pan versions and ran a test where I turned the heat off. I wouldn't want to have to survive off of it but it did make a difference in the room for the night. I keep 4 of these for emergency purposes.
I was really intrigued by this idea and decided to build one myself. I built a pair with a stand similar to the man who made this video but I was very disappointed in the lack of heat it generated. Both pots had 5 tea lights and reached a average temperature of 185 - 220 degrees. I kept it in my bathroom which is approximately 8x17 and it didn't do much to warm the area up. I can simply put those same 10 tea lights on a tray and burn them and get a more desirable affect. I used two 6 inch pots with matching saucers.
Ten tea lights would put out about 350W whether in pots or open. A typical electric heater in the USA can put out 1500W. That is why it doesn't heat up fast.
Most of those crafting videos are done by people who never had to figure out how to deal with -42 degree temperature. (At that point celcius and fahrenheit are the same). It’s decoration, and some light. That’s all.
If you put the nut on below above the cut, before you cut the threaded rod, you can be sure to minimize the chance that you will malform the rod so that you cannot put a nut on. When you remove the nut after the cut it recuts the groove so that you can replace the nut again later.
This works just like charging a battery off of a 30w solar panel for 10 hours to use the energy collected to run a 600w heater for 30 minutes. Having it on your front or on your table you will definitely feel some change,as a room heater is a different thing,don't forget that even actual room heaters will only make a noticeable difference to your leg. The pots are being collecting heat for some hour then when they reach the maximum temperature they radiate a steady amount of heat instead of having the candle making a thin heat line straight to the ceiling with no energy collected or radiated.
It seems to me that that radiant heat is worth more than the candle's heat running straight up to the ceiling. Plus, with more candles, you can guarantee that you WILL feel some change in the temperature of the room. This is just a safer way to capture and "control" the natural heat from an open flame.
I made one of these once, used 4 candles and it became so hot that the wax reached its flash point and the entire thing became a fire. It smoked out my house and I had to carry it under a fire blanket into the bathtub and let it burn out. Don't make these and if you simply have to make one, don't leave them unattended.
I saw this happen when I was a student. Some one decided we shouldn't pay for heating and told everyone to not have the heating on. The next day he comes running out of his room grabs a fire extinguisher and sprays burning wax all over his room. A plant pot and tea lights in a house is an awful idea. I guess this is where he got it from. It would have been cheaper for him to pay or everyone's heating rather than to replace the fire extinguisher.
My interest in this heating system is for my disaster kit. Earthquakes are my concern in Seattle, so will be adapting this system to prevent fires, need a more stable center of gravity. I'm very impressed with the ingenuity of the inventor!
Just an idea. You could use a piece of copper pipe sliding over the rod and secure it at the end, instead of a group of washers and nuts. Copper is an ideal thermal conductor.
Problem is that tea candles produce 26 BTU of heat per hour. So while it may be 4c per hour per 8 candles, consider that it takes 4250 BTU to raise the ambient temperature of a room by 10C. This means that you would have to have 8 candles lit for 20.6 hours constantly to raise the ambient temperature of the room by 10 degrees total. Heat loss through infiltration of a small room build of brick with no windows is 0.36 BTU per foot squared per hour, therefore, in just a very small 12x9x10 room (like a bathroom) you are going to lose 388 BTU per hour. Which means that you have absolutely no heat generation whatsoever. This whole heater idea is just a waste of money, as you can literally never heat your room through it. The ceramic pots don't do anything. They are great insulators of thermal energy, and thick pots can actually *contain* the heat of a thermite reaction (approximately 4500C for around 20 seconds). The pots actually hold your potential heat generation back. Yea, they might get hot, but that heat never goes anywhere, because the ceramic never gets hot enough to radiate thermal energy into the air (another great insulator).
OvAppolyon It seems like you know a lot more about physics and chemistry than I do but, respectfully, it also seems like the information you provide makes some assumptions about building science as it relates to a given structure and site - Heat gain and heat loss varies from site to site and from structure to structure. For a moment, and because I'm not in a position to argue your physics or chemistry prowess, let's assume your information and math is correct: Assuming I followed your argument correctly, It doesn't mean you have "no heat generation," rather you have no heat build up - it's being lost as fast as it's being produced. And even if that's correct, it doesn't mean there isn't heat value to a device like this rather that value is instantaneous and spontaneous in nature. Value (if you are close enough to enjoy it's production before its dissipation) is present while it's lit and little residual value when it's no longer lit. Are you a physicist, chemist or building scientist (or something else)? I really like the math-specific approach and was wondering what your background was.
Marc Sanders My background isn't major, a high school science background. However, I have an analytical mind and a knack for piecing together information like this. And yes, I did mean a delta positive temperature change, but I am trying to keep it layman level. As for the structural values, I am using very rough averages, being as generous to the side I am arguing against as I can. I am using the smallest possible room with the highest capacity to retain heat as possible (a 3m x 4m x 2.6m room with no windows).
i was skepticsl at first so i built one of these for myself, it worked brilliantly! encouraged, i added 2 more candles and an additional flexible insulated pipe which i have taken thru to the kitchen and spurred off up through the ceiling into the upstairs bathroom. consistently over the last 11 weeks, if i keep those candles burning for 7 hours, i have enough hot water for steam-cooking a main meal, the dishwasher afterwards and then at bedtime a shower for me, my wife and three grubby teenage children. on colder days, 8 candles allows for a hotwater bottle.
While it might struggle to heat a room it could be a good heater to keep the frost off a small greenhouse, and I assume most people who have lots of pots have greenhouses ! So a good cheap solution.
Mass is your friend in this kind of radiant heater. So, find some heavy glass candle holders to put the four candles in. That will make it safer too because the melted wax will be contained in the glass holders. These heaters dont heat air they heat nearby objects. If one hunkered down over one of these heaters in a small room one might not freeze to death in a grid down blizzard. People dont realize that these are radiant heaters not space heaters.
I made one similar it sat on my desk works pretty good when you dont want to turn on the main heater for a small room and your only in there for a couple of hours
Cool idea. But, there are some things to consider which were not mentioned in this video: 1. Do NOT use Zinc plated washers, nuts and rods. Zinc + heat + closed space = Zinc-oxide with no where to go. Breath in Zinc-oxide and you have guaranteed cancer. Use stainless steel metals in your builds involving heat. 2. Using a soft buffer between the metal washers and the clay pots will help prevent the clay pots from breaking in half. I've never built anything like this, but I know those clay pots can't stand much pressure, and they hate things which are harder than they are. Whatever you use should be heat resistant and non-carcinogen. If anyone can make a suggestion, I would appreciate it.
@@ezekielbrockmann114 WAIT! It's fiber-glass? ON NO!!! Don't cut it! Don't breath that stuff in. That's a cancer-causing thing in its own. Let's figure out something else to use.
You're a genius! This hack might take my mind off the cold which is making it hard to sleep. We've run out of oil, so no hot water either! Luckily it's unseasonably mild here in England, but the house is slowly cooling to an uncomfortable chill.
This does work, the pots inside and out get HOT and hold the heat, then it radiates outward, also using the clay saucers make a difference because heat does not escape as much as other versions. I use one in a small room (bathroom with 8ft ceiling) instead of a space heater and since the cap came off of electric in PA it absolutely DOES save money. It does not bring the bathroom to balmy Florida temps but it keeps the toilet seat from freezing your ass when you sit down. I also used one in a tent camping and on a rainy cold day, it's a nice thing to have. You don't get 90 degree heat and You are not going to heat your whole house with these but it will definitely bring up the temperature in a small room about 10 degrees. Use votives in glass votive holders instead of tea lights you can get about 72, 10 hr votives for 16.00 on amazon and free shipping if you have prime.) Don't knock it unless you have tried this exact set up. PS I am going to try using roofing flashing cut to fit between the saucer and pot with a few air holes punched in it and see if I can get more heat out of it. :)
I am currently living in a tent. I have seen this design and will be building it soon. Did you use the 6" and 5" pots? How many candles did you use and in what temps? I know it won't be bringing the tent's interior up to "comfy house" standards, but I hope to generate enough heat to survive freezing temps. Since you've already done this, should I line the interior of my tent with mylar blankets or not? Thank you for your help.
Are... are you serious? Do you have any comprehension of how fire works? And look 2" over to the right, there's older, recommended videos that are literally the same thing.
This is both attractive & useful. If you lost electricity had no heat this is an excellent solution. Great for any Home Disaster/ER Kit. Thanks - Well done!
I like the fact that the smoke doesn't rise from the candles, to directly float around the room... but instead, is released into a hot flower pot, where it travels back down toward the flames before escaping. That must reduce the overall amount of smoke that the candles would otherwise produce.
It is a source of infra red. It is a comfort heater. A thermometer in the room may not rise perceptibly when this is burning but you will feel the infra red and wont feel as cold. Painting the walls with infra red reflective paint is also effective.
My son has put one of these in the garden out building he uses as his hobby room, he doesn’t use an electric munching fan heater anymore which makes me happy.
Thank you Ben for sharin your time and this very nice idea. Of course i'm gonna make it for a small room where we do not have electrical heater just to warm it the very cold days. Thanks you so much because is quite pretty too and secure.
This looks great. I saw the incidents with this kind of heating. When temperature rise too much the candle oil will catch fire and flames could be enormus big. It can casuse big fire at home. So be carefull.
One note, never use scented candles as they are usually scented by oils and when burning they create carbon. It may not be noticeable but after time anything light will start to get very slightly darker, this is the carbon attaching to the surface, It only becomes noticeable when you put something, the same colour, next to it, you then have a decorating job to keep you occupied. I made one but used 3 pots, it created about 1 KW of heat with 5 candles or I would make candles with 5 wicks and it would create about 70°C.
i tea candle is recommended to keep in your car if you live in the north if you get stuck in -20 on the road side it will keep you warm till help arrives so just a candle alone is heat..so don't know why people saying this is bogus
I think some people think the video is implying that the pot increases the amount of heat put off by the candle, or that the heater will work as a primary source of heat for a large room even if you're nowhere near it. A heater like this won't heat the room necessarily but it will warm YOU if you stay near it.
Wow ...Theres alot of negative comments which I was shocked about cos these flowerpot heaters actually work really well...Did these know it alls actually try them rather than just living in their brain.?? They work better as the terracotta captures the heat & retains it then radiates it out. Rather than putting them in a simple saucer. Just THINK OF A KILN...HELLO !!! I didn’t try this method tho with the metal elements but Im going to. Thanks for the tip & a really well made clear & concise video.
Serious question here: I totally get that total energy is the same regardless. However, the temperature is presumably different between a stand-alone candle and a large mass. The heated gas of the candle quickly rises to the ceiling. If instead there is a lower temperature (but same energy) object like the pots, the temperature gradients would be less and that would slow the ascent of warm air. The pot method would warm us more...not because there is more energy but because heat doesn’t immediately disperse through the entire room. The pots heat remains longer in the areas of the space that need it the most (ie where the people are, and not the ceiling). I’m opening the door here to ridicule because I really want to know.
You could likely put fins on the inside or outside of the pot if you were making your own pots(for whatever reason), and it would likely work similarly to the radiator fins on a pc cooler, or a motorcycle engine.
I read the comments and i see how people are full of envy! May God send them loving energy! Closed mind will never take you far! Clay always keeps heat and terra cotta pots are made from clay! Simple experiment: make tea in terra cotta mug and tea in normal mug, see for yourselves which one will cool down faster! Thank you sir for sharing once again!
I'm not going to check back on this comment line, because I don't want to hear how stupid people think might comment is. But I would like for Ben Galt to know how I appreciate this video & what a fun/attractive project this is. Thank you so much for making this video. I'm making my own "Artsy" project, just because I think it's cool. Thanks again.
I did one of these for the bedroom dome years ago. I abandoned it after coming to the conclusions that the cost savings didn't counter the risk of fire (kids and cats). Especially overnight. Also got a bit of scorching/soot formed on the nearby wall. In an emergency, or even the cold winter with lower energy supply that might be seen in Europe this year, I could see this being more useful. On the regular, without an immediate need, the risk was too great for me.
Hi there,I thought that was a great idea,very well explained & it looks nice as well,I'm sure that that heater would take the chill out of a 4×4 M room,Excellent ..
This is a great little unit. I've tested one that sits on a glass table. My concern is the potential for flash ignition and overeating. Please check out the video by a guy who had that happen on his boat. Just use his video as a safety advisory. There may be some modifications to make the unit more safe. He recommended spacing the candles properly. Still this is a great little unit to keep the house from freezing during cold temperatures.
Great design, watch out for paraffin flares and have a powder extinguisher ready just in case. I would say monoxide alarm too, to be safe. I will be building one just do a little more research on the danger and damage these things can do!! If you heat paraffin to 400 then it can go bang
If you’re not worried about looks, you could use binder clips (or another strong clip) at the base instead of nuts; that way you can just unclip them when you need to change out the candles. 🕯
I actually did that, lol. Put a 60w incandescent bulb in a reflector lamp, aimed it at me from about 1-2 feet away and it keeps me warm while I work on my computer. Mind blowing. Don't need that 1500w heater...
I have an improvement for you they have Flower pot holders that you attached to the side of your wall (basically it’s just a circle that sticks out from the wall horizontally.) You could put the saucer straight on top of that and then put your candles and then just lower the top over it. You would have to wait till it is called down to change the candles or put a enter pole like you have to create the gap. It’s basically the same as yours except for flipped over and instead of hanging it’s sitting
Aloha and Shalom, Im soooo grateful of your amazing idea because this will keep warm in the home and no need electricity bill, totally off grid in big island 🌴 Gonna make several for each room No need live on electricity because the Hawai’i electricity can be so ridiculous Anyways, I love this idea, I can’t wait to get started! Thank you soooo much!
4 cents an hour is crazy expensive to heat a single room! Natural gas heats my entire 1060 square foot apartment for 6 cents an hour in the dead of winter in Alaska!
You're right and this video is total trash and that contraption is ugly as hell but: you forget you're in Alaska and variables differ in the rest of the world. You don't get any kind of energy for 6 cents an hour anywhere near Europe or Australia. Cheap energy is pretty much the only cool thing about alaska, apart from the beautiful nature (which will inevitably be sacrificed on the way to exploit those natural resources).
Sean Thiebault Our heating cost using gas in Oz is very expensive. We have huge gas reserves but we are selling them off to China. As well as everything else here.
@@thiebault well how much does it cost in europe or australia? are you sure a 1000 square foot apartment costs that much mroe than 6 cents an hour? cause even IF gas is cheaper it would probably be offset by the much lower temps. i bet it doesnt cost that much more in europe or australia
@@bobhumplick4213 1 Liter of heating oil costs around 50-70 Cents in Germany. A estimation of oil consumption is around 15 Liter per year and square Meter. In Case of a 1000m2 House it would cost around 8000 euro of oil in one year
When I was homeless all I had was a big candle to keep warm .. agreed it helps if all you have in such times but wouldn’t suggest this for tiny house or something cheap heating source as wont do the job to that point is for sure :p very cheap efficient heating actually which is basically 💯 free .. would be to dig a hole to place ground lvl house in and use energy transfer metal pipe and wires to also put deeper down a deeper hole many feet down and allow warm earth air heat you up :) no matter how cold or hot is out side .. will always stay around 60s inside to 70s .. Add in sun windows on top as well for free heating and add in green house and sun room .. use suck in fan and you will be over heated if anything at times and need to let the air out :) all free basically once instal cost done and work done to build structure as so
I love your video! It inspired me to try my own version with what I had on hand. If not used as a heat source, it still holds amazing aesthetic value. Great work and thanks for the inspiration!
@@Rasgonras It's the difference between hot air rising and the radiant heat of the pots. Think of it like this, the candle puts out the same amount of heat either way, but heat rises. If the hot air is able to escape faster than it can raise the average temperature of the enclosure, that enclosure will not become appreciably warmer.... like saying you don't want blankets because if you're not using them you are just heating the room. The pots work in much the same way. Once they get warm, they can give off radiant heat which is much more localized than the warmed air (which goes up and mixes with cooler air almost instantly). So, yes, the hot air goes into the room... but you're not filling the entirety of the room... you're filling the volume of space, presumably, right next to your candle. In the same way, your water heater using a glow plug or tiny flame to heat an entire tank of water. By containing that water, you can localize the heat and enjoy a hot shower rather than a VERY cold shower with a tiny heat source somewhere else in your house.
If you think a ceramic (flower) pot is some kind of magic heath amplifier, think again. A basis understanding of thermodynamics may make you change your mind.
It literally doesn't make a difference. The heat isn't going to be lost or some nonsense like that, it's all going into the room regardless. You could just set the candles out in the open on a table and they'd provide the same amount of heat.
This video is pretty handy now that energy prices in Europe go through the roof. One way to save money on heating in a simple and cost-effective way. Thank you! ❤️👌🏻
Pro tip: start the other way around. This way you start with the small pot which means you’re not going to screw all those nuts all the way back to the other end.
For any of the people who think this isn't worth it, I've used this plant pot method and it did increase the room temp a degree or two, my flat has a massive window in the living room which makes it freezing in the winter and cooks in the summer.. It gets that cold in the winter that even with the heating on you still shiver and the extra degree or two this puts out makes it bearable...
I improved the design. I got a really large pot from a garden centre and put a wood burning stove underneath it. When I fill the stove with wood and it is burning well the room is toasty warm and the pot is so hot that oil vaporises on it. It is great, but I need to collect a lot of wood from the local forest.
@@rockspoon6528 this is pretty basic physics, it’s just storing the heat and releasing it in a more direct way. It’s not much but claiming it’s placebo is just moronic
I made one of these, and used it during a snow storm when the power went out last winter. It did heat. It wasn't comfortable warm I still had to wear a jacket in the house. It kept the living room survivable warm and when you went into another room of the house you could tell the other rooms were colder.
👍. When it's all you have , you'll love it
Shhhhh! All these experts here think it's worthless! Enough with your real-world experience!
@@RobMacKendrick I don't think the "experts" meant to say that it won't output heat, just that it won't output more heat then the candles without pots. What it will do though, is to keep the heat from rising to the roof as fast as standalone candles would and if in close proximity to your body you could gain warmth from the radiated heat stored in the pots.
@@ScinnerNo1 Exactly. In my experience, you can't heat a space with candles alone. This device apparently "banks" the heat so it's conserved in one place and released over time, which makes sense to me.
I had a very similar experience, I couldn't tell it was working until I went to another room.
In case you slept through science class; the pots do not increase the amount of heat generated by the candles. The ceramic pots absorb the heat from the candles in a way that slows down the thermal energy produced by the candles from immediately equilibrating with the air in the room. The ceramic's heat capacity allows it to reach a higher temperature before "releasing" the heat into it's immediate surroundings. As a result, the pots warm the air adjacent to them to a comfortable temperature for warming your hands; something that a candle doesn't do well on it's own. A candle without the surrounding pots feels apparently cold about a foot away, and scolding hot within a few inches. By slowing down the transfer of thermal energy to the surroundings you get a small volume of comfortably warm air beside the pots.
To: Mr. Ydstie , Isaac,
🔵 Also...I believe he could also get a greater heat
output by closing off the lowest area a-bit more by either raising the candle platform higher, or lowering the top accumulator and adjusting the flu-effect coming in around through the open edge of the lower plate to increase the velocity of the air coming into it.
The candles would burn-faster at that point but the unit would Supply a greater amount of heat during that time.
Samuel J he’s not really looking for a “radiator” but rather a “battery”. It’s about storing heat and releasing it slowly.
That's called a thermal mass.
ua-cam.com/video/9pss7ApjZkY/v-deo.html
I could actually just do it by trial and error and figure it out instead of having this "scientific" explanation.... But thanks though
Pro-tip: Put the nuts on the threaded rod before cutting. This will give you a more stable position to hold it on a table as you cut, raises it just off the table, and lets you straighten the threads on removal as they will be mangled somewhat.
Was just about to write this.
We did something like this in our utility room during “ice-pocalypse” last February. It’s a small room off our kitchen with our food pantry on one wall and the washer/dryer on the exterior wall. There was a noticeable warmer temp difference once we set up the 4 wick candle under the clay pot.
4-wick candle or 4 tea lights? I was looking at this just in case we had another snowmageddon this year.
Texas??
@@klxzz assuming everyone knows where they're from and what they're on about plus the need to heat a utility room
It's go to be Texas right?
@@littleloner1159 To keep the pipes to the washing machine from freezing, maybe?
A tip for cutting threaded rods and also bolts of course, put a nut on the rod just past where you need to cut it. Cut it with a hacksaw as normal, file any major burrs off the cut rod and then unscrew the nut again. It'll make certain the threads are good after cutting acting as a follower and always be easy to take on and off.
For those that are laughing at this type of heater, it will adequately heat any small space like a van or hunting hide and things like that. It will also prevent freezing in slightly larger rooms so it is a useful design and very cheap to make and run.
Thankyou I’m going to make one
care to share numbers how many degrees such a thing adds and for how long?
@@ElGoogKO I do not know. I do know that such a thing will prevent water and pipes freezing in a large loft. Sorry I cannot be more specific.
Thanks for the tip man, been struggling with that for so long
If one heats a van, 10+ can probably heat a room
With current gas prices this is nothing to laugh at
I was checking out all the videos on this subject, and your tutorial is the best. It looks waaaaay better than some that I've seen. This is attractive enough to keep displayed when people come over... Thank you for sharing! 🥰
I think this would work to keep from freezing to death during a power outage. I remember my time years ago on military exercises in Germany during the winter. It was truly amazing how much one candle would warm up a pup tent. One guy did manage to burn his tent down though.
🤣
Yeah we use to use hand sanitizer in the canteen cups and light them to warm our hands! That was only for the -8 temp.
@R Hopzing Also a hot sob when in southern summers. I had my APC and Humvee license before I had my driver's license.
There's always one guy
@@Ponkdonker Always.
It is a very pretty design, and does look much more stable and safe than standard clay pot heaters. I can see enjoying this on cold winter nights in my apartment where there is no fireplace, just for the ambiance.
this more than anything
Made two of these using the same parts and method. It works great. it does not heat a large room but adds about 5 degrees to a 10x12 room. And it looks nice. This would work in a small area like a tent or small area. The point is it does work if your not expecting to much.
Hi, I'm planning to make such a thing. You say it's heated 5 degrees, is this in Fahrenheit or Celsius. Furthermore, you are talking about a room of 10 x 12, this is in meters or yards. Looking forward to your response.
@@johndevries7122 my guess was 5F and feet not meters nor yards. It'll be interesting to hear the reply
I've just made one, can't believe how much heat it generate! Perfect for shed, summer house and green house. thank you for the idea!
Living one winter out in an old army tent, with down filled sleeping gear, and heating by candle. After a very cold February night (-14 and howling winds), I asked my friend how it went. He said, "It was a 3 candle night. And I only had 2 candles".
😬brrrrr brrrr brrrr....
*cough*
I just saw a candle made in jars using Crisco and birthday candles as the wick. Cheap and brilliant, the oil does not smoke. She used small jars for terra cotta pots. Love your design.
Hi and the Candle oil would you need these seperately?
I been using empty paint cans, take out the cardboard from the toilet paper, then shove the toilet paper all the way into the empty metal can.
Add candlewax at the bottom if you prefer, fill it almost to the top with isotropic alcohol.
Myself I placed holes in the can lid so the fire only seeps through the holes I made in the lid then you light the toilet paper and your good to go.
You can use this as a stove should you have no electric, you can also use 2 more empty cans if you would prefer.
This is fantastic, it looks really good and is great for keeping rooms you are not using regularly damp free. Also if you put one scented candle in it keeps the room smelling nice. Really great idea and it looks lovely in your rooms. Thanks so much for posting.
Replace the last nut by a wingscrew, that will make adjustment easier.
What if it flies away?
Dangers of Pot Heater!
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@@manuhonkanen2111 you silly 😂
Wouldn’t the bottom nut or wing screw be super hot even once the. Candles go out? How do you change the candles??
Just glue the nut on the base, so you raise or lower it by turning the base
In dire times, multiple heat sources are indeed handy to have. Plans a, b, c, and d.
I have electric, solar, gas, wood, propane and now candle heaters. Each one at the ready. Proper planning prevents poor performance. Good luck and may God bless.
i built and tested one of these in a lab in west texas with a starting temp of about 17F. i used a 3 inverted bases (stacked inside with a 1 inch separation) with an adjustable base and 4 candles. the structure was a 10 x 12 with a 7 foot ceiling insulated with 1/2 foam (doubled on the ceiling). (all measurements are in feet above)
it took 2 hours to raise the temperature from 17 degrees to 45 degrees and about 1 hour more from 45 to 65 where it hovered for the duration of the burn.
i used pots without holes and the heat that came off of them was pretty serious stuff. you can calculate the heat BTUs pretty easy, but for test purposes it worked well.
paraffin has energy of 45mj/kg, so a couple of tealights literally can't produce much energy
@@iivarimokelainen I like science
17 F...in Texas...🙄
You realize a candle only produces about 80 BTU right? Tea candles are even less. Lol What BS lab was this test done in exactly?
@@iivarimokelainen true. More energy is produced by body heat..
@@iivarimokelainen of course 👍
but noone wona know about thermodynamics
ppl are saying this won't work. but we just had a bad blackout in nb canada for a few days. a bunch tealights and candles kept my house at 63 degrees. with a watchful eye tho, everything was sold out at stores so fast you have to do with what you have and having these extra with the pieces of mind they are safer then just open candles in a home with pets and kids during a big blackout. anything helps. great vid
In my experience during blackouts people light all the candles they can get their hands on anyway, so why not use them in a way that gives off a little heat to the people hovering around the candles watching them burn? Without the flower pots, or something similar, the heat is going to rise up toward the ceiling. This way people can at least get their fingers warm. I might even put foot rests on one so I can keep my toes warm.
How many tea lights? All of them? How big a house? The whole house? Just the small room it was in? What did you use to measure temperature what was the out side temp?
We don't have heaters in Chile and I have done amazing things with some candles.
63 degrees? Hilarious!
@@lorib1696 candles give off heat.......The extra pot is useless and makes them less efficient. If you wanted to do as you said use a metal pot so it radiates more. Ceramic will heat up but it doesn't dissipate heat good Think of grabbing something hot outta the oven if you use fabric gloves they dont transfer the heat good, if you made aluminum gloves you'd feel it instantly. Think of a kiln It uses ceramics to keep the heat inside and not leaking out. where as a wood burner is metal so that all the heat the metal gets ends up being displaced to the air.
I won't make this but if someone else did, I would buy it. I really like the unique yet functional design.
How much would you want to pay for it? 🤔
Someone has to sell these id buy
@@UltraGamma25 20$ or 30
@@samanthamcdaniel5091 Willing to make them. I need to buy tools though. Adding this to my to do list.
Following.
This could be useful for some people in Texas right now..
Yup, I live in Texas and I did something similar to stay warm when we ran out of power. I also used an empty can and candle to cook with.
Until the wax spills down the center rod and lights your house on fire
@@Christian-dw6ix Shit... maybe
@@yaymidget Another hack you should know, when we lost power we had no gloves so we would alternate putting our fingers in my sisters who-ha to prevent frostbite. You can also put other appendages in there to warm them up.
Yes, because u have wind turbines that works only when is not freezing. Make some new nuclear power plants, if you have skillfull people to do that and operate them.
What most people are not considering when they complain about this not being effective is that it basically creates a heat battery which can be located lower in the room compared do where the heat would escape if not for the pots. The pots capture most of the candle heat, and then they radiate that heat. Without the pots, of course the candle heat would immediately rise directly to the roof (where it's not very useful). So there is some value to this general design. And in fact, for people using computers in cold environments, this is nice as you can periodically put your hands on it to warm them (while the rest of your body is staying warm from wearing multiple layers of good clothing).
That's just mind numbingly wrong. Candles only put out so much heat, and whether it's radiating from the pot or candle itself, heat rises immediately all the same. There are just not enough BTUs in this set up for heating a room bigger than a dog house. The only thing you can use this for practically is a hand warmer.
@@RockSleeper It's about how the heat is released. A candle with nothing, yes the heat will rise immediately to the ceiling. With the pots, the heat will release more slowly and radiate outwards much more than the candle. So yes it's the same amount of energy, just dispersed in a more useful way.
@@ross4 I could imagine a small fan blowing across this would help.
@@ross4 i literally explained how that's wrong. There is not enough energy to make a difference regardless of how the heat is dissipated. You can put a 1 tsp cube of icing at the center of a cake and have enough to enjoy the tiny section of that cake, or you can try to spread that 1 tsp of icing across the cake, and not even tell there's icing on the cake. How hard is it to understand that? It doesn't matter how you spread it out, the more you spread it the less heat per volume there is. And again, once it radiates from the pot it goes straight up anyways. It would have to be significantly hotter to radiated even a foot horizontally. Even full on oil space heaters barely radiate horizontally. This is just how physics works.
@@RockSleeper Omg 🤦♂️ It’s not more heat, it’s how the human body experiences the heat, by delaying its diffusion. Try building the device. You do not understand this at all.
I built 15 of these and they raised the temp in my room by 1°! Highly recommend.
Lol
It actually does heat the room fairly well. My cat saw those two dangling pots jumped on top of them crashed them into the floor the candles caught the carpeting on fire. Warmest fire I've had in that room ever! Great tip thank you.
get a dog
Protip: Cats will find ways to kill you so be prepared. I tripped on one while walking down the stairs and I'm now typing this while in line waiting for Charon. Why the fuck don't they buy a larger boat?!
What a great way to save money and have a night light in the corner of the room. Brilliant! I liked it so much I went to Lowe"s and Home Depot to buy all the parts and make my own. Just have to wait for my order of tea candles and I'll be ready to warm up. Thanks for sharing...
Dont need tea lights.
You can use crisco.
Take crisco and put in small jars or glasses.
Take a thin strip of natural cloth.
Smoosh down with a knife coat top of your wick with some of the greese.
Really its the only thing anyone should use that stuff for. Dont eat it or cook with it.
Watch you don't breathe in the melted paraffin, and the foil candle bowls can BWOOISH with flame as wide as the clay dish. Yep. A draft can do that. If you have an existing Chimney but don't need to light Firewood yet- that's a good place for these nifty emergency jobs. Not really for daily use (certainly NOT NIGHTLY or when out of the room)
I love the idea thank you. I saw in Walmart they have three heavy iron pot holders for $20.00 4.7” wide under to place a 3” candle and 9.4” wide to place a
8.5” clay pot. Pass it on.
This works for my shed that has no electricity....thank you👍🏻
How big is your shed?
I have tried this.... it only works in the summer (power outage forced me to use my flower pot heater as a light source). In the winter time, an 8 x 8 room, using 5 candles in the heater did not warm the room significantly (no difference recorded during the several hour period). Later, doing the BTU calculations, I determined that it would work for an extremely small room (closet or tent) or a car. But in all cases you have to make sure you have adequate ventilation to prevent carbon monoxide buildup, which removes much of the heat gain....
My mom keeps telling me of the family at the campground (I was 3-7 years old, 1960's) that were found dead in their tent from carbon monoxide poisoning, who used a similar heater, so I am keenly aware of the risks. Of course this was the sme trip my dad saved people from drowning in a small canal, which again, I have no direct memory of.... I remember the trip, especially the ice cold showers, just not other events....
The amount of carbon monoxide produced by candles is pretty small, so heating a small room shouldn't be dangerous, no more than burning a handful of candles in the bath.
Smarter than most
I think this is a Beautiful invention. I love the base and what the heaters are hanging on. Really unique.
Good design, nice... But there is one fatal flaw here, there is no hole at the top for the thermal convection to happen. You need to drill a few holes at the top 10mm will do 4 is enough. The whole idea behind this is to create a draw of cool air in from the bottom and super heat it as it escapes from the top, thus warming your room. The way you have it now will also work, all be it in a smaller areas. This design will work more like a space heater. When you have the convention current going it will get hotter and warm faster and a larger area.. I really like the design, the hanging of them, I also do this same way. Nice video, good job..
You are absolutely correct about having the hole in the top open so that it creates a flow of air. I also thought that the purpose of putting the plate on the top with it gapped to allow the air to flow through the top hole was so that it created more of a radiating effect of the Heat.
The more metal, the more heat... thanks! You are very clever.
The candles when lit, release the same amount of heat per hour regardless of whether you put flower pots or anything else over them. All the pots do is act as thermal regulators by absorbing that heat and releasing it in the local area in a more gradual manner.
So what's your point!!!
Is that's the whole idea, that you create to optimised the heat from those lite beauties to radiate heat.
That's the point of the video.
@@joyceharris9296 The point (which you still don't seem to have gotten) is that these are pointless, besides creating a fire risk. They don't release any more heat than a candle, there is no optimising from this design, in fact it probably reduces mixing.
Yep, creating radiator style heat.
@@92Pyromaniac ok well you can just freeze to death. This could save a life but you can freeze
I imagine the heated pots would generate heat on top of the candles....so...put that in your pot and plant it.....
This looks amazing! We had a long lasting power outage this week and the house was freezing! We all had to bundle up and cuddle in the same room for heat. I'm definitely gonna make one of these before that happens again! Thanks for sharing this brilliant idea! :)
Also buy a back up electric generator
I've made one of these, and they will not heat up a room any more than a candle by itself. If you sit really close to it, you'll feel radiant heat from it, and that's all it's good for. But heating a room is nonsense. It can't increase the heat from a candle. Eight candles will put out a surprising amount of heat to heat a room anyways, but this contraption doesn't make it any more effective.
Great. I own such a lamp, and it works! Your version is a better one! Thank You!
Little trick mate, though u probably know....... wind the nut onto the threaded rod before u cut it, once cut, wind the nut off the cut end, this rethreads the end of the rod...... still will need a quick file off, as u have said....
Awesome! Not sure about the heat, very cool for hanging on the patio.
I did two of the bread pan versions and ran a test where I turned the heat off. I wouldn't want to have to survive off of it but it did make a difference in the room for the night. I keep 4 of these for emergency purposes.
I was really intrigued by this idea and decided to build one myself. I built a pair with a stand similar to the man who made this video but I was very disappointed in the lack of heat it generated. Both pots had 5 tea lights and reached a average temperature of 185 - 220 degrees. I kept it in my bathroom which is approximately 8x17 and it didn't do much to warm the area up. I can simply put those same 10 tea lights on a tray and burn them and get a more desirable affect. I used two 6 inch pots with matching saucers.
Ten tea lights would put out about 350W whether in pots or open. A typical electric heater in the USA can put out 1500W. That is why it doesn't heat up fast.
Most of those crafting videos are done by people who never had to figure out how to deal with -42 degree temperature. (At that point celcius and fahrenheit are the same).
It’s decoration, and some light. That’s all.
If you put the nut on below above the cut, before you cut the threaded rod, you can be sure to minimize the chance that you will malform the rod so that you cannot put a nut on. When you remove the nut after the cut it recuts the groove so that you can replace the nut again later.
James Burdine You have the uncut end.
Just less twiddling
This is a prime example of a really cool DIY project that really doesn't need to be done.
Until the power goes down.
Would be great for a cottage - I’m in Canada 🇨🇦 think of cottage as a secondary residence.
Why is that??
Im going to use it for my Tiny House since I can't afford a heater yet.
The candles create all the heat the pot has no purpose for heating it's only to make it look pretty
This works just like charging a battery off of a 30w solar panel for 10 hours to use the energy collected to run a 600w heater for 30 minutes. Having it on your front or on your table you will definitely feel some change,as a room heater is a different thing,don't forget that even actual room heaters will only make a noticeable difference to your leg.
The pots are being collecting heat for some hour then when they reach the maximum temperature they radiate a steady amount of heat instead of having the candle making a thin heat line straight to the ceiling with no energy collected or radiated.
It seems to me that that radiant heat is worth more than the candle's heat running straight up to the ceiling. Plus, with more candles, you can guarantee that you WILL feel some change in the temperature of the room. This is just a safer way to capture and "control" the natural heat from an open flame.
I made one of these once, used 4 candles and it became so hot that the wax reached its flash point and the entire thing became a fire. It smoked out my house and I had to carry it under a fire blanket into the bathtub and let it burn out. Don't make these and if you simply have to make one, don't leave them unattended.
Absolutely. No fire should be left unattended. Even a candle.
@@bradleyweiss1089 especially a candle.
I saw this happen when I was a student. Some one decided we shouldn't pay for heating and told everyone to not have the heating on. The next day he comes running out of his room grabs a fire extinguisher and sprays burning wax all over his room. A plant pot and tea lights in a house is an awful idea. I guess this is where he got it from. It would have been cheaper for him to pay or everyone's heating rather than to replace the fire extinguisher.
Hahahahahahahaha
My interest in this heating system is for my disaster kit. Earthquakes are my concern in Seattle, so will be adapting this system to prevent fires, need a more stable center of gravity. I'm very impressed with the ingenuity of the inventor!
Just an idea. You could use a piece of copper pipe sliding over the rod and secure it at the end, instead of a group of washers and nuts. Copper is an ideal thermal conductor.
Why would the thermal conductivity of the material there matter
Problem is that tea candles produce 26 BTU of heat per hour. So while it may be 4c per hour per 8 candles, consider that it takes 4250 BTU to raise the ambient temperature of a room by 10C. This means that you would have to have 8 candles lit for 20.6 hours constantly to raise the ambient temperature of the room by 10 degrees total. Heat loss through infiltration of a small room build of brick with no windows is 0.36 BTU per foot squared per hour, therefore, in just a very small 12x9x10 room (like a bathroom) you are going to lose 388 BTU per hour. Which means that you have absolutely no heat generation whatsoever.
This whole heater idea is just a waste of money, as you can literally never heat your room through it. The ceramic pots don't do anything. They are great insulators of thermal energy, and thick pots can actually *contain* the heat of a thermite reaction (approximately 4500C for around 20 seconds). The pots actually hold your potential heat generation back. Yea, they might get hot, but that heat never goes anywhere, because the ceramic never gets hot enough to radiate thermal energy into the air (another great insulator).
So smart you're stupid.
What makes you think that? You have proof that counters the laws of chemistry and physics, then, I take it?
OvAppolyon
It seems like you know a lot more about physics and chemistry than I do but, respectfully, it also seems like the information you provide makes some assumptions about building science as it relates to a given structure and site - Heat gain and heat loss varies from site to site and from structure to structure. For a moment, and because I'm not in a position to argue your physics or chemistry prowess, let's assume your information and math is correct:
Assuming I followed your argument correctly, It doesn't mean you have "no heat generation," rather you have no heat build up - it's being lost as fast as it's being produced. And even if that's correct, it doesn't mean there isn't heat value to a device like this rather that value is instantaneous and spontaneous in nature. Value (if you are close enough to enjoy it's production before its dissipation) is present while it's lit and little residual value when it's no longer lit.
Are you a physicist, chemist or building scientist (or something else)? I really like the math-specific approach and was wondering what your background was.
Marc Sanders My background isn't major, a high school science background. However, I have an analytical mind and a knack for piecing together information like this. And yes, I did mean a delta positive temperature change, but I am trying to keep it layman level.
As for the structural values, I am using very rough averages, being as generous to the side I am arguing against as I can. I am using the smallest possible room with the highest capacity to retain heat as possible (a 3m x 4m x 2.6m room with no windows).
Did you take the flower pot into account?
i was skepticsl at first so i built one of these for myself, it worked brilliantly! encouraged, i added 2 more candles and an additional flexible insulated pipe which i have taken thru to the kitchen and spurred off up through the ceiling into the upstairs bathroom. consistently over the last 11 weeks, if i keep those candles burning for 7 hours, i have enough hot water for steam-cooking a main meal, the dishwasher afterwards and then at bedtime a shower for me, my wife and three grubby teenage children. on colder days, 8 candles allows for a hotwater bottle.
Are you serious or just being a bucklehead?
While it might struggle to heat a room it could be a good heater to keep the frost off a small greenhouse, and I assume most people who have lots of pots have greenhouses ! So a good cheap solution.
A small gas burner is a better idea as you won't get as much soot and toxins.
Wow what a great idea, watching my house burn down from the steet kept me warm until the fire brigade arrived .
Must have been the same way you Brits burned London down in 1666
Mass is your friend in this kind of radiant heater. So, find some heavy glass candle holders to put the four candles in. That will make it safer too because the melted wax will be contained in the glass holders.
These heaters dont heat air they heat nearby objects. If one hunkered down over one of these heaters in a small room one might not freeze to death in a grid down blizzard. People dont realize that these are radiant heaters not space heaters.
I made one similar it sat on my desk works pretty good when you dont want to turn on the main heater for a small room and your only in there for a couple of hours
Can I get sick I use mine all night, door is open
Cool idea. But, there are some things to consider which were not mentioned in this video:
1. Do NOT use Zinc plated washers, nuts and rods. Zinc + heat + closed space = Zinc-oxide with no where to go. Breath in Zinc-oxide and you have guaranteed cancer. Use stainless steel metals in your builds involving heat.
2. Using a soft buffer between the metal washers and the clay pots will help prevent the clay pots from breaking in half. I've never built anything like this, but I know those clay pots can't stand much pressure, and they hate things which are harder than they are. Whatever you use should be heat resistant and non-carcinogen. If anyone can make a suggestion, I would appreciate it.
Excellent information. Thank you.
3/4" round wood stove door gasket?
@@ezekielbrockmann114 I guess that would work, if you are able to cut it very thin, and able to send the bolt through the middle.
@@BrockLee3 It's fibreglass cordage, so flexible and soft.
@@ezekielbrockmann114 WAIT! It's fiber-glass? ON NO!!! Don't cut it! Don't breath that stuff in. That's a cancer-causing thing in its own. Let's figure out something else to use.
You're a genius! This hack might take my mind off the cold which is making it hard to sleep. We've run out of oil, so no hot water either! Luckily it's unseasonably mild here in England, but the house is slowly cooling to an uncomfortable chill.
This does work, the pots inside and out get HOT and hold the heat, then it radiates outward, also using the clay saucers make a difference because heat does not escape as much as other versions. I use one in a small room (bathroom with 8ft ceiling) instead of a space heater and since the cap came off of electric in PA it absolutely DOES save money. It does not bring the bathroom to balmy Florida temps but it keeps the toilet seat from freezing your ass when you sit down. I also used one in a tent camping and on a rainy cold day, it's a nice thing to have. You don't get 90 degree heat and You are not going to heat your whole house with these but it will definitely bring up the temperature in a small room about 10 degrees. Use votives in glass votive holders instead of tea lights you can get about 72, 10 hr votives for 16.00 on amazon and free shipping if you have prime.) Don't knock it unless you have tried this exact set up. PS I am going to try using roofing flashing cut to fit between the saucer and pot with a few air holes punched in it and see if I can get more heat out of it. :)
Hey HAW W, have u tried your design? Seems interesting, as the 1st generation model :)
I am currently living in a tent. I have seen this design and will be building it soon. Did you use the 6" and 5" pots? How many candles did you use and in what temps? I know it won't be bringing the tent's interior up to "comfy house" standards, but I hope to generate enough heat to survive freezing temps. Since you've already done this, should I line the interior of my tent with mylar blankets or not? Thank you for your help.
WOOOOOOOW - SO BRILLIANT!!! Thank you for designing and uploading this clever heating idea!
Are... are you serious? Do you have any comprehension of how fire works? And look 2" over to the right, there's older, recommended videos that are literally the same thing.
This is both attractive & useful. If you lost electricity had no heat this is an excellent solution. Great for any Home Disaster/ER Kit. Thanks - Well done!
I like the fact that the smoke doesn't rise from the candles, to directly float around the room... but instead, is released into a hot flower pot, where it travels back down toward the flames before escaping. That must reduce the overall amount of smoke that the candles would otherwise produce.
not really. this is why you dont heat with candles.
Still produces just as much carbon monoxide which requires ventilation to clear, and which will mostly negate any heat gain.
It is a source of infra red. It is a comfort heater. A thermometer in the room may not rise perceptibly when this is burning but you will feel the infra red and wont feel as cold. Painting the walls with infra red reflective paint is also effective.
Effective for what?
Effective at making you feel less cold via creating a situation where your body is bombarded with more infrared radiation. Context. It's important.
My son has put one of these in the garden out building he uses as his hobby room, he doesn’t use an electric munching fan heater anymore which makes me happy.
Thank you Ben for sharin your time and this very nice idea. Of course i'm gonna make it for a small room where we do not have electrical heater just to warm it the very cold days. Thanks you so much because is quite pretty too and secure.
This looks great. I saw the incidents with this kind of heating. When temperature rise too much the candle oil will catch fire and flames could be enormus big. It can casuse big fire at home. So be carefull.
VERY TRUE THIS GUYS AN IDIOT
One note, never use scented candles as they are usually scented by oils and when burning they create carbon. It may not be noticeable but after time anything light will start to get very slightly darker, this is the carbon attaching to the surface, It only becomes noticeable when you put something, the same colour, next to it, you then have a decorating job to keep you occupied.
I made one but used 3 pots, it created about 1 KW of heat with 5 candles or I would make candles with 5 wicks and it would create about 70°C.
I would love for the creator to point a thermal detector at it when it has been heating for an hour to see the output in degrees.
270 degrees with 4 tealights.
i tea candle is recommended to keep in your car if you live in the north if you get stuck in -20 on the road side it will keep you warm till help arrives so just a candle alone is heat..so don't know why people saying this is bogus
I think some people think the video is implying that the pot increases the amount of heat put off by the candle, or that the heater will work as a primary source of heat for a large room even if you're nowhere near it. A heater like this won't heat the room necessarily but it will warm YOU if you stay near it.
Wow ...Theres alot of negative comments which I was shocked about cos these flowerpot heaters actually work really well...Did these know it alls actually try them rather than just living in their brain.??
They work better as the terracotta captures the heat & retains it then radiates it out. Rather than putting them in a simple saucer. Just THINK OF A KILN...HELLO !!!
I didn’t try this method tho with the metal elements but Im going to. Thanks for the tip & a really well made clear & concise video.
Thank you for sharing this information, it's a great idea how you made it to hang on the stand.
OUTSTANDING!! This will be great for my balcony at night!! 🥂😁
These are beautiful, efficient, well thought out, and can be left out all year. Thank you for making a great product, better.
I'm skeptical of it working but it looks rustic and pretty so i night just make one for decoration purposes only.
Serious question here: I totally get that total energy is the same regardless. However, the temperature is presumably different between a stand-alone candle and a large mass. The heated gas of the candle quickly rises to the ceiling. If instead there is a lower temperature (but same energy) object like the pots, the temperature gradients would be less and that would slow the ascent of warm air. The pot method would warm us more...not because there is more energy but because heat doesn’t immediately disperse through the entire room. The pots heat remains longer in the areas of the space that need it the most (ie where the people are, and not the ceiling). I’m opening the door here to ridicule because I really want to know.
You could likely put fins on the inside or outside of the pot if you were making your own pots(for whatever reason), and it would likely work similarly to the radiator fins on a pc cooler, or a motorcycle engine.
I read the comments and i see how people are full of envy! May God send them loving energy! Closed mind will never take you far! Clay always keeps heat and terra cotta pots are made from clay! Simple experiment: make tea in terra cotta mug and tea in normal mug, see for yourselves which one will cool down faster! Thank you sir for sharing once again!
Wow this is pure right here. I’m gonna do this for my office.👍🏾
I'm not going to check back on this comment line, because I don't want to hear how stupid people think might comment is. But I would like for Ben Galt to know how I appreciate this video & what a fun/attractive project this is. Thank you so much for making this video. I'm making my own "Artsy" project, just because I think it's cool. Thanks again.
Artsy, yes. An effective heater... Not by the laws of science ;)
I did one of these for the bedroom dome years ago. I abandoned it after coming to the conclusions that the cost savings didn't counter the risk of fire (kids and cats). Especially overnight. Also got a bit of scorching/soot formed on the nearby wall. In an emergency, or even the cold winter with lower energy supply that might be seen in Europe this year, I could see this being more useful. On the regular, without an immediate need, the risk was too great for me.
TIP : Always put the nuts on both ends before you cut threaded rod.
a small file, and 10 seconds and boom the ends are perfectly smoothe ready for nuts
@Spliffnut You know the difference between theory and practice, right?
To: Spliffnut,
True... But it is undeniably easier to first run a nut over it to chase the thread.
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice there is.
Smart man thank you
Hi there,I thought that was a great idea,very well explained & it looks nice as well,I'm sure that that heater would take the chill out of a 4×4 M room,Excellent ..
This is good for emergency n if you just desire to do it I think ites cool
This is a great little unit. I've tested one that sits on a glass table. My concern is the potential for flash ignition and overeating. Please check out the video by a guy who had that happen on his boat. Just use his video as a safety advisory. There may be some modifications to make the unit more safe. He recommended spacing the candles properly. Still this is a great little unit to keep the house from freezing during cold temperatures.
Great design, watch out for paraffin flares and have a powder extinguisher ready just in case. I would say monoxide alarm too, to be safe. I will be building one just do a little more research on the danger and damage these things can do!! If you heat paraffin to 400 then it can go bang
great points, wish this comment was pinned!
@@Rosemorgana1312 You can actually use light bulbs which are safer
Fill the base with dry white sand to avoid heat loss. Much safer too!
@@MistaMagee Dry White sand insulates for better en complete combustion of parrafine
Heat loss where. Jesus christ these comments are unreal
If you’re not worried about looks, you could use binder clips (or another strong clip) at the base instead of nuts; that way you can just unclip them when you need to change out the candles. 🕯
You'd get more heat in the room by just changing out your CF or LED lights back to incandescent ones.
I knew more about heating as a Boy Scout than this plant-pot-candle fool.
Grumpy Oldman, oh how I miss those inefficient beautiful incandescent light bulbs.
I actually did that, lol. Put a 60w incandescent bulb in a reflector lamp, aimed it at me from about 1-2 feet away and it keeps me warm while I work on my computer. Mind blowing. Don't need that 1500w heater...
Too bad you can't buy incandescent light bulbs anymore. At least not where I live.
@@motherofone1 President Trump just brought them back! Thank goodness!
I have an improvement for you they have Flower pot holders that you attached to the side of your wall (basically it’s just a circle that sticks out from the wall horizontally.) You could put the saucer straight on top of that and then put your candles and then just lower the top over it. You would have to wait till it is called down to change the candles or put a enter pole like you have to create the gap. It’s basically the same as yours except for flipped over and instead of hanging it’s sitting
Aloha and Shalom,
Im soooo grateful of your amazing idea because this will keep warm in the home and no need electricity bill, totally off grid in big island 🌴
Gonna make several for each room
No need live on electricity because the Hawai’i electricity can be so ridiculous
Anyways, I love this idea, I can’t wait to get started! Thank you soooo much!
4 cents an hour is crazy expensive to heat a single room! Natural gas heats my entire 1060 square foot apartment for 6 cents an hour in the dead of winter in Alaska!
You're right and this video is total trash and that contraption is ugly as hell but:
you forget you're in Alaska and variables differ in the rest of the world. You don't get any kind of energy for 6 cents an hour anywhere near Europe or Australia. Cheap energy is pretty much the only cool thing about alaska, apart from the beautiful nature (which will inevitably be sacrificed on the way to exploit those natural resources).
Sean Thiebault Our heating cost using gas in Oz is very expensive. We have huge gas reserves but we are selling them off to China. As well as everything else here.
@@thiebault well how much does it cost in europe or australia? are you sure a 1000 square foot apartment costs that much mroe than 6 cents an hour? cause even IF gas is cheaper it would probably be offset by the much lower temps. i bet it doesnt cost that much more in europe or australia
@@bobhumplick4213 1 Liter of heating oil costs around 50-70 Cents in Germany. A estimation of oil consumption is around 15 Liter per year and square Meter. In Case of a 1000m2 House it would cost around 8000 euro of oil in one year
When I was homeless all I had was a big candle to keep warm .. agreed it helps if all you have in such times but wouldn’t suggest this for tiny house or something cheap heating source as wont do the job to that point is for sure :p very cheap efficient heating actually which is basically 💯 free .. would be to dig a hole to place ground lvl house in and use energy transfer metal pipe and wires to also put deeper down a deeper hole many feet down and allow warm earth air heat you up :) no matter how cold or hot is out side .. will always stay around 60s inside to 70s ..
Add in sun windows on top as well for free heating and add in green house and sun room .. use suck in fan and you will be over heated if anything at times and need to let the air out :) all free basically once instal cost done and work done to build structure as so
I love your video! It inspired me to try my own version with what I had on hand. If not used as a heat source, it still holds amazing aesthetic value. Great work and thanks for the inspiration!
This is the best one I've seen it's not only useful but it's a decorative
Funny how he says at :57 that "by raising the base, you are able to minimize heat loss." Where does this heat "loss" go anyway?
Similar to a damper on a wood stove the heat gets blown by the draft
@@gabrielbalaa991 The draft leads into the room though ...
This is funny😁
@@Rasgonras It's the difference between hot air rising and the radiant heat of the pots.
Think of it like this, the candle puts out the same amount of heat either way, but heat rises. If the hot air is able to escape faster than it can raise the average temperature of the enclosure, that enclosure will not become appreciably warmer.... like saying you don't want blankets because if you're not using them you are just heating the room.
The pots work in much the same way. Once they get warm, they can give off radiant heat which is much more localized than the warmed air (which goes up and mixes with cooler air almost instantly).
So, yes, the hot air goes into the room... but you're not filling the entirety of the room... you're filling the volume of space, presumably, right next to your candle.
In the same way, your water heater using a glow plug or tiny flame to heat an entire tank of water. By containing that water, you can localize the heat and enjoy a hot shower rather than a VERY cold shower with a tiny heat source somewhere else in your house.
into the room... that your trying to heat... through heat loss 🤣 lmaooo... oofda im no scientist but even i shit a brick when he said that lol
If you think a ceramic (flower) pot is some kind of magic heath amplifier, think again. A basis understanding of thermodynamics may make you change your mind.
I apologise for this and no understand of anything
Where I live sometime you can get a big bag of them candles on clearance after holidays. This is a cool project.
there is supposed to be an open hole in the larger pot so that a convection current is created.
It literally doesn't make a difference. The heat isn't going to be lost or some nonsense like that, it's all going into the room regardless. You could just set the candles out in the open on a table and they'd provide the same amount of heat.
I find using red candles doubles the output.
I used blue candles and froze the room.
@@snowflakemelter1172 i used white one and it begin to snow !!
I painted flames on the flower pot and it heated the room way faster.
I added coal and it was toasty in 20 minutes
I added my Nan and she died
This video is pretty handy now that energy prices in Europe go through the roof. One way to save money on heating in a simple and cost-effective way. Thank you! ❤️👌🏻
the best yet! very creative and unique
Pro tip: start the other way around. This way you start with the small pot which means you’re not going to screw all those nuts all the way back to the other end.
For any of the people who think this isn't worth it, I've used this plant pot method and it did increase the room temp a degree or two, my flat has a massive window in the living room which makes it freezing in the winter and cooks in the summer.. It gets that cold in the winter that even with the heating on you still shiver and the extra degree or two this puts out makes it bearable...
Brrr, thermal blind? Heat reflecting film? Perhaps that cling film type window double glazing? Something!!! lol
Best LOOKING one I’ve seen so far
Something to consider, paraffin wax does not burn clean and will leave soot stains (eventually) on ceilings and walls where you put them, over time.
I improved the design. I got a really large pot from a garden centre and put a wood burning stove underneath it. When I fill the stove with wood and it is burning well the room is toasty warm and the pot is so hot that oil vaporises on it. It is great, but I need to collect a lot of wood from the local forest.
They'd be great in an emergency such as a power outage.
i really like your design and im gonna make one for this winter thank you
Love this. Great idea & it's nice looking. You're a good teacher and I appreciatethe step by step.. Thanks!
My one candle heats my whole room even with the window open. So idc if you’re an engineer or not, it works!
Ah, yes, the infinitely powerful placebo effect. Another solution is to install a thermostat that isn't wired to anything!
@@rockspoon6528 this is pretty basic physics, it’s just storing the heat and releasing it in a more direct way. It’s not much but claiming it’s placebo is just moronic
@@whirled_peas What the actual fuck are you talking about? Convection is, BY DEFINITION, less direct than radiation.