DIY INFRARED HEATER | No Electricity Needed For Greenhouse Heat
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- Опубліковано 19 гру 2023
- Heating an area for a short time can become expensive quickly. Small greenhouses can be kept at a comfortable temperature for your tender plants. This infrared heater is simple to build and many people have most of the components to build it already. Measured temperatures on this heater exceeded 500F or 273C and burned for over 6 hours. The heater is easy to set up and can be very inexpensive to operate. I'll show in detail how to assemble the heater and tips all along the way on how to operate safely. If your greenhouse doesn't have electricity this is the perfect heater for cold nights to keep your plants alive.
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#diyheater #homemadeheater #greenhouseheating
Safety Note:Rubbing alcohol gives of noxious fumes. You'll want to use Denatured alcohol or camp fuel for interior applications! In case of emergency; R.A.can be used... ensure adequate ventilation! Also, from experience: place a coin/ stone etc over the fill hole to reduce flare up and fuel consumption.
This set up is designed for heavy oils like used cooking oil ,not super light oil fuel .The inner can transfer s the heat from the flame to the oil too make it thin enough to suck up . When you steal ideas from others please try and get it right.
Are you sure about that?, pure ethanol will burn much cleaner than denatured alcohol, denaturant is often naphtha or a similar to petrol solvent, this will add far more complex hydrocarbons to the vapor including benzene.
Rubbing alcohol is isopropyl alcohol. I can't imagine how it gives noxious fumes. Like ethyl alcohol, it will burn cleanly.
Omg. I do wild camping and cook with mini alcohol burners on a regular basis. It is common knowledge that rubbing alcohol gives off a ton of soot.. we know in our community because it blackens up our cooking pans. And if it’s giving off soot, guess what? That’s a bad sign. Denatured alcohol is always the highly recommended fuel to cook with in the small alcohol burners, as it burns hotter and cleaner. I can vouch from my own experience, rubbing alcohol stinks like hell. Denatured alcohol on the other hand does not give off the same nasty order. Now. Nobody should be hovering over or breathing in either of those fumes. Any form of combustion chamber needs a certain amount of fresh air ventilation.
Common sense is a commodity.
Just look for pure ethanol or better yet, methanol. Methanol burns cleaner with blue flame. No hydrocarbons.
Nifty! Some thoughts:
1. As you are using sand as your mass, you don't need to go to the expense of a cast iron pot. You could use a stainless steel stock pot for the bottom.
2. For the top, you could pick up a second, smaller stainless steel stock pot that fits inside the sleeve and also fill that with sand. (You want a stock pot for top, as they are fairly tall, and it can reach down to the top of the mesh.
3. You don't need to cut the mesh to size. You can just fold and crimp the two ends together over and over until it fits. That will make for a *very* strong seam and the whole thing will still be very cylindrical.
4. The fill hole needs to be (mostly) sealed while in use. A ball bearing or marble just slightly larger than the hole would be perfect, though a can lid would also work.
5. The extra carbon felt can be packed inside the inner can so that, if the whole thing tips over, fuel won't spill out so easily.
6. The edges of the shell should be folded back on themselves repeatedly to make it stiffer--and thus safer--and to open it up so more heat can be radiated.
7. The top and bottom pots need to be rigidly connected together so the whole thing can't fall apart and create a fire hazard, as bumping the shell hard enough could easily make it buckle. A couple of pieces of steel pipe that are notched on the ends would work as spacers, and you could drill a hole at each end perpendicular to the notch for a u-bolts to go through to hold the handle to the pipe. That would make it pretty solid, I would think.
Cheers!
Cast iron holds heat longer
@@catlyn7829 "Cast iron holds heat longer
"
Very true, but that is because of its mass. In this case, the sand--in a *much* larger stock pot--is carrying the bulk of the mass, so cast iron, while preferable if you want to keep it smaller and lighter, isn't as necessary.
Still. Cast iron holds heat longer than lighter metals. @@KeithOlson
@@catlyn7829That's been explained, it's because of it's mass. 5 lbs of cast iron will hold heat just as well as 5lbs of sand. There's nothing special about cast iron and its heat transfer and thermal properties.
Where do you buy the carbon felt please
Check at a restaurant supply store for a larger pot. It might be less expensive than you think.
That was good. You put several heater concepts together into a nice build.
Yes but it wasn't his idea but he did make out like it was, just give others the credit! ua-cam.com/video/JGVZVCU8FGE/v-deo.htmlsi=j-W7PHd9LHvQ8PYE
On my second build, I used a steel dog bowl as the lid and filled it with sand. The sand was almost molten in no time compared to the first build where I had the sand in the bottom. It becomes warm at the bottom but nothing compared to sand at the top for obvious reasons. Also bigger mantle, more infrared heat.
A few drops of Olbas Oil or Menthol in the bottom with water for your bad chest and sinuses 👍
cloves dropped in the oil kill all pathogens
The first thing I tried when I heard about sand batteries was heating a pot full of it from underneath with, I think 8 candles. The temperature in my shed was about 6 centigrade, a couple of hours later I blew the candles out. After 15 minutes the sand was almost cold.
Sand batteries can work really well but they need to be heated to a very high temperature in a well insulated container and the release of the heat needs to be regulated.
The specific heat of sand is quite low. It takes very little energy to heat up, and therefore it heats up quickly and then it cools off quickly also. Water has the best specific heat and steam is even better. Water is therefore a much better thermal battery.
@@Marley-ii6ls I agree to a certain extent. A hot water bottle is basically a water battery and the litre and a half of water in there, in your bed can stay warm for hours but for heating a room, as a battery I can't see it.
It can only get to 100 Celsius before it turns to steam whereas sand turns to glass at 1700 degrees. So if you had the means, it could be "charged" to a much higher temperature and if the heat loss was controlled, I think it would be more effective than water as a battery, for heating a room.
@stevecole9674
Imagine protecting the carpet/floor, and building a wide sand battery under your bed. Have it heated (being charged) certain hrs and cooling off slowly. [One poster suggested using an old heating element from a water heater.]
Easy way is to see how long it takes to heat the sand to a set temp, and how long to release the heat. Fancy way, have it start recharging when it drops Below a certain temp.
With one system you may get hours of heat during a power outage by accident if the timing is right. With the fancy setup it is constantly charged and always ready if power stops.
You have at least one small room heated a bit. You are nice & snug. Battery is well insulated to release heat slowly.
Sand battery is wide and flat, more surface area to radiate heat. That could work against you. But the bed can be raised a bit also. You may have more room to work with than you assume.
In place of the cast iron pot, could you look at semi-truck or trailer brake drums from a salvage yard? It would be a super heavy-duty alternative.
I have used them for wood stoves and fire pits. Salute !!! I love your incredible heater.
Cool idea
@ZenGardenOasis.
I'm not sure what you guys are visualizing. I pulled up images of trailer brake drums. How were you thinking of using them for this, exactly?
With a hole in the center, they won't hold sand, and the sides are low... on top of the unit, maybe? Still doesn't seem right.
@@debra-qq1np You could patch weld them or get a slightly bigger container, fill an inch or 2 with sand, put the drum in and fill the drum that is sitting in the container with sand. It might be worth the trouble doing it as the drum will be heavy duty and also can hold/ radiate a lot of heat.
My father in law actually managed to crack one while camping years ago. However he had it really going with lots of hard wood too.
Suggestion: cooking oil or any oil works great and burns forever, also no fumes! You might need more space between the bottom inner & outer cans, oil does not throw off fumes nearly at the extreme rate of alcohol, the forever wick will need more room to draw.. ✌🏻🌎✌🏻
I would use one of those heavy gauge round galvanized steel water troughs used for livestock as a base for the sand battery. They come in many sizes from 23 gal and up. Might be a bit cheaper than cast iron. Thanks for this vid, it gave me some ideas for heating. 👍
@@thegoodtom1718 Good point. It is true that it can be toxic from the zinc fumes when heated above 200c (392f). However I would highly doubt it would get anywhere near those temps using this heating method in the video.
you have to understand this is just a video to make money on youtube. sorry but that's the way it is The cost of burning of fuel in this contraption is not worth making it. Eagle
@@roberthoug7864 eagle. U busted my dream. At least if I set the living room on fire it's warm after my shower. Efficiency is a bish😂
@@roberthoug7864 Unless...you have a still.....alcohol is easy to produce from scrap fruit etc...
No..poor heat ..use metal ash bucket.sand & sheet metal or stove pipe..trough or cast iron poor heat transfer😂
Great idea. The only problem I see is safety. The whole tower is resting in sand with nothing fastened to anything. I would recommend attaching a spoke style rebar base as well as fastening the internal components together. Greenhouses can get a lot of traffic, and to me, currently, this looks unsafe.
Nice. Do you have any links to the ones you built?
😂@@JohnSmith-il4wi
Very nice, unique setup. I like it! I would steer away from rubbing alcohol, especially at the ratio you are burning (looks like 70%??). It contains glycerin and water. What happens is the alcohol burns off and leaves you with a glycerin/water mixture in the can. Eventually, your wick will be saturated with water and burn very inefficiently. Best to use straight alcohols (methanol, ethanol, higher grade isopropyl). Methanol only has one carbon atom per molecule and will be much safer to burn, too. Less chance to create carbon monoxide and soot. Ethanol has two and isopropyl has three.
I grabbed the wrong one for the video….yes higher grade is better. Thanks for your input
❤😊so simple to make, thank you very well done video
Could you use waste motor oil? How well would this work for hearing up the garage?
@@MN-sc2uz to me,it's possible,but they're eater designed for that kind of fluid...and you'll need an exhaust system due to the carbone oxyde you'll produce with petroleum based fluid 😊
@@taoisisis6697could you use an oil like olive oil?
Large chimney brick and a larger kerosene lantern from Lehman supply company in kindred Ohio.
My grandmother would fill the lantern and put it on the lowest level and place it inside the chimney brick. And that was enough to heat the entire greenhouse during the winter. The place was toasty the lantern would need to be filled like ever 20 hrs but worth every penny. She also did it in the chicken coop as well.
With a block on top and holes drilled into the sides of the block. And bird spikes on the block to keep them from roosting on the very warm top.
Your grandmother's version sounds much easier and cost-effective. I think I may give it a try! ❤
Why not just get a kerosene heater and use it
Kerosene lanterns give off a lot of heat that can be regulated to some extent by adjusting the wick. The chimney pipe gives heat mass all with a much longer burn time for the lantern (for very cold nights you don't need to refill even with a higher flame/light). Yes, you can boil water above the lamp chimney.
I like your idea: Dumb questions: What's a chimney brick? do you mean a chimney FLUE? and did she use the kerosene lanterns that have the glass chimneys? Thanks!!!
@@skyeridley7764 I suspect it is what many refer to as fire bricks as they would retain and radiate the heat even after the fuel had been burned out. The chimney flue while easier to handle would cool fairly quickly. The lamps referred to have glass chimneys 1) to spread the light (and heat) and 2) to aid in limiting the air flow, without the glass chimney the flame burns very dirty.
Robert Murray Smith on his T-N-T (thinking and tinkering) channel has done amazing work with these heaters and sand batteries.
I think a large stainless steel Dutch oven like a Revereware style from the thrift store would be a good base and lid. A section of single wall interior stove pipe for the reflector. Drill and bolt the reflector to the base pot.
If you can't get carbon felt, you can use an old sock, but it would be a consumable wick.
I would also take the stainless steel screen and place the seam over a pipe and hammer it flat so it won't come apart.
Overall, it's a good basic design.
He was one of my inspirations, also 2 other YT videos and about 6 blogs I’ve read showing how these work. Wanted to confirm for myself and build one. Yes it does put out a log of heat for sure….cheers.
Cotton sock, or you may regret it....cotton t-shirt or cotton clothes lines works too. Make sure clothes line doesn't have an inner core, 100% cotton ones are all woven, with no core. Cheers
really cool. i dont know how much room you have in your hot house but you could get some of those blue plastic storage 55 gal drums paint them black and fill them 3/4 the way with water the thermal mass of the heat collected in the day would radiate though the night. i still really like your design.
You can do the same thing but with olive oil. It’ll last longer and the oil itself isn’t flammable. Just use some rubbing alcohol to start the flame on the carbon felt
If I use olive oil. Do I have to worry about carbon monoxide?
@@claudiahall5237 it will be in the air but its not as heavy as alcohol burning just have a window in the room just barely cracked open to keep fresh air moving
If you can afford to use olive oil, just use an electric heater. It'll be cheaper.
Thank you for your project and taking the time to explain everything
I saw the basic workings of this on the Robert Murray-Smith videos but really like the sand addition you wisely installed. He has one of the accents we Texans find amusing but you are easier to follow and give a good explanation of it all. He recently did a video on 2173 Making Carbon Cloth.
This sounds a lot like the one that Robert Murray-Smith made a few months back. But explained a little different.
I love your channel! I subscribed about a week ago, nice to see another decent human being with an interest and passion for innovation, learning and teaching. Bravo sir
Awesome! Thank you!
Great setup-but wouldn’t it be much easier to add all the sand BEFORE inserting the pipe. btw Beautiful Bonsai trees👍
If you can retrofit that to use propane, you'll also boost the Co2 content in the greenhouse. Your plants will love you for it!
Since you’re using the carbon felt you could use olive oil for an endless candle. You’ll still need a starter fluid like your alcohol or a paraffin lamp oil just to start the wick.
Olive oil is getting rather expensive now. The olive groves have been suffering.
could you use other cooking oils.
@@daniel-vn4ql seems like you could use that smokeless kerosene and it should last much longer than alcohol, I would bet.
You can get used cooking grease from restaurants for free, and use it instead. Like anything, make sure you have good ventilation. The other option is to buy a bunch of candles, and an electric heater. Hide the heater in a stainless steel box so nobody can see it, bury the electrical cord, and tell your friends the candles are heating up the box.
@@RipperUA-camOfficialfree cooking oil isn't as easy to come by as it used to be. I wonder how many people that give this advice have actually tried it.
Nice combination of ideas, great build
Thanks.Still learning something every day.
Thanks for the video love the info, instead of using (an awesome cooking pot) Dutch oven you could get a small propane tank (scrap yard is a good place) cut out most of the center and there you go👍
Good idea. I would never sacrifice a cast iron pot. I was thinking a discarded water heater would work for the size he wanted.
Great tip!
can you orovide links to were i can find the items. i am struggling with the stainless steel exhaust panel
It’s not very clear does the stainless steel screen fit into the inside of the top can and the can sits on it also does a stainless steel screen go inside the bottom large can or it just sit on it or does it wrap around it could you maybe film a sequel, showing how you assemble it that whole part is very muddy
Agreed. I can see the upper can fitting over the tube of screen, but it appears one must disassemble the lower can/wick assembly and wrap the screen around the wick before reinserting into the lower can, but then... how does one easily refuel using a short funnel?
Search: 1702 heater homemade heater on UA-cam. He breaks it down. ua-cam.com/video/JGVZVCU8FGE/v-deo.htmlsi=qje7fcMNGdlefFUW
Awesome and epic video thank you so much for making it ❤️👍
Great video.
May I suggest you use fondue fuel.
Its refined for indoor use.
I use fondue fuel in my Trangia Spirit Burner that I use when I go camping.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.
Cheers
Thanks for the tip!
@@ZenGardenOasis. Thanks you.
Camping and fondue? I wanna camp with you! LOL!!
Thank you for not trying to be manipulative and laying the premise of the video out fully in the first seconds.
You're welcome
Thank you Sir.Wasnt sure what everyone was talking about. on the type of heater.☃️
Nice heater. The larger pan/pot for bottom is a good idea. Less chance of being upset and turned over in case a critter found a way into the green house. I wonder is an alternative to alcohol for fuel that would not burn up as quick. Any fuel would probably put off some toxic fumes.
Thanks this was very helpful.
That’s super friggin great with some super awesome creative stuff and did I mention it was super fantastic. It’s just super.
Amazing i will definitely look into this for my small workshop. Appreciate your time and effort.
Awesome, thank you!
Great project. I would recommend adding a fuel fill pipe that extends to the outside. So it could be filled without any disassembly, maybe 1/2 copper pipe which can easily be bent to the desired shape, and a fuel line cap would also be able to be purchased at any hardware store for cheap.
Watched from a UA-cam recommendation, and have to say nice work, and I like the bonsai in the background.
Cheers from Newfoundland
Thanks so much…have a great day
You did a wonderful video ! Certainly inspired a lot of people to think outside the box & incorporate there own ideas. Sharing is caring and it’s wonderful to see you providing valuable content. It’s amazing!!! Love you bonsai plants, fabulous hobby!!!!
Thank you so much!
Beautiful bonsai collection!
Thanks for your kind words.
OMG love the Binsai plants behind. Would love to have a few in my home. They are just lovely. I did like and watch the video.
Thank you so much!
I am bookmarking this video to rewatch it. I didn't understand a few things. I wish you would have showed the parts that you didn't show about the third can and how you attached the mesh between the top and bottom. Thanks so much for this video. Do people use this in the house or just greenhouse. I am thinking about the pump house.
Great instructional video and the comments are full of great ideas 🤙🏼☮️
Thanks 👍
Lots of fire-pit basins and old cast iron bathtubs available for sand battery; great idea! Thanks!
You bet!
I would clamp the edges before pouring the sand. Great idea
Hi this is the first time I've watched the video loved your idea. Planning on trying it
Hope you enjoy!
Hace mas de 50 años habia unas estufas que en uruguay era marca POD usaban ese sistema. muy bueno y economicas.
You can usually find large cast iron pots at junktique shops flea market shops in the south . People use them as planters .
u could even get one of those big cast kettles people have in the yard that places cook kettle corn or soup in. i have see a few of them cheap and junked before. my parents and grandparents even had in our yard. that would hold lots of sand and heat. thanks for the idea of a bigger bottom.
For a larger model, could you use a 55 gallon drum (cut in half, top for lid) and a metal oil bucket in the middle for the wick? This is amazing!!! Thank you for sharing your information with us.
Would be cool to have a control mechanism like an old oil lamp, easy on / off, but this looks good to run a measured amount and let it work.
Those things really work good
Great video
Been trying to think of a cheap way to heat my future greenhouse.
Though I wish you showed the lighting process
Just use a kitchen torch, helps if you preheat the fuel so evaporation helps burn. cheers
beautiful Bonsi Garden!
Thanks so much….it’s been a fun hobby over the last 26 years. Cheers.
The bonsais are spectacular!
Glad you like them!
those are great looking bonsai trees.
Fun hobby anyone can do it….happy gardening
Brilliant sir, thank you!
Your too kind.
Good job. I love these life hacks ❤
Nice job we are going to need all this knowledge for the economic downturn. Thanks
Glad it was helpful!
I love the heater and looks a very impressive bit of kit. I would maybe use pop rivets to connect the bottom barrel and top lid just to make it a bit safer and maybe add copper pipes for extra radiation.
Curious how you would use the copper
Thanks for sharing!
You bet!
I love your Bonsais. I love them too.
Glad you like them!
Pretty well thought out! Denatured alcohol burn cleaner I think and I would just staple the mesh together
Excellent idea….cheers
After COVID i bought hand sanitizer (1/2 gallon jugs) super cheap.(70% rubbing alcohol) Keeping them if we have a power outage. I made a few cans with tiolet paper but I love your design. Thank you
Thanks very much.
Dude your bonsai trees are way cool 😊
Thanks 😁
Gran video, no me quedo claro como haces funcionar el ventilador y de que material es para que no se queme, Muchas gracias y Felicitaciones
El ventilador es activado con puro calor. Este video fue la primera vez que supe de este tipo de ventilador.
That is so neat!
I can’t help but admire your Bonsai Collection! Most beautiful that I have seen. Very wonderful distraction😂 sorry carry on
Thank you so much 😊
Great video I enjoyed it so much that I built one. It works great! However, it works a little too great, I am running through alcohol very quickly. I see below to cover the fill hole I will try that any other ideas. One change I made was I bent the bottom of the reflector in about 1.25 " so the weight of the sand would hold the reflector in place better. I had to snip the flange to bend it to fit the pot.
I wanting to upsize the entire contraption using a large stainless steel boiling pot. 👍
People here are saying to use olive oil instead of the alcohol because it burns better and longer and isn’t toxic to inhale
Curious where you are located, what kinds of outdoor temperatures are you facing? Central Wisconsin, I’m not sure this would be effective
Great video. Well done. Lots of great comments.
My input …
Rubbing alcohol contains a lot of water. Consider denatured alcohol (white gas) from the hardware store or something with higher energy like kerosene.
Purer the better…. Cheers
Acetone is a good alternative to rubbing alcohol. What was the temp variance in the greenhouse while it was in use?
I'm curious to know how much carbon will spread in the air while burning acetone (C3 H6 O ) ! Alcool (C2 H5 0H )...😊
And consider that acetone is very toxic for your lungs and skin,and eyes and finally, much more expensive than denatured alcohol...
Though a bit more than some may consider I'd like to add: (1.) A refill tube ('fill pipe') that would equal in volume the amount of alcohol it'd take to refill the tank once emptied. That tubing of course could be 1/4" schedule 40 black iron pipe that runs along the outside vertically, turns horizontally towards the refill hole and then downwards into the fuel tank. (2.) This of course would require a rigid connection between both the top and bottom platforms & securing the "fill pipe" . Noting that only after the unit was completely cooled down refilling would be both safe and quick (even pre measured if you choose to). (3.) One can also install (& purchase) an inexpensive lighter used on kerosene heaters or simply use those fireplace butane types if you wanted.
For a few years we used kerosene type heaters in our home burning jet fuel that would have otherwise been disposed of. Free fuel meant free heat, but that eventually came to a close. 😊
Thank you absolutely wonderful
Your too kind thank you.
@@ZenGardenOasis. I am going to try to make one.
Pretty cool idea
Thank you very much. I bought a greenhouse and now having 2nd thoughts my concern is heating the greenhouse after watching your video I’m leaning on keeping it the greenhouse….
Great to hear!
Hey, thanks for sharing the video. Ray
No worries
That is cool my friend.
🙏👍🇺🇸
Thank you….👍
I'd like to see how hot the sand got. As far as I know, heat goes up, so not much heat will go down to the sand even with the heat conductive steel sheet in it, because most heat in the steel sheet travel upward and dissipates to the colder air. Also, steel is much less heat conductive than aluminum or copper. Copper is the most conductive of the three. I'd also like to see the temperature in the room before and a few hours after the heater lights up, then a few hours after it goes out. I wonder if vegetable shortening can be used instead of alcohol. I know a three-pound one with one flame can burn for months. Can alcohol last as long? Overall, a very informative video. Thank you.
I’m pretty sure this is just working stabilising the entire thing .
This is perfect.
Creo que es un muy interesante modelo de Estufa , ya que se puede adaptar por la parte posterior y bajo la arena una delgada tubería para suministro de alcohol por goteo , gracias
Nice build
it would be nice to have a approximate BTU output rating,
as I dont want to fry my plants
Anybody have an idea how much?
I used a couple of stainless steel hose clamps around my screen so it would hold its round shape.
Very nice. Thankyou.
Most welcome 😊
Can you add the stainless steel tubing coils to this for the heat transfer effect?
Could you use Crisco as a Fuel Source? It burns a good long time and trying to adapt for indoor use. Thanks for a great video!
With a wick yes
Great video
Love your bonsai trees - I have been cultivating bonsai for 25 years plus
You have a good Specimen tree - one in particular was wow stands out
Thank you for sharing
Please display your bonsai trees
Hare Krishna blessings
I made a garden walk through video at the end of last summer. Cheers.
Awesome. Thank you. So many people in comments apparently like their ideas better or want you to change your build to include their idea. 😂
Thanks Tina….I first heard about it in popular mechanics magazine decades ago and have seen a few examples on YT. Cheers
Brilliant!
Thank you…
Nice design!
Thank you! Cheers!
Agreed with the last comment, please explain how you attached the upper screen mesh\can to the assembly. I assume it is not just resting on top of the carbon felt dual can portion as that would be quite unstable?
The whole thing is unstable. The “lid” is just resting on top of the sheet metal. One accidental bump on that table & his whole greenhouse will be on fire.
This is very cool would be good for a emergency.
It’s not designed for long term but emergency and unheated hoop houses in late winter
As stated by icecream ladydriver, I was confused when seeing what seems to be a third can above the stainless steel mesh. Does it need to be so tall? As others stated, it does look somewhat unstable. Your video presented me with something new and inspiring. Thank you
Great point!
I have played with these EXTENSIVELY over the last year. Couple tips to note.
1 is denatured alcohol which burns almost completely clear.
2. A tighter fitting can that uses only 1thicker layer is better... smaller more controlled flame to stay inside the mesh. Also... a hole in the can will often pop the can if the vapor ignites. Have found its actually better to NOT have a hole as I don't have to worry about vapor igniting and the flame stays in the wick. Or, if you need a vapor release.... and a pour point, put a couple layers of screen mesh over the hole from the inside and stuff with steel wool. You can allow vapor to escape, but you DON'T want the flame to catch below the surface exploding vapor in the can.
3. Most of the felt...and it MUST be carbon felt, not filter or anything else. FELT or it won't wick as well and will smoke more.
As interesting as this is... it DOES take a considerable amount of tinkering to get the right amount of wick with the right amount of chimney... as the alcohol vaporizes this creates a whole plethora of new challenges and it gets VERY hot. As a heater, I have found vegetable oil to a far better source and far cheaper. and MUCH longer lasting... but again takes a little tinkering to nail down the right amount of chimney with wick to reduce it to a nearly smokeless system. The hotter everything gets, the more changes occur that changes the dynamics of each system.
Great tips
Please explain why heating stainless steel gives off infrared. Great video!
Stainless steel *mesh* has a lot of turbulence creating gaps that will make the rising flame hit the mesh a lot more than a smooth surface will. This is the same reason for putting rocks in your fireplace.
You didn't explain central section of flame tube. Is there a can in the middle open at both end or no can with top can suspended?
Thank you
Thanks for sharing, super creative! Will it work with Kerosene??
I’m not sure about burn purity. Use detection equip for harmful vapors. Cheers.
I'm sure others mentioned on using isopropyl alcohol. Methanol burns really clean and you won't have any yellow flames. You can buy a yellow bottle of Heat fuel additive for gas line freezing in an auto. Probably a little more expensive..
Thank you it's a very good idea !
But I can't find this hexaust pipe reflector online,
yours is cut along its entire length, did you cut it by yourself ?
Thanks so much for your support. The metal reflector came from lowes hardware. I bought two types, one was stainless and the other was aluminum. The aluminum one I cut to size and the stainless was as needed. I didn’t put a link as the shipping cost on it would most likely be expensive. Hardware stores in your area will most likely carry the one you need. Be careful on cutting either as the edges can be super sharp. Cheers.
I want to make this on a smaller scale. The green house I built myself in the 3rd season now. Needs a small heat source for cold nights... This has given me so many ideas thank you..
Im thinking of building one of these for winter camping! Im curious what temprature the sand gets once it stabalizes.
Once the flame goes out there’s still noticeable heat. But haven’t taken hourly measurements. Cheers
Does the metal do anything different in terms of giving off infrared radiation compared to a plant pot heater?
radiant heaters like this have used kerosene or diesel and burn indoors with no issues, with only minimal ventilation. Not a sealed room but basements and garages and a greenhouse or boat, sure. They were called paraffin heaters and were very popular and found in antique stores from the postwar era. Same idea as a candle and ceramic pot. This is a higher output. But you can buy these with a fiberglass wick and enclosures and reflector all made to use as a spare room heater.