Cheap heating

[O.C.]

Haven't tried this myself, but I'm reliably informed that its very effective ~ go on someone give it a go   


http://www.whydontyoutrythis.com/2013/11/how-to-easily-heat-your-home-using-flower-pots-and-tea-lights.html

[viper]

Haven't tried this myself, but I'm reliably informed that its very effective ~ go on someone give it a go   


http://www.whydontyoutrythis.com/2013/11/how-to-easily-heat-your-home-using-flower-pots-and-tea-lights.html

saw this last year and if you live in a one bedroom studio , possibly its cost effective . however imagine multiplying the 1 room cost across all the rooms in a 3 bed semi, then that's going to be more than a trad boiler.
burning excessive candles causes soot, staining and Carbon monoxide and when you have the eventual fire your insurance co will walk away

[Kwikasfuki]

I'm sure someone will come up with a enclosure that is more fire safe.

For heating a small room, probably will work. As Viper says, for a house ...

[Burchy]

A candle produces about 80W in heat, so you'd need about a dozen of them to produce 1KW of heat and that might heat one room.  A bit

The flowerpots etc are all a waste of time as they do not burn, so do not give off any heat themselves.  They just protect the candle from being knocked over.

This method was widely used during the last war to attempt to heat the old Anderson Shelter and just one candle was recommended to be used. My parents swore that it made absolutely no difference in heat, but did cause a lot of soot smuts to float around the already musty shelter

[Kwikasfuki]

The flowerpots etc are all a waste of time as they do not burn, so do not give off any heat themselves.  They just protect the candle from being knocked over.

Nope, without the terracotta pots it wouldn't work.

[BDF]

If you are going to clog up a perfectly good theory with a lot of pertinent physics and facts, you know this cannot have a good outcome.

Over here (US) there is a bit of trickery going on called pellet stoves. So a manufacturer takes sawdust from a process, heats it until the resins inside the wood become liquid and then squeeze said wood much through a die to make.... wood pellets. About 1/4" in diameter, no more than 1" long and they come in a bag of 50 lbs. Generally sold by the pallet full, which is 2,000 lbs. Now here comes the kicker: the pellet stoves are all rated as running XX hours on YY pounds of pellets. All fine and well. And when you carry the hours out to a month, it is almost certainly a lot less than what you are paying now for heat. The problem with all of this is that the stoves are too small to heat a house. So you have to either 1) section off the area where the stove is and spend your time in that area, 2) be cold or 3) use the main furnace or boiler to add heat as needed. The pellets are some outrageous sum of money, like 20 times cordwood prices. It is all a cosmic joke that some continue to participate in without ever realizing there is a winner (the stove and pellet supply chains) and a loser (the buyer of the stove and pellets) in this game.

I think the tea candle sounds about like the same process. Less costly per month but it won't really heat your living area.

Brian

A candle produces about 80W in heat, so you'd need about a dozen of them to produce 1KW of heat and that might heat one room.  A bit

The flowerpots etc are all a waste of time as they do not burn, so do not give off any heat themselves.  They just protect the candle from being knocked over.

This method was widely used during the last war to attempt to heat the old Anderson Shelter and just one candle was recommended to be used. My parents swore that it made absolutely no difference in heat, but did cause a lot of soot smuts to float around the already musty shelter

[O.C.]

  ROFL....

[Burchy]

Nope, without the terracotta pots it wouldn't work.

So, can you tell me why hiding the heat source inside a flowerpot is going to improve the heat output

[Kwikasfuki]

I don't see how the output would increase? All the pots are doing is facilitating convection.

[O.C.]

Don't use plastic plant pots though 

[viper]

I don't see how the output would increase? All the pots are doing is facilitating convection.

correct , the pots cant make more heat , that's impossible, what they do is heat up and keep the heat at a low level rather than the flames heat going straight up, all the heat eventually goes up, just feels warmer with the pots. If the candle heating system was any good then we would all be doing it

[PCPeteUK]

been heating my home office this way (two terracotta pots and four tea lights) for some time - works a treat.

[Lonewolf]

Hmm, I might give this a go, currently I only have a radiator in my office, I'm not convinced these new fangled radiators will catch on.   

[PCPeteUK]

Hmm, I might give this a go, currently I only have a radiator in my office, I'm not convinced these new fangled radiators will catch on.   

Well I can only say that it works for me - the radiated heat is enough to melt the PVC piping I used to raise the pots an inch. I thought the added height may increase the through draft convection effect and help with oxygen reaching the tea light flame. It did, but got hot into the bargain 

An old flan dish out of the wife's cupboard and a bolt from the garage to seal the smaller flower pot hole. a bit of coat hanger wire and bob's your uncle. I know it's a little Heath Robinson but it works for me.

[O.C.]

Well done Pete, that's put all those doubting Thomas's in their place