I keep seeing things about these miracle heaters that can heat an entire room with only a single candle. I decided to test one of these designs since I would rather know the actual heating ability of a heater before I'm in a disaster setting where I lose power. The results were quite surprising. Despite no less than four separate sources claiming that this design would heat a "medium-sized room" for hours, it could not raise the smallest room in my house a single degree after 4 continuous hours of burning. Outside temp had remained fairly constant during the test and the room had maintained a constant 53 F for three hours prior to testing. 4 hours later it was still 53 F and the outside temp had actually climbed one degree. The design was simple and seemed like it might work. A large coffee can is topped with a cast iron trivet. A few air holes are punched in the sides of the can near the bottom for air flow. A large candle is placed inside. While it does draw in cool air from the bottom, force out hot air at the top, and heat the trivet, it does absolutely nothing to heat the room. This makes me extremely skeptical of other single-candle designs. Does one candle flame possess enough energy to warm an entire room? The room I used was small, about the same floor space as a cheap, 4-man tent. I will be testing other designs in the future and posting my results.
Short answer- NO. A candle produces about 100 watts of heat output.(Wiki answers) You can't heat a room with a single 100 watt light bulb (assuming that the fascists in DC would actually still LET you buy a 100 watt bulb). You might be able to take the chill off a small, well-insulated room like a bathroom with a candle. Still, no matter how you package it, you're still only adding 100 watts of energy.
Reminds me of " If it sounds too good to be true" I never heard of this but if I did I would have had to try it too. If, per chance, you do find a design that works, let us know, I for one would greatly appreciate it.
A super-insulated house can be heated by the lighting fixtures and the heat given off by the occupants. Energy is still relatively cheap in the US so we don't think that way. The candle trick must be true "because it was on the internet."
Hi... Good post...!! I've heard of similar heating using two clay flower pots...the smaller one under the bigger one...and using one candle under them to heat X-amount of area. I think you might find it on YouTube.
You can't get something for nothing. If your power is out and you need to heat up a room, fire up your camping lantern. It will add a decent amount of heat to the room and give you good light.
Gas lanterns throw lots of heat. I have used them in the back of a truck with a canopy and in a large canvas tent. They use up oxygen, so you need a flap or window open. I like them as a heater because only foolish people would go to sleep with a lantern on. No you can't heat a room with a candle.
You can only get so many BTU's out of a candle. One way to accomplish this is with an afterburner, a mantle of sorts that will take the unburned gasses from the top of the flame and burn them. This can be accomplished but it's tricky and you have to have the mantle set properly above the candle. It still won't heat a room bigger than a small closet.
The math on that is very simple. If the BTU's per hour produced by the candle cannot exceed the BTU's per hour lost through the walls and ceiling the temperature will not increase. It the BTU's per hour produced equal the heat loss the temp will stay the same. If less, the room temp will drop. One match burning for 20-30 seconds produces about 1 BTU of heat so at best a candle burning continuously will produce about 180 BTU per hour. Not an awful lot of heat.
All true but there is a way around it. The clay pot idea works best with three pots and that big steel bolt holding them together is what you want to heat. This warms the clay pots. Believe me, they get hot. You have to use a jar candle and get the top of the jar as high as possible under the pots. The pots effectively store the heat similar to a solar heating system. It is then radiated into the room. Or, if you really want high-tech, you can rig a computer cooling fan on a stand next to and blowing just over the top of the pots. Wire the fan into a small solar panel you put into a window to collect sunlight. This rig will raise the temperature in my bathroom by ten to fifteen degrees which makes it very comfortable for taking a shower in the dead of winter.
Yeah, but they won't be able to breathe very well. Air exchange building codes exist in balance with heating requirements. If it's cold outside, and you have sufficient air exchange, you're not going to heat the room with light bulbs and body heat. And you'd have to kill the first person who farted because there is no way for that fart to escape the room. Nobody is using 100 watt bulbs anymore anyway. Standard lamp type CFLs are in the 20 watt range and that's what the gubmint tells us we're all supposed to be using. This tiny candle heater idea couldn't possibly work. Building a little heat exchanger doesn't create heat. It only directs the movement. There is no way to create more heat than that one little candle would be outputting in the open. If someone could figure out how to amplify heat they would be a billionaire within a year.
The amplification of heat from a candle reminds me of the daylight savings time as interpreted by the old indian. "Only a white man thinks he can cut a foot off the blanket on one end, sew it on the other end, and thinks he has a longer blanket."
I think an engineer once told me a person generates about the same or a little more heat than a candle. I do know 9 people in a room will warm quite a bit. We were in an old cabin and it was about 40 when it got dark. I awoke and the room was pleasent at 4 AM, sans the snoring. The outside temp had remained about the same.
Just looked up and noticed we have 1 fragrant candle burning and the thermostat says its 75 in the house so I guess its working. Course the out door thermometer says 78. ]
When hunting in Colorado, sleeping in a cab over camper, I will put a small terracotta pot inverted on top of the propane cook stove on low. This will knock the chill off the camper at night. Not warm but above bitter cold though. Just remember to open the roof vent a couple of inches to let in fresh air. DC
