Candle heater

[ak474u]

Has anybody done one of these?

I found this looking for something totally different, and thought it was a pretty brilliant idea. This can be up-sized for quite a bit more heat. A large one, or lots of large ones might be nice in a grid down type situation for someone who doesn't have the ability to store lots of wood.

http://youtu.be/b11dqKJrulk

[Gunfixr]

Interesting.
I may have to try one, and see just how well it works.
Personally, I think it could be more efficient.
While the extra metal in the center does make more of a heat mass, dead air space is an insulator. Therefore, lack of contact with the pot causes some heat to basically get stuck inside. The dead air space in between the pots will do the same.
I would think making contact between the metal and the inner pot would add to heat output. I also think a row of small hoes around the base of the outer pot, but outside the base diameter of the inner pot, would increase heat output. Heat would naturally rise out of the holes, drawing cooler air into the bottom, which would get heated, and rise out the top. It would cycle air, which would be getting heated.
A row of small holes around the base of the inner pot, maybe just a few, not on the bottom but on the side, would also allow the really heated air trapped inside the inner pot get out, and make a second cool air draw. The holes in the outer pot might have to be larger than the holes in the inner pot to accommodate the air coming from two locations. The outer pot would probably radiate less heat, but, I think the heated air flow would make up for it. The inner flow could be controlled by base to pot clearance, as originally designed. The candles might burn faster, but that might be mitigated by closing up the base to pot clearance. Actually, at this point, the base should probably be to fit the inner pot, then it could control candle burn without affecting the heat flow in the outer pot.

Now after proofreading, I think the metal added would get it's heat better used by way of the holes.

[Sniper-T]

If you scroll down to the reviews there are some good points made, although I haven't verified the numbers...

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).

[Gunfixr]

Hmm, I didn't read any comments.
I wonder if my ventilating ideas would even change anything? Since it would involve heating air instead of just the pots.
I do enjoy burning candles at home regularly. Whether they have fragrance or not is mostly irrelevant, I just like burning candles, feeds my inner Pyro, I guess.
Anyway, with half a dozen or more wicks burning openly, the room is.noticeably warmer in a couple hours or so.

[oif0709]

My dad gave me stuff to make one last year but I never used it, I plan on trying it out next weekend.