Candle Powered "Flower Pot Heaters" ?

[billt460]

These things are all over Youtube, along with instructions on how to construct them in a multitude of ways and sizes, using varying amounts and sizes of the pots and candles themselves.

The concept is the candle(s) heat the terra cotta pots, and the pot themselves radiate heat outward into the room....... X number of candles create X number of BTU's. This regardless of the size or amount of flower pots the candles heat.

I'm not seeing how this whole contraption, however they are built, is going to put anymore heat into the room, than simply burning the candles themselves. The candles produce the heat. Not the flower pots.

A bit like turning on the burner of a gas stove. It's not going to matter what you put on the burner, it won't give out any more heat than the burner itself provides.

Not only that, but if you watch the videos on building most all of these things, the tray they put the candles in is quite confined, and subjected to a lot of the heat the flower pots are giving off. And it thus raises the temperature of all the candles enough to liquify all the paraffin in the candle.

The flash point of candle wax, (paraffin), is 390 F to 465 F. If that gets exceeded, the entire surface area of the candle could be set ablaze.... In short this looks like a good way to start a nice fire, all while doing nothing to increase the heat output of simply burning the candles themselves, without all the nonsense of the flower pots.

It's amazing how these things have gotten so much attention.

 

[ctechbob]

What, physics must still be obeyed? Blasphemy!!

My favorite is the latest one that is a cut up coke can with about 2" of heating element in it.

 

[4WD]

These things are all over Youtube, along with instructions on how to construct them in a multitude of ways and sizes, using varying amounts and sizes of the pots and candles themselves.

The concept is the candle(s) heat the terra cotta pots, and the pot themselves radiate heat outward into the room....... X number of candles create X number of BTU's. This regardless of the size or amount of flower pots the candles heat.

I'm not seeing how this whole contraption, however they are built, is going to put anymore heat into the room, than simply burning the candles themselves. The candles produce the heat. Not the flower pots.

A bit like turning on the burner of a gas stove. It's not going to matter what you put on the burner, it won't give out any more heat than the burner itself provides.

Not only that, but if you watch the videos on building most all of these things, the tray they put the candles in is quite confined, and subjected to a lot of the heat the flower pots are giving off. And it thus raises the temperature of all the candles enough to liquify all the paraffin in the candle.

The flash point of candle wax, (paraffin), is 390 F to 465 F. If that gets exceeded, the entire surface area of the candle could be set ablaze.... In short this looks like a good way to start a nice fire, all while doing nothing to increase the heat output of simply burning the candles themselves, without all the nonsense of the flower pots.

It's amazing how these things have gotten so much attention.

View attachment 195360

Yeah - I buy the tall glass candles used at cemeteries - cheap and last a long time if needed … That other part can be repurposed to start small plants in

 

[billt460]

What is sad, is just how many adult people today have been dumbed down to the point, of simply accepting this stuff without even applying any common sense.

If I would have constructed one of these abortions, back when I was in the 7th grade in 1964, in Mr. Kobus's science class, as a science fair project, I would have received an "F" before I got the thing lit.

Fast forward to today, and we have adults who really think they're on to something. Scary. The dumbing down of America continues.

 

[Kira]

Where to start...?
It's a stupid idea. Heating up a heavy thing held in the air by straightened paper clips (or whatever) more resembles a time-delay prank.

The soot and oil put out by candles is a high price to pay for a smidgeon of heat. 1 smidgeon (sdn) = 0.02BTU.

Dopey people sitting and watching these videos is indeed disturbing. The same can be said for a lot of activities. Anyone see the parking lot video of the flipped SUV with all the nose-wipe children sitting on the beltline outside the car?

The people who make these videos are said to be "in it for the money". I want to know who will advertise on this video; perhaps home builders and real estate salespeople who'd rather sell new homes.

If it was the 1950's and I was a Red Scare paranoid propagandist, I'd say the Reds released that video so innocent but idle Capitalist hands would burn their houses down to make way for the new, inevitable revolution. By the way, where was that video made? just askin'.

Maybe the candle makers and flower pot manufacturers are in on it?

 

[andrew_j]

People are not dumber I think the same thru history. Just easier to put bad or ill informed information or lies taken as fact due to social media platforms.

 

[Astro14]

The amount of heat created remains the same. We all agree on the physics.

What may change the perception of the heat in the room is the change in how the heat is distributed. A candle will add heat to the air (convection) and that thin column of heated air likely rises to the top of the room.

But the warmed pot will radiate a bit of heat, and that radiation “feels” like warmth. It will also create some convection, warming the air around it, but the more diffuse warmed air may not rise as quickly, and may linger at lower heights in the room where again, it “feels” warmer.

So, this very well might “feel” warmer as more of the heat is available to the room occupant. No change in the overall room enthalpy, but a change in what is felt by the room occupant.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Its pretty. Shabby sheik.

 

[Kira]

^^Ha "Cheap Sheik" was my clothing guide.

Now the Lava Light, THAT put out heat!

 

[4WD]

Actually are store bought iterations

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[oil pan 4]

I calculate each tea light small candle thing will put off around 360 BTU per hour.
I have no doubt that if you put it right next to you it might make you a little bit warmer.
As far as heating room it will be nearly useless.

Why do people believe it?
Public education.
When I was about to graduate highschool I lived in Maine and wanted to be able to compare the cost of different heat sources.
The internet was barely useable to the point of just being able to search news articles on the subject, but it was pretty clear the people writing these articles didn't know any more on the subject than I did.

 

[Kira]

to compare the cost of different heat sources.

By the time you set out to do this, the science and mathematics of heating was well up and running. Experts worked in labs and in building basements as stationary engineers.
The articles you read were written by less involved people. A descriptive article in a trade mag or Popular Mechanics would have bits of intel but "filler pieces" have always littered the road to research.
Knowledge is still not "given away" or magically imparted.

 

[bullwinkle]

I bet my wood stove can produce orders of magnitude more heat than a candle under a (dangerously supported) flower pot!

 

[Warstud]

Is that one of those breakthru devices invented by a 21 year old student from Harvard ?

 

[eljefino]

The flower pot will catch the soot the candle gives off, so the person's room won't have grungy paint. The Cistene Chapel got restored recently, removing hundreds of years worth of candle soot off the ceiling paintings.

This is as dumb an idea as those oil filled space heaters. "It saves money because it keeps giving off heat after you turn it off." OK so the reverse is true...

On topic for this forum, a tea light candle under an oil pan on a still -25'F night may be of some benefit, if you can keep it from burning the car down.

 

[Vil_Riker]

The main value of the oil filled heaters is the silent operation.

 

[andrew_j]

The amount of heat created remains the same. We all agree on the physics.

What may change the perception of the heat in the room is the change in how the heat is distributed. A candle will add heat to the air (convection) and that thin column of heated air likely rises to the top of the room.

But the warmed pot will radiate a bit of heat, and that radiation “feels” like warmth. It will also create some convection, warming the air around it, but the more diffuse warmed air may not rise as quickly, and may linger at lower heights in the room where again, it “feels” warmer.

So, this very well might “feel” warmer as more of the heat is available to the room occupant. No change in the overall room enthalpy, but a change in what is felt by the room occupant.

My wood stove which radiates puts out as much BTU as some pellet stoves. However wood stove heat is warmer and feels that way vs the hot air being blown about for whatever reason. Majority of people who switch feel similar.

 

[billt460]

I have to give this guy an "E" for effort.

 

[PandaBear]

People believe in what they want to believe in, and people like to believe in pretty things that give them warm and fuzzy feeling.

The only way around it is to let Darwin does the work. If it is just small things just let it be, if it is something that will prevent them from passing down their genes then you know things will eventually sort itself out.

 

[ripcord]

The video I saw was some girly trying to heat her car with it. What a stupid way to risk killing yourself in a fire or give yourself CO poisoning.