Heat a small room for 15 Cents a day

It sounds a bit risky to me Angie, sorry.

I think it sounds like a brilliant idea. Maybe using a roasting tin rather than the bread pan would offer more security if it was to be left unattended. Small tiles could be used to lift the top flower pot off the base of the tin to allow a draught. It does look a bit top heavy the way he does it. .

Most tea lights last 1-2 hours, though you can buy ones that last longer, but are more expensive. Given that I cannot see how I could use it in the greenhouse without getting up and replacing them every few hours. I also cannot see them making a difference when temperatures get below -5C

Interesting all the same. Using short but fat candles might be effective for longer but would cost a lot more. Might be worth trying in a plastic wall house on cold nights if you can steel yourself to go out there at bed time and set it up! I can't see it being dangerous as long as you were careful where you put it. Am tempted to try it ans see what happens.

$15 is about £9.20 per day, so that is not cheap! Electricity is 17p-ish per kWH. A Tea-light, assuming 20 watts and burning for 4 hours is 0.08 kWH - so if they cost 8p each that's £1 per/ kWH. They are also a fire hazard indoors.

Ignoring the math, heating a storage heater brick (those dense heavy reddish/blackish ones) should store heat from a candle more efficiently than the candle releases heat, so there might be a something in it. I just do not think it is an economical reason to try.

Thanks for your feed back everyone.

Kildermorie, you read wrong it's 15 CENTS not $$$. The chap in the video is English so he bought his tea lights in England.

I still think it's a super idea and I will try it out at some point. If I lived in the country and was trying to save plants from frost I'd definitely try it out and experiment with it also. As Sterngran said maybe try bigger candles. Or find ones that burn for 4 to 6 hrs. that way the plants would be kept warm for the worst of the cold night. Even if someone had a shrub that they were trying to protect from frost you could put a tent over it and set something like this inside it, it would save the plant if it could burn long enough through the coldest part of the night. I think it would be good for sheds too. If tinkering away in them on a cold day and maybe there is no form of heat it might be good to try it out.

Ah sorry my mistake on the heading. I wrote $15 it should have been 15 cents. Sorry I'll change it.

Thanks for that , Angie , I'll certainly give it a look . I'm all for a bit of Heath Robinson ! ( I don't know if I've got that right .)

The chap used Ikea tealights £1 for 100.

Your welcome Driad.
Scotsgran, 100 for a pound seem like a steal!

I had to replay it to make sure I had heard him correctly. He also said each one burns for about 4 hours. I would imagine if you had it on from 7am to 3am the residual heat would have built up in the clay pots and would keep the temp. above freezing. That is 5 lights, one each at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm and 11pm. Once the clay pots heat up it would be necessary to use oven gloves to change the tealights and the hot pots would need to be placed on a heat proof surface. If it was on a slab on the floor the hot air would rise. I think he said he used 8, 4 at a time. He was using it in his office so he would need a lot more heat than just enough to keep the temp. above freezing.

If you're in Southern California you don't need to heat any room. It's been so hot here, lately. I live in inland San Diego and the temps have been 90ºF (32ºC) or close to it for many days this November.

Do you live in the mountains?

Hi Angie. Im new here. I saw this video on youtube a while back. and when I searched I found it here. I am testing it right now. It works very well. It produces a lot of heat for those small candles. Just a side note though. I bought tea lights at a dollar store. They are quite a bit smaller than the ones used In the video. So I have 3 of them burning. The clay pot on the outside is very warm. The candles are still burning so hopefully I can time how long the clay pot holds the heat after they go out.
I like scotsgran's suggestion of using tiles under neath because the pan does get hot. If you put it on a stable surface it should be safe,so sorry Pamg

Hi , 1goodie , well done !
Tried and tested , keep us posted .
Saving the world's energy , Angie .

Oh no I just had replies written and then I hit the back button instead of post and it' gone. Oh darn!!!!

Hello Everyone thanks for your comments.

Scotsgran. Yeah, I thought he said 4 twice a day, but like he said it was in his small office.

Delonix I live 3 miles in from the beach and it gets too chilly for my liking once the sun goes down. It doesn't take much to heat up my place but I tried this candle thingy out last night out in my living room & kitchen. I just turned a stove top on for a bit to take the chill off then I set up this gadget and it helped keep that area at a cozy temp.
I'm trying it out tonight in my bedroom as I'm fighting a cold and I find it a bit too chilly for my retile like body.

1Goodman. Welcome to GOY I hope you enjoy your time here, it's an interesting site where you can learn much.

Thanks for your feed back as I thought it an interesting energy saving piece of info. As I've said, I'm trying it out at the moment.
Only I don't have as big of pots as the guy in the video does so I've only used 2 candles. One tip though, I put some aluminum foil in the baking tin first as it will trap the candle wax. I placed the baking pan on an aluminum pie crust tray try, that way it gives added protection, I also had a mall piece of garnet so I placed that under the aluminum baking dish. So far so good, the chill is leaving my room.
I just tried to touch the pot and it's hot!!I could only dab it, even the air a few feet above it I can feel warmth. So I'd say it works in small room or it a area that doesn't get too cold. Although once the candle-burns out I think the heat leaves the pot rather quickly. Oh I also used what candles I had which I think came from he 99 Cent store.

I still think it could be useful in a small green house or in cold frames. I remember one of our members that has a nursery saying he builds tents over his succulents in the winter in the green house. I think something like this in a bigger tent could help a lot.

Anyway, let me know your up dates.

P.S.
Oh thankfully I found it again and didn't have to retype it all.