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Old 11-16-2013, 08:55 AM   #1
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heating using tea lights

I saw this video of an English guy who heats his small apartment using tea lights. Do you think this might work in a small trailer?

How to Easily Heat Your Home Using Flower Pots & Tea Lights

Comments, laughs, and scientific arguments welcome.

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Old 11-16-2013, 09:13 AM   #2
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as long as you leave the window open and have a good co2 detector... tealights burn for around 4 hours
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Old 11-16-2013, 10:37 AM   #3
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This is a great tip! Have a small camper and did not want to carry two flower pots to roll around inside but then on second thought, you could combine this idea with the Zee pot and have a heater and a cooler with two flower pots.
Keep Your Drinks and Food Cool in the Sun with a No-Electricity-Required Zeer Pot Fridge
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Old 11-16-2013, 10:37 AM   #4
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What do you burn if you do not like tea?
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Old 11-16-2013, 10:37 AM   #5
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Unless the technology for the clay pot has improved or the tea candles put out more heat than in the past.... lame. We've discussed this several times before, here's one: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ter-46616.html

here's a discussion from three years earlier: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ter-35979.html
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Old 11-16-2013, 11:23 AM   #6
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Scientifically invalid. The pot does nothing but absorb heat so actually would be less efficient than just burning the lights- which would not give off much heat, anyway. Heat is heat, you cannot multiply it by any gimmick. Candles or lights aren't the most efficient heaters as too much of the energy they give off is visible light instead of infrared (heat).
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Old 11-16-2013, 11:34 AM   #7
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1. To the Brits it seems that 55 degrees is a just fine temp for a room as long as the kettle is full and hot. "Have a cuppa tea Luv..... it'll warm you up jus fine."
2. If you open a window, so as to not use all the O2, you will let in more cold.
3. You will have a very hot flower pot to deal with when the tiny candle burns out
4. An open flame for heating is a very bad idea in any event.
5. And never forget, Sir Lucas, the Prince of Darkness, was also a Brit.

But wait..... If the warmth comes from the invisible component anyway, just blow out the candle and enjoy the invisible warmth..... with a cuppa Tea m'Luv.

Did I mention: LOL ??



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Old 11-16-2013, 12:05 PM   #8
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So our forefathers who heated up a rock or brick and then put it inside their bedcovers...was unscientific? Just a thought...
Been to England and yes you are right, pretty chiily there, Tea is a must!
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Old 11-16-2013, 12:10 PM   #9
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So our forefathers who heated up a rock or brick and then put it inside their bedcovers...was unscientific? Just a thought...
Been to England and yes you are right, pretty chiily there, Tea is a must!
No. They were just smart enough not to place an open flame in their bed.
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Old 11-16-2013, 12:13 PM   #10
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As a heater..it stinks.. a dehumidifier? Maybe..

Funny to check in here and see this thread this morning. I just "made" one of these yesterday for chix and giggles after seeing a video posted yesterday from one of my Tiny House sites. A DIY Tiny House Heater - YouTube

His method made more sense to me than using all the nuts and bolts..I have seen these before and went "Thats a lot of work for so little gain"..so I never made one. The concept of adding more stuff (Nuts and bolts as a heat sink) inside the pots has never set well with me..seems inefficient to have one thing absorb energy to radiant it to another thing and get a lot of loss along the way.. I know it doesn't work for electricity flow..I am not a scientist, but I suspect it is the same for all energy sources.

The one I made simply has a metal knob drawer pull dropped into the hole of the inner smaller pot. The inner pot then heats up to unbearable temps, heating the air between the two pots. The air caught between the inner pot and outer pot "Shoots" out the top hole, sort of a mini passive forced air furnace. With the nuts and bolts, it is purely a radiating heater.

I used a 4" inner pot and a 6" outer pot, both from Home Depot..cost about $2.50 total. That's cheap enough for me to try :-)

I tried this after the sun went down so that I would not get passive solar heat in the mix. I used only 1 candle. As a heater..well, it sux..I started in a 60 degree trailer. After 2 hours, it was a whole whopping 70 degrees. I made these measurements from my normal sitting spot, about 5 feet away from where I was running the heater. I suspect some of that temp increase was from..the exhaust from my laptop..2 beagles and a cats body heat, and the cuppa coffee I had sitting out and was happily sipping on while I contemplated putting on a hat and another pair of sox.

There WAS an UNINTENDED positive aspect to doing this that made perfect sense to me, after I saw it happen. The cheap consumer thermometer I am using has a humidity gauge on it. I saw that in the beginning of the experiment, the relative humidity was 70%. By the end, it was 42%. And it was dry (re: In Oregon, that means it isn't raining...yet) outside when I started, pouring down rain by the finish. Perhaps this may be a better use for this system..a passive dehumidifier? Just like Arizonians say "It's a dry heat"

As a side note, after 30 mins, the air exiting the top hole measured over 120 degrees at a distance of 1 1/2 ft. That's as high as my cheapo thermometer goes. Move the thermometer another 2 feet away, the temp drops to 80. And another 3 feet away, where I was sitting..60. It didn't get to 70 until the thing was burning for 2 hours.
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Old 11-16-2013, 12:13 PM   #11
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Thumbs up

LOL GLENN, still LOL!
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Old 11-16-2013, 12:23 PM   #12
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I don't know about T lights but I can comment on T.
There was once an Indian who drank 2 gallons of T and that night he died in his T-P.
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Old 11-16-2013, 12:27 PM   #13
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This has turned into a really funny thread, it's cold and wet here today in the Mountains...and not from TP. So Am enjoying this.
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Old 11-16-2013, 12:44 PM   #14
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as another side note..today, I am going to build an experimental solar air heater..table top version. THE CHEAPEST & EASIEST POP CAN HEATER EVER!! - YouTube

This guy has slapped together several different styles of these in prototype form. He lives off grid and doesn't seem crazy :-)

Of course, this is for supplemental heat only..it would really suck at nite ;-P Since my work has me inside my trailer during the day a lot, it may help with my propane consumption. I go through a LOT in the winter.

I'll let you know..I bought all the parts at a thrift store yesterday..total cost was under 10 bucks + $.05 per pop can I'll use. (An Oregon feature!)
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Old 11-16-2013, 12:50 PM   #15
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I don't know about T lights but I can comment on T.
There was once an Indian who drank 2 gallons of T and that night he died in his T-P.
------------------------------------------------------------------

I think my Aunt tried that one on me in about 1952. But back then it was about a Native American, not a off grid dweller working in a call center in Mumbai...



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Old 11-16-2013, 01:10 PM   #16
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Here is a different version using a larger candle. Only $29.95!

Candle Powered Space Heater
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Old 11-16-2013, 03:36 PM   #17
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So our forefathers who heated up a rock or brick and then put it inside their bedcovers...was unscientific? Just a thought...
Been to England and yes you are right, pretty chiily there, Tea is a must!
That's a different idea- that's heating in one place and then moving the warm object to another place. Nothing invalid there, though you won't get 100% of the heat from the fire into the rock. You can't build a fire under the bed covers, but you can heat a rock in a fire and then move it. You could heat the flower pot in one room and then use it in another- it still wouldn't offer any more heat than the candle would have, but it would offer some (probably less than the candle, actually, since some of the candle energy would heat the air in the first room.)
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Old 11-16-2013, 04:57 PM   #18
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Sounds like a great way to burn your camper down, to me.
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Old 11-16-2013, 06:29 PM   #19
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Sounds like another reason to empty a case of beer cans ! !
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Old 11-16-2013, 07:05 PM   #20
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Sounds like another reason to empty a case of beer cans ! !
Yep, and you get double duty by heating YOURSELF up from the inside out!

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