Doyle sent in about an interesting product that he makes. It is a Terracotta Pot Candle Heater. He sells the units but also provides all the details for us DIY people to make our own. It consists of nuts and bolts which provide the metal mass along with 3 terracotta pots and a metal base. I haven’t made or used one of these but it seems like it would be the perfect device to put in an office or a den just to keep the chill out of the air.
By looking at his Web site I can see that Doyle is a serial inventor! Have a look at the recycled tin can solar furnace and his Heat Stick to see a few of his other ideas.
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Would’nt just burning the candle in the normal way provide just as much heat? And with the bonus of seeing the cozy flame… I guess this maybe distrubutes the heat over a longer time.
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Danny beat me to it: The candle is going to heat the room the same amount whether or not you trap the heat in a series of clay pots. It’s like a warm oven – you can either keep the oven door closed and it will cool slowly, or open the door and allow it to cool quickly. The same amount of energy will be released.
That said, I love the device that takes warm air from the ceiling and draws it to the floor. It’s just crying out to have a solar powered fan added.
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@ Danny, @ James:
The difference here is how the heat is distributed, which is *very* important.
Remember, the only important thing in this context is the *personal perception* of heat. Concentrate the heat near the user, and they’ll notice a significant difference.
Normal candle burning will result in a small amount of IR emission, but most of the heat will immediately rise straight up to your ceiling via gas convection. Instead of wasting all the heat as warm air sitting at the ceiling, this radiates much of it as IR directly to your skin and immediate surroundings (and of course, some will still be transmitted through a more broad general convection.) These are typically meant to be used on the corner of a desk within a meter or so of the user, and they really do make a difference in taking the chill off within a localized area.
“And with the bonus of seeing the cozy flame… ”
The candle flame is still visible, the pots usually rest on a stand a few inches above the flame.
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This is very interesting. I always love finding new things that people come up with that actually work. I will have keep to keep this on my favorites to blog about sometime. I like how the heat will travel through the metal and out the pots. Very cool idea.
Jason
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I got my first Woodwick candle about four days ago, I still suck at it knowing how long to burn it but I think I’m learning.