I found an article online about how to easily heat a room using tea lite candles, and flowerpots, and it can actually be done for pennies a day. The basic idea is to take 4 little tea candles and put them into a loaf pan, and then you invert a small clay flowerpot over the top, and cover the hole with a quarter, or other similar sized object. You then put a larger flowerpot over the first one, but leave the hole uncovered, thus creating a heat trap, and it will escape out the top, and from the warm sides, and will warm up your room. This would be great to do if the electricity goes out, or even just for a little extra heat in a chilly room. Log In
I saw this the other day, it's gone viral. Very neat. I would actually love to go off the grid completely; I've been playing around with different energy sources with the kids.
This seems like a neat idea, in theory but I literally see no way in how this could work out... at least in my house. The kids... the dogs... just don't mix with candles. By setting this up, it would be a huge fire hazard in my house, but I find this idea very neat indeed.
I have a reverse technique to cool down a room in summer time or during a heat wave. Get a standing fan and place in the middle of the room facing towards you. Put a large bowl of ice water in front of the standing far (you might want to put it on a chair or stool to get it up to the proper height). Just turn on the fan and allow the cool air to blow all over. It's so efficient I no longer use airconditioning and prefer this much cheaper ( and more environmentally friendly) technique.
Sweet tip, thanks! Not sure why i never thought of that lol. I have central air, but it makes me nauseous for some reason. It did in my last place too, not sure what that's about.
I have seen many suggestions on how to achieve something like saving electricity to heat a room or using a solar stove to save gas, but while all these ideas sound great, I have not read success stories from people implementing such ideas, not even feedback from those who put them up online. This one sounds like a good heating alternative but I see hard to implement it without some drawbacks like the smell and smoke that candles will leave in your home after a few days of use.
This is a neat idea, but only useful in a small way seeing that we're dealing with tea light candles. This reminded me of a time in my youth when my Mom would let it get extremely hot in the house before turning the air conditioning on. I combated the problem by stealing all of the ice out of the freezer and putting huge bowls of ice through out my room and turning the fan on high. I was so shocked that it worked, lol.
That's really cool, I'm going to have to try that. In the winter time, I've been using a small space heater for the past couple years in my bedroom. I set it on low and keep it near my bed. I do this instead of using the whole heating system in my house. That way it saves big on the electricity bill. You have to find out how many kWh a small space heater uses, but in general it's pretty much always cheaper than using your heating system in your entire house.
I think this could be useful if you have to do work in a small shed or in a garage ( that isn't full of combustible gases). I want to try it out one day. I am planning on living off the grid one day and this tip is quite helpful.
Great idea! This would work wonders in the rooms in my home that seem to be cold no matter how high the heat is. I sometimes keep the heat low and put on lots of extra layers or drink hot tea or coffee but that can get kind of annoying. This idea seems a lot more convenient.
Oh, how I wish I would have seen this post before yesterday! We had a power outage on our block last night and since I have electric heat, I spent about 40 minutes on the coldest night of the year under multiple blankets freezing. This probably wouldn't have helped much but I would have taken anything!
I usually hang a bag of ice over my house fan to cool off my room in the 106 degree heat of the summer over here. When it gets up to that heat and higher its dangerous to your electric cost. As is the 27 degree weather around here now So this is actually something I might try. Although I do agree, for those who have children and pets roaming about, this is a potential hazard. I would block off areas where you are doing this or try to find a more family safe option.
A number of years ago we got ht with an ice storm here in N/E. Florida and were without power in sub-freezing temperatures for several days. Lockily we had Coleman lanterns and hurricane lamps to use for heat. Those bags of ice for cooling have got to be costly.
I love hearing tips like this. I am not going to be skeptical and will give it a try. I know that often times the smallest of changes can make a big difference. Trapping the heat from the tea lights and the pot as a difuser...interesting. Thanks again for the tip.
It's not a costly venture to attempt just to have the knowledge as to whether it works. I have no problem giving it a try. I'm sure there are a lot of things of this nature coming from need or desperate circumstances. When I saw the title I assumed it was in the form of a question and I was going to venture 'barrel with a wood fire on a pallet'
Wow, that is an excellent idea. Very interesting. I will have to try it. Thank you for sharing. It is such a great and simple idea and solution. I learned something new and interesting today. I love learning new tips and then sharing them with other people after trying them myself. This will be great, especially during emergencies and desperate situations. Not only does it save you money, but it is also useful to know at more desperate times.
That appears to be a cleaver idea. I would have never thought to use a teapot and candles. Over the years, a simple space heater has dome the trick for me. I'm gonna give this new finding a try the next time it gets cold. I'm always looking for ways to cut cost.
I use to sleep with a scented candle in the room. If you close all the windows and doors you will notice that it will be several degrees warmers then the rest of the house. Cover all the cracks of the door and it will be even warmer. If you are worried about fresh air, then have a small plant in the room. That should take care of the carbon dioxide.
