Kandle Heeter - Do It Yourself or Buy It

[hausfrau60]

I found this really interesting candle or lightbulb heater that might be really fun to make and use camping. If I could just figure out how to make the lightbulb version 12volt ...



To see more, go to the website that sells it and also shows exactly how to make it at home:

http://heatstick.com/_KanHeet01.htm

[hausfrau60]

An old fondue pot stand will get you started ...

[hugh]

interesting concept, with the small size of out trailers it might just work. It,s nice to take the chill of a cold morning off.

[Scooter]

I've found candle heat quite effective in my 4x8. Pot would undoubtedly work better for heat dissipation than foil. I don't recommend this if you're the type who easily falls asleep while watching a movie in bed and stuff:

[Mauleskinner]

[bobhenry]

I was in Wally world last fall and they had the 2" 3" an 4" clay pots in the clearance section for 50 cents each I bought 1 of each with a drain hole and one 4" with a solid bottom. When I got home i rooted thru the junk hardward bucket and came up with a monster bolt and a collection of nuts and washers and bolted them in thru the drain hole dropped a candle in the 4" solid bottom and clamped on 3 bulldog clips like you use as a monster paperclip. This spaced the upper heat chamber up enough for the camdle to breath and while it took about an hour to heat the mass it did put off a surprising amount of heat.

P.S. dont touch the exposed bolt on top to see if it is warm just take my word for it it will be

[Mauleskinner]

So...thinking about this for a couple of days (no, I have nothing better to do ), I wonder if this is really an optimum design for a teardrop.

Obviously the heater doesn't increase the heat output of the candle or light bulb. Its primary intent would be to keep that heat from escaping the way it normally does (straight up, with a fairly small radius). The thermal mass of the bolt concentrates the heat in one place, and the pots diffuse the heat it so you don't burn yourself by touching the hot bolt. So it's probably better than a bare candle in the teardrop.

In the case of the electric version, the pots probably absorb a certain amount of light energy and convert it to heat energy. The thermal mass of the bolt is probably less important here, since the bulb's energy is less concentrated than the energy of a small candle flame. But it's probably better than a bare bulb in the teardrop.

If we decide we want a "flameless" system inside the confines of a teardrop, we'd then want to optimize the bulb system.

A bare bulb, fully (or mostly) enclosed in a single terra cotta pot painted flat black on the inside to convert the maximum amount of light energy to heat energy seems to me to be a more effective heating system.

Does that make sense, or am I breathing too much candle exhaust?

David

[Ageless]

With an incandescent bulb; more than 1/2 of the electricity is heat not light any way In such a case; you would want as large of storage mass (thermal mass) as possible. You can almost tie this in with the heated rock idea.

[Mauleskinner]

you would want as large of storage mass (thermal mass) as possible. You can almost tie this in with the heated rock idea.

Except that the heated rock idea is to bring stored heat from an external source inside the teardrop.

In the case of the heater, you don't need the storage capability of the thermal mass...you're generating the heat inside the teardrop. Just determine the proper wattage of bulb (or put it on a dimmer) to provide the BTU's desired for the desired length of time.

[Ageless]

True, but the inverted pots will store up some heat. You could fill the inverted pot with concrete and store more heat.

[Mauleskinner]

But why store the heat in the first place? Seems to me that the most efficient system would be something that would convert 100% of the energy from the bulb into heat and disperse it with no storage.

(obviously nothing we come up with is going to do that, but more thermal mass is farther away from that ideal)

[Ageless]

Again, a valid point. In a perfect world; every camping trip would be free of rain, calm breezes and batteries that don't run down. Both rain and winds will strip away heat from the exterior of our campers. Are you going to leave the light burning all night?

[Mauleskinner]

Are you going to leave the light burning all night?

No reason not to if I'll need the heat...I'd operate it just like any other heater. If the amount of light allowed to escape is severely limited, it's not like having the room lights on all night.

Obviously power availability is an issue, as it would be with any electrically-powered heater. But not having to heat up a thermal mass gives you more control over determining exactly how much is necessary.

If you were using a solar-charged battery to power the heater, and got to the point where your battery was charged to max capacity and there was still daylight available, powering the heater up and using the thermal mass to store additional solar energy would obviously be a good idea. And of course that all needs to be considered as well.

But I don't think that either of the electric options for this heater come anywhere near converting even "most" of the electrical energy consumed into heat. And while there are definitely more efficient options out there, the "cheap gene" that I inherited from both sides of the family kicked in with this one.

[Ageless]

The 'cheap gene'?

Maybe the name 'David' was wrongly translated from Hebrew?

David

[TENNJIM]

The top light inside my teardrop heats up enough to prepare for bed or getting up in the morning. It is 12volts and I believe a 12 watt incandescent bulb. I wonder if it would be a longer term heater with a different cover on it to shut out the light entering the teardrop and radiate the heat. Hmmmm?

Jim B / Utah