A tealight is a special kind of candle. Unlike other candles, the wax liquefies completely when lit – it burns even with the liquefied wax. Tealights are popular for their use in heating up scented oils. They are also used for accent lighting.
Depending on the kind of wax a tealight is made from, it can produce between 30-40 watt of power output. This power output can be magnified with the right conductor to produce an amount of heat that can heat up a room.
So now, can a tealight heat a room? Of course, it can.
HEATING UP A ROOM WITH A TEALIGHT
A single tealight, when burned only adds a negligible amount of heat to a room. (The heat makes no difference to the normal room temperature). A single lit tealight can only increase the temperature of a room by 1oF – which may even be less depending on the size of the room.
Heating up a room thoroughly, requires about 1600watts of power. To get that kind of heat from tealights, you will need up to 40-50 tealights. Burning this much candles at a time has many downsides. It is a very risky thing to do. Hence, it is not advisable to burn that much amount of candles at a time.
DOWNSIDES TO USING TEALIGHT FOR ROOM HEAT SOURCES
1. Fire outbreak
To allow for even dispersion of heat from the tealights burned, the candles are to be lit at different parts of the room. This requires maximum supervision. Truth be told, it is very difficult to supervise 40-50 candles burning at a time. When this burning is going on, a fire outbreak can occur due to a cloth or material catching fire. If this fire is not noticed on time, a full fledged outbreak my occur. This is because many candles are burning at a time and and the fire may be uncontrolled.
2. Carbon monoxide poisoning may occur – and other harmful gases too
When a single tealight is burned in a room, carbon monoxide as well as other harmful gases are given off, but the amount of these gases given off are so minute that they are not capable of resulting in any health implications. These toxic gases build up to great amounts when many candles are burned all at once. Carbon monoxide poisoning is like to occur if 40-50 tealights are burned all at a time. So for your own good- with respect to your health- you shouldn’t attempt heating up your room with 40-50 tea candles.
3. Cost
A pack of 50 unscented tealight costs between 10 and 20USD, and these tea candles burn for just 4 hours – many times not up to that amount of time. This implies that to heat up your room for just 4 hours you’d be spending 8-20USD. That’s a whole lot, if you’d ask me, because an average American under the right condition spends less than 200USD on power monthly which is relatively cheap compared to what you spend using tealights to provide your house heat.
4. Time and attention
Another downside to burning 40-50 candles at once is your time and attention that is needed when it is burning in your room. We all know that we shouldn’t burn candles unattended, but burning 40 candles all at once requires super attention. You may not be able to do any other thing as your already have 40 other things you’re doing – watching 40 lit candles to avoid a fire outbreak!
From learning of these downsides, you would agree with me that the problems lie in the number of candles you are burning all at once to heat up your room. This means if you have an alternative that would require you using less amount of tea candles but the same amount of heat effect, that would be a better alternative.
There actually is a better alternative.
THE BETTER ALTERNATIVE
The same heat effect can be produced from burning just 4 tealights as when you burn 40 of those. The difference between these two is that, upon using 4 tealights your level of attention to your burning candles would be far less compared to when you’re burning 40 all at once. (Again, 40 candles are a whole lot). Also, you wouldn’t have to risk inhaling toxic gases or a fire outbreak.
An alternative to the use of ’40 open-flames’ is the use of just 3 or 4 tea candles together with terracotta flower pots. These duo can be used together in what can be likened to a basic DIY technology.
WHAT YOU WOULD NEED?
- Tealight candles: You’ll need 4 tealight candles of even sizes.
- Terracotta flower pots: You will also be needing two terracotta pots of different sizes. One very big one and another that can fit into the big one
- Metal tin: An empty metal tin too would be needed. A metal tin from a used up tea candle would be preferred.
- Aluminium foil: needed for absorbing heat
- Metal crate: for placing the tealights. The holes in the metal crates must be able to accommodate each of the candle.
HOW DO YOU CREATE IT?
1. place the aluminium foil on the platform where you want to make the heat source in your room. Then, place the metal crate over it.
2. Put the tealights inside 4 close compartments inside the metal crate. Light them.
3. Cover the lit tealights with the smaller terracotta pot. With the base facing up.
4. Place the used up tealight can over the hole at the base of the terracotta pot covering the tealights.
5. Finally, carefully place the bigger terracotta pot over the entire set up
CAUTIONS TO TAKE WHEN USING A TEALIGHT HEATER
1. take away all ignitable objects from near the heater.
2. Make sure everyone in your house is aware of the heater so they can stay away from them. Keep away from children and pets.
3. Do not leave it unsupervised
