How to Make a Candle Warmer With a Terracotta Pot, Does It Really Work? Tests and Results

Some time ago I had seen a clay candle warmer for sale but it was very expensive and later I discovered that it was very simple to make and you needed some terracotta pots, and now I decided that this winter was a good time to make one.

On the whole project I didn't spend more than: 4,5€

What impresses me most about this type of heater is that it uses almost nothing as "fuel", just 1 to 4 candles that cost just a few cents and last 4 hours.

Obviously it won't heat the whole house, but it's more than enough to keep a room warm without spending anything on electricity.

This is definitely the best heater for a blackout

Can also be used in caravans and camper vans

As you are dealing with fire, never leave candles unattended, and don't forget to provide good ventilation because they will burn your oxygen.

1. - Threaded rod ,with a height greater than your largest clay pot
2. - 6 nuts that fit onto the threaded rod
3. - A large clay pot (mine is 17 cm wide)
4. - A smaller clay pot (mine is 15 cm wide)
5. - A plate for the clay pot (mine is 17cm wide)
6. - Some candles
7. - Washers in case the clay pot already has a hole in the bottom larger than the nuts (Optional)

• Tools
• Threaded Bar Thickness Drill
• A Drill

The first step is to drill the center of both the vase and the clay plate.

The hole must be the size of the threaded bar or a little larger, but not too much because otherwise the nuts will not grip the vessel.

( Yes, I know the hole I made is not centered :-)

Now you need to fix the upper vase with nuts and then place a second nut between the two vases and after placing the small vase, just fix it with another nut, if any of the holes are too big like in my case, just add washers between the nuts

To fix the plate to the base it is also very simple, first place a nut at the beginning of the threaded bar, insert the plate and then tighten it with another nut

The photos are in order so just see how I did it

Now you have your complete heater!

Check that the nuts are wide open, but not too wide because the clay is fragile.

This heater can take between 1 and 5 candles, I don't recommend using more than 5 because otherwise the paraffin with so much heat could catch fire.

And never use scented candles because there are reports of accidents with them

To test how well this heater works I will do the experiment in a bathroom measuring 2.3 by 1.8m and 2.1m high, which is approximately 8.7 m³

So on the first day I will leave the thermometer in the bathroom from 1 to 4 pm to see the temperature evolution without a heater.

As the bathroom has "good" thermal insulation, the temperature remained at 16.8 ºC from 1 to 4 pm

The next morning at 9 am the bathroom was at 17.4ºC because it had been heated the night before (but with the heater off, of course) and I left the candle heater there to see how the temperature would change.

After an hour the temperature was 18.4ºc, it was 1ºc higher than without the candle heater, but it probably rose soon because the thermometer was 1m above the heater, I went to check it after another hour and it was still at the same temperature, I think that from then on it didn't get much warmer because the bathroom door was opened several times.

In short, this heater is good for emergency situations and blackouts, or for small places that have good ventilation, but for large areas it won't make a big difference because its heating power is just a fraction of that of an electric heater.

But if you are looking for an off grid heater I would probably recommend a paraffin heater, as it is safer and heats up more

Besides, this heater is also good for decorating

Thanks for reading this far and see you in the next instructables