Off grid heating

dancrane said:
Where can I buy a flower pot? I have theory to test...:rolleyes:
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for goodness sake dan

this sort of experiment would be far to dangerous and expensive to try for yourself.

I killed the seven million hit flower pot film last week now that there are literally hundreds of me too films on youtube

My inbox was getting filled with people telling me why I could not break the laws of thermodynics and telling me that the device failed to heat their 2000 square feet home in canada when it was 15 below zero.

On the other hand I was also getting lots of emails from deluded fools who thought that it did raise the temperature of a small space by a few degrees and thanking me for keeping them warm. Silly billies.
 
dancrane said:
Dad said mum once had a hat like a flowerpot. It must be in the attic. Will that work?
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Probably not but if you use expanded polystyrene flower pots you will get a lot of heat very quickly soon after you fire the thing up.

( Falls into the "do not try this at home category")
 
Tranona said:
Most of these responses seem to be missing the point. The OP is not looking for heating when he is using the boat, but a way of keeping the temperature up to reduce dampness when the boat is laid up and not in use. If he had electricity then the usual solution would be tube heaters, perhaps on a timer. However, without electricity there is no safe alternative.

The suggestions to strip the boat, open all lockers and ensure adequate ventilation - plus stopping water getting in is the best you can do, and is effective.
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Adequate ventilation is no good when it's 90+% humidity outside.
In those circumstances, you want either some heat and a bit of ventilation, or zero ventilation and dehumidifier.
The chemical dehumidifiers are quite good, if you can get the boat really dry to start with.
No rain leaks, dry bilges etc etc.
Most boats I've been involved with, the key is rain leaks, abolition of.
Most boats seem to have some little leak from the cockpit to the bilge, or stanchions, deck fittings, mast partner etc etc.
 
dylanwinter said:
On the other hand I was also getting lots of emails from deluded fools who thought that it did raise the temperature of a small space by a few degrees and thanking me for keeping them warm. Silly billies.
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The operative word is thought. Why has no one youtubed any proof ? That would put the argument to rest.
 
Hey, I think Dylan may have a point. Minimal washing-up. :cool:

HotasHeinz_zpsfced80f7.jpg
 
VicS said:
You leant the basics of this in year 8 and then in more depth in year 10 or 11

the combustion of wax can be represented by

C25H52 + 38O2 -> 25CO2 + 26H2O​

which means that 1 mol of wax produces 26 mols of water

the relative atomic masses are: H 1; C 12; O 16

So the relative molecular masses are wax 352 and water 18

therefore 352 g wax produces 26 x 18 = 468g water

or 1000g wax produces approx 1330g water

or 15g ( the approx mass of an Ikea tea light) wax produces approx 20g water.
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But how much heat was there! At roughly 40MJ/kg, or 40kJ/gr for HCs, then you get about 600 kJ from your tea light, or the equivalent of running your 2kW heater for 5 minutes.
 
pyrojames said:
But how much heat was there! At roughly 40MJ/kg, or 40kJ/gr for HCs, then you get about 600 kJ from your tea light, or the equivalent of running your 2kW heater for 5 minutes.
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if pyrojames maths are correct then the four candle heater is equivalent to running your two KW heater for 20 minutes over four hours

or running your 2kw fan heater for let us say one minute every 11 minutes through the four hours

would that have an impact on the temperature in the cabin?

I think it might

of course the hatch would be cracked open for the candles otherwise everyone everywhere will die

I admit that before I tried the flower pot idea I thought it was just plain stoopid

but I tried it and found that it does seem better than naked candles

I wondered why, worked out why and then tweaked the design to improve the air flow

piss on the concept all you like - but I think moving more warm air around works better than relying on crude convection over a super-hot flame

just as in my bathroom convector

D
 
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DW "certainly the flower pots do not increase the heat outbout but they do aid convection"


So you start with a source of heat which is finite. You cover the candles with flower pots in an intricate way which would have the JCR of the Unseen University giving you a standing ovation, and this mysterious Super Convection takes place, translating the meagre thermal potential of the candles into some mystical radiant and convective nuclear plasma.


Avogadro revolves in his grave.


It disnae work. It cannae work. Proponents of the Four Candle Theory are on a par with reiki healing and Indian scalp masseurs, Viking horned helmets,
toads giving you warts, lemmings committing mass suicide, the Great Wall of China being the only man-made object visible from space, and goldfish having th attention span of only seven seconds.

It is a harmless joke which has created a life of its own in the minds of a gullible, and cold, populace. Dylan, I am really sorry that an experienced journo such as yourself, has not checked out the basic question, to which there is only one answer. No. And there are people out there selling flowerpot kits on ebay; that is fraud.
 
lw395 said:
I bet you get cramp in your hand befroe you burn your fingers!
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I did indeed, long befroe. (sic)

But I then put a metal baking tray over the tea-lights, and was surprised how the other, upper side spread and radiated the candles' humble heat. They burn for a long time, too.

Then it occurred to me that there might be a way of sealing the tray over lots of these tea-lights, with a 2nd tray, a separate, cold metal plate underneath; put enough holes in this box to allow oxygen in for the flames to stay alight, and...(here I move into purest optimistic theory)...perhaps the cold metal below, might attract the moisture created by the candles? Maybe the droplets could be accumulated in a central area, dribbling into a receptacle so there's no danger of vapour pouring out into the warmed zone above?

The very shrewd may have noticed, I'm not the favourite for this year's Nobel prize for physics...but I can't deny, I can imagine an evolution of Dylan's idea working quite well.
 
sarabande said:
DW "certainly the flower pots do not increase the heat outbout but they do aid convection"


So you start with a source of heat which is finite. You cover the candles with flower pots in an intricate way which would have the JCR of the Unseen University giving you a standing ovation, and this mysterious Super Convection takes place, translating the meagre thermal potential of the candles into some mystical radiant and convective nuclear plasma.


Avogadro revolves in his grave.


It disnae work. It cannae work. Proponents of the Four Candle Theory are on a par with reiki healing and Indian scalp masseurs, Viking horned helmets,
toads giving you warts, lemmings committing mass suicide, the Great Wall of China being the only man-made object visible from space, and goldfish having th attention span of only seven seconds.

It is a harmless joke which has created a life of its own in the minds of a gullible, and cold, populace. Dylan, I am really sorry that an experienced journo such as yourself, has not checked out the basic question, to which there is only one answer. No. And there are people out there selling flowerpot kits on ebay; that is fraud.
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still not tried it then -

of course an scientific genius will know that experimentation is completely unecessary

invective is far more efficacious

such a shame it would be impossible for anyone to aquire the resources to try such an experiment in their own boat
 
Just use the candles to attract a radiant new age hippy female....









preferably one with an eberspacher in her caravan!
 
dylanwinter said:
two flower pots, a bread tin, four candles and a thingummy bob for measuring temperature

what is it called again?

rare as hen's teeth

D
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If you've got the necessary, why not do the test and publish the results? I have none of them on my boat. At least then you'll have the evidence to show to all the doubters. It's not enough to just say 'noticeably warmer'. Don't forget that, to be useful, it would be helpful to know the internal volume and the external temperature.
 
If there was one of those very old-fashioned three-pint kettles, with just a narrow spout & whistle...and if it could be covered in effective insulation, at no risk of catching alight...

41ek8ALU0lL._SY300_.jpg


...would four tea-lights bring it to a tea/coffee-making temperature, after 90 minutes (or whatever their burn-time is)?

I mean, if one was aboard so humble a vessel that not even a butane-stove was available, it'd be a fine thing to be able to properly-heat (then dilute with cold) enough water for a bit of a wash.

I've got one of those very cheap little stand-up room heaters with a couple of elements. Not the ancient two-bar style, but modern & plastic. I only use it when SWMBO isn't at home and there's no need to run the central heating. It's powerful - I switch it off after a while because it gets too warm in the surrounding area...but it's only 400 watts! So...

...if four of those ruddy tea-lights can produce upward of 170 watts, I can easily believe their output in a constricted area will have a very beneficial effect.

I wonder if the OP is still reading, or whether he's ended his forum-membership from sheer bewilderment?
 
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