Tealight candles put Maineshark out of business ;)

[KBCraig]

This and similar links have been all over Facebook lately. I try to explain that BTUs are BTUs, and clay pots don't add any energy to candles.

I figured Maineshark would get a kick out of it, though.

http://www.naturalcuresnotmedicine.com/2013/11/heat-your-room-for-15-cents-day.html

[Tom Sawyer]

College graduates that have no clue of even basic physics. "Oh yeah we can shut down the nuke plant and replace it with windmills."  Me, "Well that's like over 10 billion kilowatt hours of power!"

I think maybe they're on to something... I mean magic is better than that dang stifling science. Perpetual Motion here we come!

[Jim Johnson]

It's the new 1000 mile per gallon carburetor.

I can't wait for the first time I hear, "Candles don't have as much heat in them as they used to... big government and industry have colluded so that candles give off the same light but not as much heat.  That way, you are made it buy more candles."

[MaineShark]

Well, to be fair, the candles produce both heat and light, and some of that light might escape the room, thereby not adding to the heating effect.

Putting the clay pot over the candle would ensure that the light heats the pot, which can then heat the air.

Of course, closing the drapes would achieve the same benefit.

And the light from the candle can also transfer energy by radiation, rather than convection, directly heating any object which is exposed to that light.  When your skin is heated directly by radiant energy, you can be comfortable at a lower air temperature.  Lower air temperature means less heat transfer through the walls, thereby reducing the heating energy demand of the structure.

So, if you're trying to heat a room that has all-glass walls and no drapes, then covering the candle to block radiant energy from escaping would probably make sense.

If, on the other hand, your room is not made of nothing but glass, blocking the radiant transfer will likely actually reduce the effectiveness of the candle as a heat source.

In any case, you will need a lot of candles to heat a room of any size.  Probably so many that it causes a health hazard due to the fumes and oxygen depletion.

College graduates that have no clue of even basic physics. "Oh yeah we can shut down the nuke plant and replace it with windmills."  Me, "Well that's like over 10 billion kilowatt hours of power!"

Yeah, some pundit was going on about how we could "easily" eliminate all other energy sources and go to nothing but wind power.

Ignoring for the moment the fact that altering the Earth's wind patterns to the extent that so many windmills would alter them, would in turn have devesatating environmental consequences (likely creating new deserts in many places), there's another factor that makes it even more ridiculous: the rare-earth elements needed to make the magnets for all of those generators would have to come from somewhere.

Significant percentages (well into the double-digits) of the entire content of those materials in the Earth's crust would need to be extracted in order to produce all of the magnets for those wind turbines.  Huge mining operations would be necessary.

So if we just commit to strip-mining the planet and converting large portions of it into desert, we can save the world!

[Jim Johnson]

I'm with MaineShark, lets start 'Strip Mine to Save the World'!

[dalebert]

Obviously it's not making any more heat, but I suppose you could possibly argue some immediate benefit only in the sense that you can feel a little more comfortable by sitting right next to it. The candle heat may radiate out into the immediate vicinity perhaps better than if the heat just dissipated up and out into the room in general faster. I suppose it could indirectly reduce heating costs if you found you could get comfortable by sitting right next to it and be able to lower your thermostat. Still... it is just a candle and that's probably still a bit of a reach. That same principle can save you money though if you are a single person in a big apartment and you shut your bedroom door and use a reasonably efficient space heater at least for big chunks of time and don't try to keep your whole apartment at a comfortable temp all the time.

[Russell Kanning]

My sister in law was heating her whole house with candles when we visited for Christmas one year. She is a Partylight dealer. We did have the advantage of lots of people in the house, it was 30-50 outside. She had 75 candles going once. It was getting a little warm in there. It looked great and she had not even lit them all.B-) :O

[Russell Kanning]

They seem to be taking half the fun out of candles by hiding their light.

[MaineShark]

My sister in law was heating her whole house with candles when we visited for Christmas one year. She is a Partylight dealer. We did have the advantage of lots of people in the house, it was 30-50 outside. She had 75 candles going once. It was getting a little warm in there. It looked great and she had not even lit them all.B-) :O

I would say that it was more likely the "lots of people" than the candles.  A single human puts out around 500 btu's.  It would take something like ten full-size candles (not little tealights) to equal that.

[Russell Kanning]

And think of all the BTUs if you eat a lot and then discuss how many candles are lit.

[Free libertarian]

Human BTU's ?  This thread isn't going to disintegrate into lighting methane  is it? Cuz if it is, I'm outa here.   

[dalebert]

Meh. We can just split that thread off into the TMI section. 

[Jim Johnson]

Human BTU's ?  This thread isn't going to disintegrate into lighting methane  is it? Cuz if it is, I'm outa here.   

Ha, you spelled butt wrong, haha.

[Tom Sawyer]

Human BTU's ?  This thread isn't going to disintegrate into lighting methane  is it? Cuz if it is, I'm outa here.   

Guy singed the hair on his nads doing that...  We laughed at him quite hardily.

[Russell Kanning]

That is how they spell in backwoods Virginee when they are drunk