How to Heat a Room With a Candle

When temperatures are low, and it’s cold in the room, you may think about lighting a candle to generate warmth. Although a candle is a fairly small flame, it can turn up the heat. It takes some work and a little help, but a candle can make a difference.

A candle burns about 8g per hour. Small tea candles will burn for up to 4 hours, while standard-sized candles tend to last up to 9 hours. Different designs and sizes will burn for different lengths.

Let’s learn how to heat a room with a candle:

Candles are more efficient than fireplaces.

In terms of utilization of the heat produced from a source, candles are more efficient than a fireplace and some space heaters. It’s true! All of the released energy from a candle stays in a room.

Once it hits the wall, even a candle’s light is converted into heat, making it 99.9% efficient. With a fireplace, much of the heat goes out of the chimney. They’re nowhere near as efficient, although a lot larger than candles. That’s the thing. The size of candles makes them less than ideal for heating a room.

Heating efficiency for candles

You can make a room feel warmer and retain more heat inside. Ensure the windows and doors are closed. The smaller the room, the less space that needs to be heated and the warmer the area will feel. Some might use a low fan to circulate the room’s hot air.

A single candle will not provide too much heat.

A single candle will not be able to heat a room as well as a fireplace or space heater. Sticking with candles, you will need multiple to do the work.

A single candle will have an average heating power of somewhere around 80W. This means that replacing a 1600W space heater with candles will take about twenty candles to do it. That’s way too many candles, and on top of that, it’s a fire hazard!

With this in mind, keep a realistic mindset about what’s possible and what isn’t. Instead of viewing candles as your primary heating source, consider them as accessories for your home. Coconut wax candles add a soothing ambiance to your living quarters. Other candles can also spruce up your space.

Build a clay pot candle heater.

When someone asks, “How do I heat a room with candles?” The answer is often to build a clay pot candle heater. A clap pot candle heater is where four tea lights are placed on a metal tray with a small clay flower pot put over the top.

A larger clay flower pot is then placed over the top of everything. The hot air escapes through the drainage holes on the top of these pots. This acts as heat storage, similar to the metal body of an oil heater.

Do clay pot candle heaters work?

A clay pot candle heater works somewhat at heating a room but isn’t nearly as effective as some believe. Your clay pot openings are pulling in more oxygen, increasing the burning rate of the candles.

While this will create slightly more heat, candles will burn off faster, requiring you to replenish the clay pot candle heater often. You aren’t getting much heat from this method, even though it may look like you are.

Candles vs space heaters

A single candle produces very little heat, but it does produce some. A space heater will easily outperform a single candle by about twenty to twenty-five times. By comparison, a candle is just about enough heat to keep a tea or coffee warm.

A space heater is designed to warm a room and keep it toasty. Even if you add many candles, you will be replacing them now and again or having to relight them if the wick goes out.

Use candles as emergency lighting.

If the power goes out or if there is an emergency, candles are a must. They’re light, though. Candles are not a heat source. A propane heater is much safer, less inconvenient, and will heat an entire room faster and more efficiently.

That said, for light, candles are a must-have essential. A household will be glad to have them available in an emergency, and most candles will provide enough light to last a good part of the nighttime hours.

Keep the candles at a distance.

If you only have candles and must heat your room, do so by clustering your candles together. Doing so will increase the room’s temperature more than if they are spread apart. Separate them by about three inches apart or a little more. You don’t want one candle melting another.

Although you can’t get more heat from a candle, a collection of candles will work together to make a room feel warmer. It may require a dozen or more candles to achieve the desired heat.