a non-electric way to heat a van

[Giggles]

This is so cool...someone posted this on another forum, and I was blown away. It's a flower-pot heater....no electricity needed! You just need 2 flower pots, an eye-ring, and some nuts and screws. Amazing

I would still crack a window to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, but I think this is amazing.

 

[MrNoodly]

These were all the rage a few years ago, but most people found them unsatisfactory.

 

[Giggles]

Well, sorry. I'd never seen them before. 

Since I don't have electricity in my van, and since I don't feel comfortable using propane, I'd rather use this method.

 

[nature lover]

I tested this flower pot thing out years ago and it just doesn’t put out enough heat. That was with the recommended three big candles. With canned sterno who knows. I build a heat battery system with a Medium size cast-iron Dutch oven filled with granite chips and sand. I set it on a sturdy platform and heated it with a sterno can. I only burned it while I was awake. This “heat battery“ kept the van pretty nice for the next five hours. It wasn’t like a heater you could run all night but it was tolerable. Kept the chill off.

 

[crofter]

Flower pot is not considered safe or effective though, but looks cuter than my buddy heater which is both safe and effective.

https://www.theproblemsite.com/ask/2015/12/tealight-space-heater

Space heater generates 5000 btu
Tea light generates less than 100 btu

Also consider the fire hazard involved with using candles for heat.

The idea of using preheated thermal mass is safer & has been used for a long time.
-crofter

 

[tx2sturgis]

You would spend a fortune trying to heat your van (or camper or RV) with candles all winter.

 

[MrNoodly]

We all have a free, portable, safe heater that pumps out 90+ degrees. Or, rather, we ARE free, portable, safe heaters. To stay warm we just need to hold onto enough of our body heat. It's much more efficient to dress warmly than trying to keeping 300-400 cubic feet sufficiently warm.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

Heating up a thermal mass is an interesting idea.
Using candles may just be the example here for proof of concept?
But yeah, it's going to be prohibitively expensive in the long run. Even if you source them cheap at Ikea or a 99 cent store.
Sterno might be better? But with that and candles you have a pretty high risk of accidental fires.
BTW you DO all have fire extinguishers in your vehicles right?
I'm leaning towards one of those standalone propane heaters myself. I'm a little wary of cutting up my floor and mounting a gas/diesel heater.

 

[Weight]

A candle, or many candles, under any type of flower pot do not work as space heaters.
I have tried stand alone propane heaters. Not enough heat when needed. Too much moisture at any time.
My installed Suburban RV Propane furnace makes me very happy.
I can't stand the smell of diesel and gasoline is too dangerous.

 

[MrNoodly]

Heating up a thermal mass is an interesting idea.

The heated thermal mass of a stack of clay pots would be fighting against the cold thermal mass of everything in the vehicle. No contest.

 

[jacqueg]

Well, sorry. I'd never seen them before. 

Since I don't have electricity in my van, and since I don't feel comfortable using propane, I'd rather use this method.

A candle only outs out so much heat, regardless of whether the heat is moving into the air or into a flower pot and then into the air. 

Physics. It's the law.

I don't use anything to heat the air in my van. I use bed clothes to keep me heated.

 

[MrNoodly]

A candle only outs out so much heat, regardless of whether the heat is moving into the air or into a flower pot and then into the air. 

Physics. It's the law.

Yes. All the pot does is provide a little storage and slow release of the heat.

 

[Scorpion Regent]

There is another option.   Most of the engines heat is completely lost through the radiator and the exhaust. Installing a extra heater core or even a small house radiator inside the van and use the engine's cooling system to heat the van.  This doesn't mean that you should be running the engine all night, but 30 minutes to a hour might help a lot.  The advantage would also be that as the engine is running you could charge batteries and run other things, such as a fan to help extract heat away from the auxiliary heater core.    Bear in mind that exhaust gasses are dangerous so you would have to exercise care not to gas yourself.

I'm just describing a concept.  rigging up the plumbing would be rather involved.  Sorry, no plug and play option here.

 

[Tony's Dream]

I carry hand warmers in the van, the chemical ones you break and they heat up. One or two under the covers make you feel toasty.

 

[Scorpion Regent]

Under the covers, one more example of making the most of insulation.  It doesn't matter how much heat is generated if you can't retain it.  Insulation, personal and vehicle,  just makes good sense.

 

[crofter]

We all have a free, portable, safe heater that pumps out 90+ degrees. Or, rather, we ARE free, portable, safe heaters. To stay warm we just need to hold onto enough of our body heat. It's much more efficient to dress warmly than trying to keeping 300-400 cubic feet sufficiently warm.

So true.
Winter gear is actually pretty cheap and comfortable and comes in women's sizes also. My fave brand is Walls: having a coat and side zip bibbs, warm wool sox and insulated boots, a warm windproof hat. You can be outside or inside when it is cold and not losing body heat.
-crofter

https://www.walls.com/originalbibs/frost-dwr-insulated-duck-work-bib-overall/YB717.html

For discounts on name brands try sierra, also used snow pants.

https://www.sierra.com/s~insulated-bib-overalls/

 

[nature lover]

I am relatively sure I put this on a thread somewhere. But here it goes again. I would like a king David bed warmer. You can read it in the Bible when poor old king David was so cold because of his age and poor circulation and such so they put a young virgin in bed with him to keep him warm. Don’t blame me I was just reading the book. But it does sound like a good idea. Of course today under the standards of the New Testament with Jesus that kind of living would make me warm (Very hot) for the rest of eternity if you know what I mean.

 

[RoamerRV428]

yea I 'tried out' the flower pot type candle thing. no use. plus a hazard for sure.
but darn it sounds great LOL


IF I WAS forced for no heat and I was forced in a cold climate area to be in a van thru not being able to drive away, I would somehow find money for something like a Goal Zero Yeti Solar Generator and I would then buy a small ceramic type heater and before purchase make sure the run time would be enough to keep me alive with a small ceramic heater thru the evening. But that would take research on it all of course but I think something like this is a 'real solution' vs. burning a couple of tea candles.

It is tough being faced with stuff like this if one needs to live in a cold climate for sure.

 

[maki2]

Red clay flower pots are not made of high fired clays. That makes them actually pretty fragile objects for use in van life.

 

[crofter]

The video was quite convincing when he touched the top flowerpot and said " this part gets really hot" at that moment I was thinking how I would trip over the whole contraption and burn down the van.

Regarding nature's King David bedwarmers, these do not work in modern times. I was married twice and neither one turned out to be a virgin.

Best bedwarmer in modern times is the human stove plus a good pot of beans. Can't remember being cold after beans.
-crofter