Wax Fuel Heater

[Unsettled]

My 5 gallon propane cylinder (never leaked) lasts 3 to 4 weeks in the winter in Quartzsite.   That's heat for the vented Propex heater (thermostatically controlled dry heat), the 6 gallon water heater, and the 2 burner stove.  Does soy wax do all that?

Propane is readily available virtually anywhere in the world.  I haven't seen any Blue Rhino soy granules in front of any convenience stores or home depot stores.

If soy wax was a viable fuel, it would be in general use today.  It's not for multiple reasons.

I didn't think it could all that.  Just referring to heat.  Though it could take the chill off a pot of water for washing.

It sells for $1.15 to $1.30 a lb in bulk.  The advantage over propane is that it will save you refill trips because a lot could be stored.  It stores as flexible solid in any shaped space.  It will melt a bit, but of course you'd want to store sealed up in plastic so that won't matter too much.  I haven't tried it in a very hot climate, so the melting could be an issue there.   Anyway, a lot of people dismiss it but it is a simpler and more elegant way to handle heat.  It works in a tent, but in a tent things are stationary.  So my thoughts were about how to house it safely in a container because I can't find tech designed for this anywhere online.  The best I can think is a steel pot with venting holes drilled into and the cover.  I never used a cover in the tent but in the camper I'd want one.  It would need to be steel or cast iron or something that won't start burning!  Anyway, it does work, the main issue is safety.

 

[Unsettled]

Some people seem to think "if worked people would already be doing it... because the internet.'

But I've searched around online and can't find anything.  There's some stuff like "candle pot heaters" which of course aren't going to do much.  It's not cost-effective to use tea candles because you are paying so much pound for pound for the wax and they burn out in a couple of hours.

I have heated with tea candles, however.  This was only possible because I lived near a temple with shops nearby that sold extra large tea-style prayer candles in bulk.  My apartment had no heat in the winter, but lighting couple of dozen of them warmed the room up considerably.  But they were very cheap, as is.  I think I paid about $3 USD equivalent for a box of 50, and these were triple-sized tea-candles that burned for five hours or more.  The room was passively vented and there was no problem with smell or bad air.  Passive venting will even take care of worse fuels.  Some of my neighbors heated with coal, and by coal I mean just straight up bricks of coal in a burner-pot inside their house.  No way that's good!  But candle wax is fine, even parrafin, with properly placed passive venting.  It's all about how open the vent is to retain heat vs. expel burn-off residue.

Anyway, it's essentially just a huge multiwicked candle and it does work and there's nothing like it online.  In a big enough (and safe enough) pot, you put multiple wicks down into wax.  Thicker wicks get you more watts of heat per wick.  And this will easily burn all night if you've put enough wax in the pot.  There needs to be space above the wax and air holes in the pot itself above that.  Then the cover needs to be vented, maybe with a closable vent and lid lip that fits over the pots upper airholes so you can easily extinguish it.  Please nobody try this with a cookie tin lid cuz a lot of metals WILL catch on fire, especially if they're thin.  That's a fire you really don't want to deal with. 

Just because "people aren't already doing it and there's nothing online" doesn't mean it's not viable.  Original ideas still exist and I've seen heating systems like this work, used them.  Yes, it's dangerous and third-worldly (I guess I am too) but with the right design I'm convinced it could be made into a first-world safe & viable heating solution.  I'm just not much a of a metal-worker

 

[Unsettled]

Heck I bet you could take a small woodstove, vent it with stove pipe and burn the wax in there nice and clean.  No need for wood and it would burn much longer with a lot less messing around. Light the wicks and be heated all night. Close the flu vents to extinguish. Now I'm going to shop around to see if these min-stoves are deep enough below the door. If it's too shallow you won't get much wax in there and the system won't burn as long.

 

[Unsettled]

A mini-wood stove would work for this but you'd still need to have a pot inside the container to keep the wax from melting out the vents. And you'd one you can fix in place, not one of the portable deals with folding legs. Those are $400, so that kinda defeats the objective right there.

The concept makes a lot of sense for heating a small space of a car or min-van camper. The idea here is to replicate the output of an 800 watt electric heater with safe solid fuel you can carry in bulk, one that gives you steady output for 12 or more hours before needed to refill. And refilling it will be fairly painless. I still thinks it a good idea but nothing I see online comes close to what I'm talking about in design. If anybody knows what I actually mean and sees something online, please please do share cuz I'm googled out from looking.

 

[highdesertranger]

sounds like you are trying to convince yourself.

to me it is still an open flame in an enclosed space.
you are still breathing the fumes. which are not clean and are not good for you.
I would never ever burn anything with an open flame while I slept in a confined space.

I was looking at the wood stoves for my trailer and for several reasons I decided against them. but what I did notice is that on your better ones they all stated for wood or charcoal only. any other fuel voids the warranty and I would imagine any liability. the others were mainly for outdoor use or decoration.

highdesertranger

 

[bullfrog]

What about if you used a dripper that set on top the mini wood stove. Many home made wood stoves drip used oil onto burning logs to extend and increase heat and burn times.

 

[Unsettled]

sounds like you are trying to convince yourself.

to me it is still an open flame in an enclosed space.
you are still breathing the fumes.  which are not clean and are not good for you.
I would never ever burn anything with an open flame while I slept in a confined space.

I was looking at the wood stoves for my trailer and for several reasons I decided against them.  but what I did notice is that on your better ones they all stated for wood or charcoal only.  any other fuel voids the warranty and I would imagine any liability.  the others were mainly for outdoor use or decoration.

highdesertranger

No, with the right design my mini-uinit would work safely, especially with soy wax angled toward a passive vent.  A woodstove would definitely work because you could put a multi-wicked wax pot inside the stove.  Everything is vented.  You won't be generating much heat but enough for the mini-van camper I'm doing.  Only problem there is the footprint of the stove.  Nice and clean. With a larger space, like a transit connect or like it *might* work if you made a huge enough wax burner.  Or in a full size van if you insulated well.   The idea of burning wood in a van seems nutty to me, but I know some people do it.  

A wax pot candle inside of a wood stove would check every single box for being safe, dry, and clean.  The sacrifice for safety there would be cost and output, but maybe still worth it.  Really got me thinking now...

 

[Buck]

Solar or propane by far is the safest and by far easier

 

[Unsettled]

LOL, I don't feel like refilling my propane all the time or carrying the bottle in there.

 

[nature lover]

I am with HDR on the open flame. Mainly because a minivan is so small. Trying to get dressed and moving your blankets around at night there’s just no safe way to do it near an open flame. And if there’s an open flame and you in the van you are near it no matter where are you place it. The best way to heat a minivan is to pull it into the sunlight and to move from a cold climate to a warm one. I don’t even like an open flame in a bigger vehicle. Touch that Mr. buddy with the cloth and the blanket goes up in smoke too. Unless you have a safe vented heater never ever sleep with an open flame or propane heater on in the vehicle. And right now it’s cool enough in the shade here in Florida that I could use a little heat. Not a lot just a little I hate putting on a sweater in Florida but I’m gonna have to do it.

 

[66788]

Anyway, it does work, the main issue is safety.

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Kinda like the Hindenburg and hydrogen gas...

Hope you figure it out and it works well for you.