Are tea lights a good replacement for gas heating?

You keep seeing messages on social media about a flower pot with four tea lights underneath, with which you could heat your house for little money. This sounds like too good to be true. Is it that? In this article you will discover the ultimate truth about this mysterious “miracle oven”.

Combustion, the source of all heat from fossil fuels (such as tea lights)

Tea lights consist of a wick in paraffin. This waxy substance, chemically similar to candle wax and petroleum, is slowly converted into gas by the heat of the flame, which burns.

And in doing so, as with any combustion, heat is released. In fact, you are just burning petroleum, because paraffin is made from petroleum. 46 MJ is released per kilo of paraffin that you burn, that is 80 tea lights. By way of comparison: for a cubic meter of natural gas, this is between 30 and 35 MJ.

How do you get the most heat for your money?

For a cubic meter of natural gas you pay, without energy compensation, between €2.50 and €3.50, depending on your supplier. For 80 tea lights around € 5. This makes tea lights about as expensive as natural gas: a kilo of tea lights has more energy content, but also costs more. When the maximum prices for natural gas become active, of around € 1.45 per cubic meter, tea lights will become twice as expensive as the same amount of heat from natural gas.

Advantages of the flower pot stove

The central heating heats your entire house at the same time.

About 160 watts of power is released when you light four tea lights. These burned out after 6 hours. That has cost you 25 cents at the cheapest brand. The big advantage of the tea light heater is that you can place it in a place near you, so that you can enjoy the radiant heat more.

Namely, the gases do not escape into the air, but first give off their heat to the flower pot, making it hot and giving off a pleasant radiant heat. Another advantage is that the tea light heater always works. Even if the power is out or there is no gas. It is, in fact, a kind of low-tech infrared panel.

Disadvantages of the flower pot stove

But there is also a major drawback to this system. The necessary toxic gases are released during combustion, especially in case of incomplete combustion. As it often takes place under this flower pot. In a high-efficiency boiler, these gases are blown into the outside air.

To make sure you don’t suffocate, you should therefore regularly ventilate your room. And by ventilating you actually lose heat. There is also of course a risk of fire, if the heavy flower pot falls on the tea lights, a major fire is not imaginary. Also, a large part of the heat does not reach you.

Some smart, cheap alternatives

Flower pot heaters therefore seem attractive in a small space, but have serious disadvantages that far outweigh the advantages. Fortunately, there are good alternatives.

The most important thing is that you warm yourself. That is why it is the best and cheapest alternative to put on warm clothes. Don’t forget to wrap your feet well with thermal socks to prevent chilblains.

You can also warm up locally with electric blankets. These blankets use about 150 W on the highest setting, so a kilowatt hour in seven hours. Converted, that is half a euro per evening. If you choose a lower setting, then of course less. Then you really get quite warm. Warmer than through a flower pot stove, because all this heat ends up with you. The cheapest electric blankets cost a few tenners, as much as a flower pot heater.

A somewhat more expensive and luxurious solution is infrared heating. Here you can aim a heating panel at the place where you are sitting, so that you only heat the place in the house where you enjoy it. You can find more smart saving tips here.