Greenhouse HEATER Made from Stuff you have

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NOTE: EMERGENCY HEAT FOR GREENHOUSES, NOT PEOPLE HOUSES!

Here is a link to some of the items in this video:

This is the third in a series about ways I keep my G.A.H.T. greenhouse warm.

In this video, we'll show you the best way to make a Terra Cotta Heater. This heater is perfect for warming up your greenhouse or workspace in cold weather!

This heater is a great way to heat up your space inexpensively and quickly. It's also great for heating up small spaces, like a closet or small greenhouse! So if you're looking for a cheap and easy way to heat up your space, be sure to check out this Terra Cotta Heater!

As the weather starts cooling down those of us with greenhouses start thinking about ways of keeping the greenhouse warm sometimes we do that by means of an actual wood stove or an electric or gas heater another thing that a lot of people use is something called a terracotta heater basically what that is is vegetable shortening with a candle stuck in it and a flower pot upside down over the top the candle heats up the the clay pot and the pot radiates heat that's the basic idea well I think I have a better way in the sense that I don't just use one terra cotta pot and I don't use a candle let me show you [Music] the fuel source in a terracotta heater is usually vegetable shortening in this instance I'm using Crisco but it's any brand it can be generic whatever the size of the particular tub of of vegetable shortening will depend on the size of the pots that you're using for me I have found that this 48 ounce tub works well um and then what I would do in the past is I would jam say three candles down into the center of that make sure that they're trimmed off so that they're the right height and that would be the fuel source and the heater source for my terracotta heater I have changed this particular design over the years because what would happen is you would jam the candles down in and as you did you would need to use like a painter's putty knife to scrape out all the excess that gets forced out of the tub as you force the candles down in and that's less than optimal and so now this is what I do when I make a new heater for the Terracotta heater so what I do is I try to make out a little space right here in the center of the tub I use some piping that I have from I have a lot of this irrigation piping from when I set up the irrigation on the property and then what I do instead of using candles is I use Wicks from candles you can get these at heart at craft stores or on Amazon I'll leave a link in the description and then what you need to do is I have an old curtain rod and what I do is I place the wicks into this piece of pipe

Next I do is I Jam it down into the bottom

now I have a candle uh that has the amount of Wicks right down into the middle of it and then I just need to use something to kind of poke the the Crisco down around the edges to make sure that it doesn't burn down too quickly

and now you are ready to go to put this into your terracotta heater so here's everything that you need to assemble the Terracotta heater I showed you how to make the candle itself which has got candle wicks inside the tub of vegetable shortening and then you need a terracotta tray with three terra cotta feet that are used to hold Planters up off of the ground these are easily available at hardware stores you can get them online and then you need a large terracotta pot that will fit around that's approximately the same size or slightly smaller than the Terracotta tray and so what I do is I place the candle in the middle and I light it

then the large terracotta pot is placed over this it's important that there's a gap there for the flame to have enough oxygen and then I stack up smaller terracotta pots everything has to be terracotta every last one of these because these get hot and anything else will melt and then there you have it that I have found is the best way of capturing the hot air out of the candle in each of these little Chambers and then you can get a Terra Cotta heater that will last a long time [Music] so there you go that's how I make a terracotta heater now that's not the only way that I heat my Greenhouse I have actually quite a few different ways and I made a separate video about 15 ways or methods that I use to keep my Greenhouse warm in the winter so go ahead and check that out thank you for watching this video and if you have any questions or comments go ahead and leave them in the comment section below and if you like this video you might like these.

[VultureXV]

Fun fact
Crisco is the name given to "Crystallized Cottonseed Oil." Cottonseed oil was first derived by people through the use of an oil press in order to find a purpose for the excessive number of seeds produced by cotton agriculture. The original purpose of cottonseed oil was to fill lamps and lubricate farm engines.

Then a scientist found that you can change the structure of this lamp oil or machine lubricant by saturating it in hydrogen gas, which gives the unique solid properties usually reserved for saturated fat like butter. Then an aspiring entrepreneur found that you could sell this lamp oil as food oil, and as a butter substitute.

Please. Do not consume Crisco.

[Bigman.Struggles]

Put the Crisco in the oven for 10-15 minutes, and the shortening will turn liquid. Then, lower the wicks to the bottom and let it cool. No pipes or curtain rod needed.

[DDGLJ]

I’m a new greenhouse owner, in Montana. I used your technique two weeks ago, on a night when it got down to 1 degree F (it may have been below zero, but I went to bed and didn't see). I would say it made a 20 degree difference in my 6 x 12 greenhouse. This stove was so easy to build- I did in the middle of the night, with a headlamp. As it was an emergency, I just pushed candle stubs right into the crisco, set it on the gravel, put the largest pot on feet made of cat food tins and piled on the little pots. I have been using thermal mass (water) and need to add more- but that night was just no match for it. With frost covers and the little stove, my plants were saved. Thanks for such clear and easy advice.

[Flamethatburns]

The cardboard Crisco containers can be substituted with paint cans from the hardware store if you are concerned with them catching on fire, and your windows can be covered with large bubble wrap and attached with water with a little kitchen soap, to be used as insulation, and this still gives your plants light. If one end of the green house has an opening, but blocked with leaves and straw, they will give natural heat to the room. Decomposition will do this, and you also can use it for mulch on the plants to help keep them warm. Also keep a fire extinguisher or fire blanket to throw over everything, and don't let your fuel run too low that it can catch on fire.

[Emsie]

My grandad used to do this in his green house. I use it in my house too. Remember to seat the heater where you don’t have to move it. Once it’s hot you won’t be able to touch it. 👍

[SpadeAce]

Last winter it hit -22° with -60° wind chill over night. I had just moved and didn’t realize my propane was set to shut off during a power outage. Well, power went out. House went from 75° to 10° in two hours, and dropping significantly. Only thing that kept me alive that night was one of these terracotta heaters I made real fast when I realized how screwed I was. Kept it going with a soda can candle. It didn’t get 75° in the house, but it was warm enough where a few layers of blankets kept me warm. Power came back on 8 hours later. I would have probably died that night if I didn’t have this heater.

Before you comment “you wouldn’t have died!” Or whatever, just know that -22° is no joke and with -60° wind chills you can freeze to death in under 5 minutes without proper insulated clothing.

[TheDeelunatic]

One thing to note about terra cotta "heaters" is that they are heat collector/spreaders. A candle that outputs about 300 btu per wick (assuming 5 hour burn time and Paraffin wax) is not going to magically output more BTUs. However, it will spread it across the entire terra cotta surface and melt your candles quicker.

So basically what I'm saying is keep them away from flammable things, and make sure your candle has sufficient air space between it and the pots to not melt too quickly.

[tom_olofsson]

This is the first I have seen of the terra cotta feet. Thanks for sharing.

[dawnjj]

The terra cotta heater you made is awesome and I'm gonna make one myself. Here's a Crisco tip : slowly melt it into liquid then pour it and place your wick and let it harden. This way you get a longer and more stable burning of your candle.

[jopiet]

We had an older apartment with a big window n a cold bathroom, luckily there was a big tile counter connecting the bathtub. The terracotta stove made taking a bath very comfy!

[ryanmcewen]

In my unheated and uninsulated wood shop, I use a couple bricks. I'll roast the bricks in the oven for half an hour.
Then I take the bricks out to the shop. Set them edge up and then stack the terracotta pot on top of that with three large candles in between the bricks.
Instant heat, and it lasts for hours

[johnlone]

Wow! I like that a lot. And if you have to hang around the greenhouse to work on some gardening, you can put a kettle on the large pot to heat up water for tea or a coffee percolator. Thank you for the awesome vid!

[Kevinhobbytime]

If you know this is something you plan to do, i might suggest candle wicks or cutting up a lantern wick but… set the can of crisco/lard in a hot car and just drop the wick in. You could also paint a terracotta pot black and place it into the sun with the lard underneath it.

Also, if you fill and seal the top pot with sand before you heat it, sand will hold the heat longer and it will work more efficiently. I think they call them “sand solar batteries” or something. It just doesn’t cool off as fast as a thin pot would when the flame goes out.

[eco_guardian]

So much brilliance in this, not to mention great hair and surprisingly nice pecs.

[jillyoung]

I could use this for heating my tent when camping! I'll never forget a summer camping and fishing trip years ago when it suddenly turned cold at night time. I was totally unprepared for an unseasonably very cold night when we had previously been having a heat wave. Even my labrador retriever got in the sleeping bag with me she was so cold. I never went camping unprepared for weather changes again.

[williamwoody]

Finally- a use for the lard I skim off my stock!

[Twitched]

Great video. Lighting, editing and it was to the point! But if I may suggest an upgrade. Take one of your tomato cages and modify it so it fits somewhat snug over the top of it. Turn it upside down and cut it and then tighten it a bit so that it fits flush on the sides of the pots. You should be able to bend the ends near where you cut to into a hook to keep it tightened around the pots. I would also either choose a permanent spot in the greenhouse and then make some sort of system to latch the bottom of the cage to the floor. Alternatively you could make a base for it to sit on with latches to latch the cage down to.

[cgray]

FYI if the Terra Cotta pots or some of them were coated in graphite it will add probably about 10° F more heat and become an infrared heat source as well.
Has to be 100% graphite it's cheap at hardware store and your only going to use a small amount rubbed on the "Outside Only" of the TerraCotta pot.
Can be messy take precautions.
Be sure to use a temp gun before and after to measure the increase.
Have fun

[OneAmericanWriter]

Brilliant and beautiful! And I love your readers tip to use a fan to disperse the heat and avoid a flash fire.

[StaceyG-lm]

Best terracotta heater I have seen I think ✅🙏✌️❤️🌍🌈