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Why Does a Window AC Have to Be in the Window?

Why does a window AC have to be in the window?

A window AC is designed to sit in a window because it needs a place to exhaust the heat that it creates and a place to drip the water that it makes as it dehumidifies.

Window air conditioners are also called through the wall air conditioners sometimes too.

With a through the wall air conditioner, the concept is the same.

The air conditioner sits inside of a wall with the face of the air conditioner inside of the room that you want to cool and the rear of the air conditioner sitting on the outside of the house.

Window air conditioners are a type of miniature HVAC refrigerated air conditioner that are all in one box.

Other type of refrigerated air conditioning like a central heat and air unit (HVAC) for a mini split air conditioner use a separate compressor that is located outside of the house.

If you’ve ever walked by a compressor sitting on the side of someone’s house or business, you probably noticed the heat coming off of the unit.

It is because refrigerated air conditioners exhaust heat as they cool the air.

Window air conditioners are basically a convenient all in the same box type of HVAC, and just like a full size HVAC,  they create heat as they cool as well.

But since the compressor of a window AC is built into the same box, one side of the air conditioner needs a place to exhaust the heat and drip the condensation.

That’s why it is designed to sit into a window.

Portable air conditioners

A portable air conditioner is a refrigerated air conditioner that is basically the same thing as a window air conditioner but sits inside of the room instead of sitting in a window.

  But it still requires a window to exhaust the heat from.

The difference is it exhausts through a hose instead of directly out of the rear of the machine.

The condensation created in the process goes into a drainage catch that has to be emptied from time to time.

A portable air conditioner can also be exhausted into the Attic.

Since it has a hose that extends from the machine around 6 ft.

If the room you are in has an attic but no windows, there is the possibility of exhausting into the Attic. This is most likely a do-it-yourself project. Good luck finding any type of commercial conversion kit.

Portable air conditioners are also good in situations where there are odd shaped or smaller than usual windows.

  A lot of times rooms like basements will have very small windows that do not accommodate a window air conditioner, but they can accommodate the exhaust hose on a portable air conditioner.

Summary

Why does a window AC have to be in the window?

Window ACS are placed in a window for 2 reasons.

1.  They create heat that needs a place to exhaust.
2. They need a place to drip the condensation that is formed while the unit is running.

  Placing a window air conditioner through an outside wall is also a common installation process that does not require a window. But it does require cutting a hole through the wall.

Portable air conditioners work on the same premise, but they exhaust the heat through a hose which is meant to sit in a window.

A portable air conditioner can work anywhere that there is a place to run a hose that can accept heat. An attic for instance.

Why are Window Air Conditioners So Loud?

Window air conditioners are an easy solution for people who need air conditioning but do not have the luxury of Central Heat and Air (HVAC).

Easy. Maybe. Convenient. Yes they are.

But they are not quiet.

Why are window air conditioners so loud?

A window AC is a refrigerated air conditioner that contains all the components of a full sized HVAC all in one box.

Noisy AC components like the compressor and fan motor that are normally separated completely outside from the house in a full Central Heat and Air unit,

are packed into a tight package within a window air conditioner.

That means that the noise that is usually separated and contained outside is instead included with your window AC.

1.  Compressor and fan

The main reason that a window air conditioner is so loud is there is a noisy compressor directly behind the vents that the cold air comes from.

Like we talked about before, refrigerator air conditioners use a compressor and a condenser fan. Without these two components, you do not have a working air conditioner.

And since these components are located directly inside of the window air conditioner, there are very few options for getting away from the constant cycling noise that they make.

But the compressor is not the only source of noise coming from and out of a window AC.

Other reasons that window AC are so loud are:

2.  Outside noise

Even though a window AC fits between the window and the window seal easily enough, it is rare that you would ever purchase a unit that fits a window on the sides.
  That is why there are plastic inserts that come included with the AC purchase.

Those plastic ” fillers” are meant to keep the outside air from getting inside.
But they are not thick enough to do much in the way of keeping the outdoor noise from coming through.

Making your own “fillers” out of some thicker wood is an easy do it yourself project that can help cut down the noise leaking through the sides quite a bit.

 Window ACs are very heavily vented on the outside of the unit. The sides of the AC have a slotted grill to help keep the compressor cool. But they also allow noise to come directly through the air conditioner.

3. Rain and gurgling

One of the most annoying noises that a window air conditioner can make is the sound of water gurgling inside of the air conditioner.

This usually happens when the air is extra humid and the air conditioner is condensing more water than usual.

Blowing rain is also a source of water that can get into the rear of the air conditioner via the side grill vents.

It is also a good indicator that the drain hole that allows the water to drip out of the air conditioner has a blockage and is not letting the water drip as quickly as it needs.

And/or the drainage hole is clear but the air conditioner is not sitting in the window level.

  Depending on where the drain hole is on the bottom of the window AC in question, the unit may need to sit exactly level for the water to drain out correctly.

Or the unit may need to have a slight tilt to the rear for the water to move towards the rear end of the air conditioner.

The window unit should never be tilted forwards. That is just asking for the water to drain towards the front of the air conditioner which is located inside of the house.

Summary
Why are window air conditioners so loud?

The main reason window air conditioners are so loud is that they have all the components of a standard size central heat and air unit,

But they’re all packed into a little box that sits in your window.

Some of the parts inside of a window air conditioner like the compressor and fan that on a full size HVAC would be separated and placed outside,

Are all sitting right inside of the window air conditioner so that you can hear them running directly through the vents where the cold air comes out of.

Why Do Window Air Conditioners Drip Water?

Window air conditioners are one of the easiest ways that you can get cold air into a room. Provided you have a window to install it in.

But there are things about window air conditioners that are not exactly well known and people don’t realize are a thing till they actually get it home and installed.

For instance, you may have not realized that the air conditioner that you put in your window was going to be a continuous dripping faucet.

Why do window air conditioners drip water?

Window air conditioners actually dehumidify the air as they are cooling it off.

One of the functions of a refrigerated air conditioner like a window AC is to pull the moisture out of the air as a means of making the room cold.

  The moisture that is pulled out of the air is condensed, turning it into water that exits through a drain hole in the bottom of the air conditioner.

This is a perfectly normal function of a window air conditioner. The amount of water that a window air conditioner drips is directly related to the relative humidity.

If you were running a window AC when the humidity is high, you will notice that the amount of water draining out of your AC is much higher than usual.

Likewise, if the weather is dry, you may not even notice any water draining out of your air conditioner.

When is it not normal for a window air conditioner to drip?

If the window air conditioner in question is dripping water but it is not dripping out through the drain hole, the drain hole is probably clogged, making the water find a different exit.

  If you find your AC is dripping water but it is not coming out of the drain hole, you’ll probably find that the bottom of the AC is filling up with water.

This can be an issue if the air conditioner is not tilted because the water can begin to leak through the bottom into the room side of the air conditioner instead of the outdoor section of the air conditioner.

So keeping the drainage hole cleaned out on the window air conditioner is important and can save you from having any type of damage to your walls if the leak becomes big enough.

Another issue that can result in water dripping from window AC in an area other than the drainage hole is a window AC that is not properly leveled and tilted slightly back to the rear.

  To give you a better idea of what I’m talking about, think about it this way.

If I were to pour water into a glass that is sitting on an uneven table. The water would set heavier on the inside of the glass that is lower than the other side because of the uneven table.

It’s the same thing with the window AC, if it is not level horizontally, then the condensed water will want to gather on the side of the air conditioner that is lower than the other side.

Which means that it will not drain evenly and may cause water to drip out of the side instead of the drainage hole.

Summary

Why do window air conditioners drip water?

“Window air conditioners dehumidify the air as they cool the air down.

In the dehumidification process, the humidity in the air is condensed and turned to water.

The water exits the window air conditioner through a drainage hole on the bottom of the AC.”

The water that exits the AC is the continuous dripping that window air conditioners are known for especially in humid weather.

How to Quiet a Noisy Window Air Conditioner

Window air conditioners are pretty noisy by nature.

After all, they sit halfway in and out of a window with a motorized compressor sitting right behind the vents where the cool air comes out.

  But like any machinery, window air conditioners can become noisy after time.

  New vibrations, parts clanging, new outdoor sounds can make a window AC unit much louder than it was intended to be.

But for every problem, there is a solution. Usually.

In this article we are going to attempt to help you identify the noise, and give you a solution to get rid of the sound or at least dampen it.

Let’s get rolling.

How to Quiet a Noisy Window Air Conditioner

1.  Gurgling

The gurgling sound coming from a window air conditioner is one of the most noticeable noises that a window AC unit can make.

And to be honest, it’s not one that you’re going to always be able to get rid of.

The problem arises when condensation builds up to the point that there is water standing inside of the air conditioner.

Not only will you start hearing a gurgling noise, you will also start to feel mist coming out of the vents.

  This is a drainage issue.

It is either caused by a drain hole being stopped up to the point that water does not drain,

Or an air conditioner that is unlevel so that the water does not flow towards the drainage hole.

If the drainage hole is stopped up, the easiest thing to do is to take a water hose and spray the inside of the air conditioner out and take a pencil or something similar and dig the gunk out of the drain hole.

If the stoppage is more extreme, then there is the possibility of having to take the outside of the air conditioner off and doing a thorough cleaning inside.

In the case of an uneven window air conditioner, leveling it can be done using a level and some shims.

Most window ACS call for the rear of the AC to be slightly tilted backwards so that the water runs towards the outside of the house and not the inside.

But like I said before there’s not always an answer for this problem.

  The reason is that some window air conditioners do not have drainage holes and are meant to rely on evaporation to get rid of the condensation.

But if the humidity outside is too high, sometimes it can overcome the ability of the air conditioner to evaporate the condensation.

This can result in water inside of your air conditioner making a gurgling sound.

2. Walls vibrating

This is a problem that can create an annoying buzzing sound in the walls.

  There are a couple of things to look for when you have vibration sounds around the air conditioner.

   The vibration in the walls is a direct result of the vibration of the air conditioner.

If the air conditioner is sitting directly on the window sill without a buffer between the unit and the wood, then the walls will vibrate with the vibration that is happening naturally with the air conditioner.

Putting a piece of foam window seal weather stripping between the air conditioner and the window seal, as well as the window should cut down the amount of vibration coming from the air conditioner quite significantly.

If the vibration is extra loud, it is a result of an abnormally heavy vibration coming from the window unit itself.

  In this case, it’s more than likely that something has come loose inside of the air conditioner and is shaking.

A screw has worked itself loose and you have something shaking that should be tightened down.

The solution is to take the air conditioner out of the window, remove the outer casing and look for, then tighten down the part that has vibrated loose.

Once everything is fastened down and foam insulation has been installed between the windowsill, the AC, and the window, you should notice a big difference.

3.  Outside noise

Rarely does a window air conditioner take up the whole space of a window.
That is why they provide you with the plastic, adjustable fillers to place on both sides of the air conditioner.

  Those fillers tend to work fine for a little while as far as keeping the outdoor air on the outside. But even for that they tend to weather fast and break.

   But they were never meant to keep the outdoor noise out. The plastic on those things is much too thin to be considered a noise dampener.

Replacing the window fillers that come with the air conditioner with something much thicker will keep the outside noise outside much better.

  Even some 3/4 inch plywood can block the outdoor noise way more efficiently.

   And even more sound absorbing material is an insulation product called mineral wool. Not all of your hardware stores are going to carry it, but it is the same stuff that they make sound absorbers for music studios.

It is not strong enough to work as a standalone product when you’re talking about using it as a window filler, so it will have to be glued to another product. Like the three quarter inch plywood.

The whole process is to cut the plywood to the exact measurements that you need to fill in the spaces on the side of the AC.

Cut the mineral wool to the exact same sizes as of the wood and glue it on to the wood with some spray adhesive.

  You can cover the pieces with some fabric or wallpaper so that the mineral will insulation is not exposed.

Put your new pieces into the window and fill in the gaps around them with some spray insulation.

4. Other outdoor noises

Some outdoor noises come directly through the grill of the air conditioner.

Usually the sound of the compressor inside of the air conditioner is loud enough to cover up any outdoor noises coming through the unit itself.

But there are times when this is not the case.

How do you dampen an air conditioner noise?

One solution is to build an enclosure around the air conditioner. This can be a fully( open bottom) insulated box that sits on the outside of the air conditioner.

Important: But there is one stipulation. It must sit at least a foot around the air conditioner.

  The reason a window air conditioner needs to be in the window is because of the heat that exhausts out of the rear and the side grills that let air into the air conditioner to keep the components cool.

So any encasement around an air conditioner has to allow for these two things to occur.

Putting anything directly against the outside of the air conditioner will cause the unit to not only not cool the air like it’s supposed to, it will overheat and trip the overload button.

This is why, even though there are people selling them for this reason, putting a weighted blanket on the outside of the air conditioner to reduce the outdoor noise is not a good idea.

How to stop rain noise on window AC?

Another outdoor noise that can be a little loud inside of the house when you have a window air conditioner is the sound of rain hitting the unit.

Very similar to the sound of rain hitting a metal roof.

This can be solved by putting a dampener directly on the outdoor portion of the roof of the AC.

  One ideal is to use rubber welcome mats.
You can purchase them with foam inside of them also, which would make a great sound dampener.

And they are also easy to cut with a pair of scissors.

Very simply measure the size you need and cut it out of the welcome mat.

You can send it directly on the AC. If it is too windy in the area that you have the AC, double-sided tape can be used to keep it from blowing off.

Leaves and branches

Another outdoor noise is simply the sound of please brushing up against your air conditioner.

In this case a little bit of outdoor maintenance in the form of clearing out some brush is going to be necessary.

6. Window air conditioner compressor noise

Compressor noise comes with an AC window unit.

Unlike other types of air conditioners like mini splits and HVAC which are split into two halves with the compressor completely outside, window ACS are an all in one box type solution.

In other words, there’s no getting away from the sound of the compressor running on a window AC completely.

But not all compressor noises or meant to be there. Compressors are machines that vibrate. Vibration can lead to parts breaking and parts coming undone inside of the air conditioner over time.

Why does my window AC sound like a helicopter?

If the compressor is abnormally loud, and though this is not normally true of brand new units, something in the compressor might have come loose.
Which is making an extra sound inside of the air conditioner, providing extra noise then usual.

This is a disassembling job. You’ll have to take the air conditioner out of the window, unscrew the casing and take it off and then search for what is making the noise.

If you turn it on without the outside casing , and the noise is not there anymore, then your problem lies with the casing.

Maybe something has come loose and is tapping the casing or the casing has gotten bent and is pushed up against a component inside of the air conditioner.

Summary

How to quiet a noisy window air conditioner?

Window air conditioners can create a lot of noise and they can also allow a lot of noise to get through them.

  Some of the different kinds of noises include gurgling water sounds, mechanical banging sounds, loud outside noise getting through the air conditioner, and standard compressor noises.

In the above article, we talked about making sure that the air conditioner is level and the drain hole is completely open.

We also talked about vibrations and how to handle the result of what a vibrating window air conditioner can give.

We also talked about how window air conditioners are inherently noisy because they are an all-in-one solution that has the running compressor directly inside of it, and vents little love the noise to come directly into the room that you were using the air conditioner in.

Hopefully one of these tips is what you were looking for and you are able to quieten down your window AC.

How Do You Get the Most Heat Out of a Candle?

You may have wondered if it was worth it to try to get heat out of a candle?

After all, what can one or two candles actually do in terms of getting enough warmth off of them to make a difference?

But you may be surprised to learn that there are some very unique ways that people have come up with to concentrate the heat off of only a couple of candles to generate enough heat to warm your hands on.

 How do you get more heat from a candle?

Getting more heat from a candle comes down to supplying more oxygen to the candle.

When you generally let a candle and set it on a table, the oxygen burns and floats up to the ceiling. Creating a situation where the oxygen is lost very quickly.

So to increase the oxygen, it only makes sense that you would somehow trap the already supplied oxygen in around the candle.

That is the premise around these uniquely designed do-it-yourself candle fueled heaters.

Let’s take a look at a few.

The first one is called a “coffee can heater”

You can find a whole variety of coffee can candle heaters on ol interweb.

A lot of very creative ideas.

But the simplest ideal for a coffee can candle heater is to combine a metal coffee can with two or three tea lights burning in the bottom of the can.

Tea lights are the elixir of this easy design.

Because they already have a metal cup that they sit in, they naturally get hotter on the outside than glass-based candles.

Simply burning a few tea light candles in a clean metal coffee can that has been stripped of any kind of paper on the outside, is enough to create enough heat to get you by in an emergency situation.

Just remember the bottom of the can is going to get very hot, so don’t sit it on anything that may burn.

And though you probably are the cautious type, it goes without saying that you shouldn’t leave a coffee can candle heater alone.

Another type of interesting candle heater that is easy to make and can help you get quite a bit more heat off of a candle or two, then you would be just lighting it is the flower pot heater.

This design takes a clay flower pot with the plate base that usually comes with it when you purchase them.

The ideal is to use the plate to place a couple of lighted candles and to suspend the flower pot upside down over the candles.

Most people just use a couple of bricks to lift the flower pot above the flower pot plate. But you can also get creative and hang the flower pot above the plate using hooks and chains.

Again, it is a very simple design that works because the clay flower pot gets very warm when it is heated.

Placing the flower pot upside down over the candles traps the heat under the clay, supplying more oxygen to the candles, so that they burn hotter, and trapping the heat inside of the flower pot.

After seeing these ideals for an emergency candle heater, I plan on buying my coffee in a metal coffee can next time I’m shopping for coffee.

And the ideal with the clay pots connected with hooks and chain really looks like a cool do-it-yourself project.

Can a Single Candle Heat a Room?

Can a single candle heat a room?

You may have wondered yourself about how much heat can actually come from a candle.

Emergency situations can and do arise and having a contingency plan that includes survival techniques and a MacGyver knowledge of household products like candles can be very helpful.

What can a single candle do to heat a room? Really.

You could logically say that a single candle could have a heating effect on the temperature of a room even if it is very miniscule.

Some often quoted research suggests that it takes about 20 burning candles to match the heat of a small space heater.

That’s based on the ideal that a candle is creating about 80 w of heat and a space heater is rated at 1500 watts.

  So one candle out of 20 burning will potentially give you 1/20 of the heat that you would get from a small space heater.

But in reality, if all you have is one candle to heat a room, you shouldn’t expect to do much to warm it.

  That’s not to say that candles are useless at helping keep warm.

There are some really awesome survival methods that people have concocted over the years that can magnify the heat from one or two candles,

And while it is not realistic to say that a single candle can heat a room, there are methods to use a candle or two, combined with a coffee can or a couple of clay pots, can give off enough heat to warm a very small space or warm your hands at least.

The easiest way to get more heat out of a single candle is to encase the candle so that the amount of heat is multiplied.

You can do this with a metal coffee can.  By placing a couple of tea light candles in the bottom of a coffee can.

The heat coming off of the candles combined with the heat transferring from the metal of the candle to the metal of the coffee can, can build up enough heat to huddle around it in an emergency or survival situation.

Another unique way that people use candles combined with household items to create heat is to trap the heat of the candles inside of a clay flower pot.

Even the small amount of heat coming off a candle is enough to heat a clay flower pot to the point of not being able to touch it.

  A simple flower pot candle heater includes a couple of mid sized flower pots. A mid-sized flower pot and one flower pot slightly smaller.

A long piece of ‘All Thread”. All Thread is a type of solid pipe that is threaded like a screw.

Five long washers that go around the all thread. And five nuts that screw onto the all thread.

Four tea candle lights.

Use the illustration for assembly.

Summary

Can a single candle heat a room?

You’re not going to be able to heat a whole room with a single candle. But there are creative ways of combining candles with items like coffee cans and clay flower pots that can cause a candle to produce much more heat than it would if it were lit and sit on a table where the oxygen could dissipate quickly.

 
 

Can Tea Candles Heat Up a Room?

Can tea candles heat up a room?

There’s a lot of people interested in alternative ways to create heat besides using electricity.

One of the most popular reasons that people search these things out is simple survival in an emergency situation.

For instance, candles are a household item that in a power outage, are an easy go to for getting some light inside of the house.

Most people have an assortment of candles around the house including tea light candles.

But what if the weather is cold outside and you’re stuck in a power outage without not only light but heat too?

Are candles good for heat? Can tea candles heat up a room?

Tea candles are very small candles and compared to the average small votive candle, only create about 30 watts of energy compared to the 80 that you might expect to get out of a votive candle.

But they do have a uniqueness that other candles do not have. And that is that they are surrounded with metal. (This is an important point that will get back to you in a second).

According to multiple resources, a candle is worth about 80 Watts of heat. In comparison to a small space heater which all space heaters are 1500 w on high, a candle can create about 120th of the heat that a small space heater can.

So with that math, it would take roughly 20 candles burning at the same time to create the amount of heat that a small space heater can in a room.

Can tea candles heat up a roomThat’s a bunch of candles.

But tea candles only create around 30 watts of heat per candle. So if you were to compare the amount of heat of a tea candle to a small space heater, you would come up with a number more like 50.

It’s doubtful that you have 50 tea candles hanging around in the house and if you did, lighting 50 tea candles is a whole other story. Not to mention the risk of starting a fire with that many candles lit.

So yes, technically you could heat a room with tea candles provided that you had at least 50 candles burning at the same time, but even in an emergency situation like a power outage, 50 tea candles burning is not going to last you long enough to justify lighting all the candles. My opinion.

But, there is an alternative for using tea candles to generate some heat if you were to get into an emergency or survival situation.

And this is where the point that tea candles sit in a metal cup comes in.

The idea was this,

You can take an empty metal coffee can and simply burn three or four tea candles inside of it, to get a small alternative heater working if you have no heat otherwise.

Because the tea candles are sitting in metal themselves, they tend to heat the metal coffee can up as they are burning.

And since the coffee can keeps the heat concentrated inside of a small area, you can get a fair amount of heat coming off of the coffee can by using this  method.

A couple of things to remember if you decide to try this are:

One, The coffee can is going to get hot and could possibly scorch whatever it is sitting on. So pick a place that is not going to get burnt.

Two, make sure that you take all the paper or label off of the outside of the coffee can before you light the candles inside of it. Paper is flammable. And you will up your risk of causing a fire by having paper on the can.

Summary,

Tea candles can heat a room provided you have a mountain of them lit.

That’s about 50 candles. So even though technically it’s possible, you probably shouldn’t do it. Imagine the fire risk involved.

But, survivalists and other unique geniuses on our Earth, have discovered that burning a few candles in the bottom of a metal coffee can can generate enough heat to warm your hands.

You may be amazed at the amount of DIY coffee can heaters you can put together in a small amount of time with things you probably have around the house. 

  It might not be enough heat for a whole room, but warming your hands when you are freezing is a big deal at that moment.

What Candles Produce the Most Heat?

What candles produce the most heat?

Trying to warm your hands up with a candle or even more seriously, an entire room is not an easy thing.

  And if you find yourself in such a situation, you are going to want to have some candles that put off plenty of heat.

So… What candles produce the most heat?

The easy answer is soy candles because  the wax burns longer than with paraffin candles. And the longer the candle burns, the hotter it will get.

And when you get into the question of what is the longest burning candle, the variety that you can pick from goes up substantially.

For instance, there are survival candles like the “Candlelife” brand that can burn for 115 hours.

Or the ReadyHour that burns 100 hours.

But if you are planning to try to heat up a large area with candles, you are going to need a bunch of candles.

If you were to use the popular ideal that a candle is worth 80 w. That means you would need about 20 candles to equal the heat of a small space heater.

And going off the most recent Amazon price for a ready hour 100 hour candle at $6.95, that’s $139 to heat a small area with candles for a 100 hours.

Not exactly cheap.

And not exactly the best way to get the most heat out of a candle.

If you have been searching long for solutions related to getting “heat from candles”, you probably come across some of the do it yourself candle heaters that people have invented.

The clay flower pot candle heater is one such invention that is pretty unique.

The idea was to take a couple of flower pots, the brownish Orange clay flower pots that are fairly popular and can be purchased at most any big box store.

With one pot slightly bigger than the other, you take a piece of “all thread” and connect them upside down with a space of about 2 in between them and use the plate as a shelf to put the candles underneath the pots.

With this ideal, it will take a lot less than 20 candles to get some heat to warm your hands by.

But if you want the heat to last longer you’re still going to have to purchase the bigger, longer lasting candles.

Another simple candle heater uses tea candles, which were actually very small candles. But the difference is that they are poured into a metal container.

  This makeshift candle heater is very easy to make. It is basically a metal coffee can with burning tea lights at the bottom.

Since the tea light candle wax heats the metal that it is sitting in up, it helps heat the coffee can up to. And because the candles are sitting down in a coffee can, the heat is concentrated and doesn’t allow the oxygen to disperse as easily.

You may not be talking about a Honeywell space heater that can heat up a 200 foot space, but at least if you are in an emergency, it makes a good little survival heater to warm your hands up.

Summing it up

The kind of candle that puts off the most heat is a larger candle that uses soy wax.

The reason is, Soy Burns longer than paraffin and a bigger candle burns longer than a smaller candle.

Is it Dangerous to Leave a Candle Burning?

Is it dangerous to leave a candle burning?

There’s a lot of talk about whether or not you can get enough heat generated from burning candles.

And of course if you have enough candles, you can eventually get enough flames lit that it will heat up a room.

But aside from the obvious fire danger of having a huge amount of candles all burning at the same time inside of a room,

  There is also the problem of whether or not it is actually dangerous to leave a candle burning for that amount of time.

Is it dangerous to leave a candle burning? Yes it is, candles are not made to burn more than an hour. Doing so causes carbon to build up on the wick.

Once carbon is built up on the wick, you have an issue of the smoke coming from the candle being black and sooty.

Leaving a candle burning too long can also cause the wax to become too pliable leading to the wick falling sideways.

Which not only reduces the life of the candle, also causes sooty smoke to burn from the candle.

And what’s more, letting a candle burn too long can make it much too hard on the outside to handle.

And the scariest thing is that even though most household candles are poured in jars and have little chance of spreading outside of the container, that is not always the case.

  The candle that is left to burn too long and become sooty also has the chance of the flame becoming abnormally large because of the carbon on the wick.

  Once this happens, the chance of the fire spreading outside of the candle becomes much larger.

Is it dangerous to leave a candle burning? People have a tendency to generally feel safe with candles burning throughout the house.

But the truth is, fire can be unpredictable and you should never leave a candle unattended or sleep with a candle burning.

  And never allow a candle to be too close to anything that might catch fire. Some materials can catch fire much easier than others.

The humidity in your home may be extra low without you knowing it. Meaning you may have furniture that is extra dried out, without knowing it.

And a little flame on a candle can cause a big accident if it gets too near to something that is dry and combustible.

Summary

  Leaving a candle burning too long can be dangerous. Candles are not made to burn for more than an hour.
After an hour the wax can become too pliable, allowing the wick to lean.

When the flame begins to melt the wax because of the leaning wick, the result can be a black sooty smoke.

Candles that are allowed to burn too long also form Carbon on the wick which is also a source of black sooty smoke.

And though that black smoke is hard to breathe, that’s not the worst of it.

  At that point, the flame on the candle can become large and the risk of the fire coming out of the candle and causing a house fire goes up substantially.

Heat From Candles – Can it Compare to a Space Heater?

Does the heat from candles compare to a space heater?

 

It’s an interesting question, and yes provided you have enough candles burning, you can get enough heat off of candles to warm up a room.

According to multiple sources, the magic number of candles that you would have to keep lit is 19.

That’s based on fact that a burning candle creates about 80w of energy and the typical space heater is 1500w

1500 ÷ 80 = 18.75

So yes the possibility of warming a room with the heat from candles is definitely there.

But the more important question is “Should You?”

I’m going with No. Of course there are always extenuating circumstances, emergencies that could come up that may say otherwise.

But as a general method, my opinion is still No.

There are 3 good reasons I would say that.

1.  Much too dangerous
2.  VOCs
3.  Not economical.

1.  Too dangerous

I’m going to insert a personal story here as to why.

As a young person I was a recording artist. When I first began recording I laid down a fortune in recording hours at the “big boy” recording studio in my city.

It only took a few songs to realize I was not good enough to do one or two takes of anything. And with the clock burning through my wallet, I needed to find a better way.

So the logical solution, if I was going to be able to learn this recording stuff, was to use the money I was spending at the Professional Studio on a home studio where I could do as many takes as I needed on any song.

This is where the candle part of the story comes in.

As I got comfortable with recording in my home, I started lighting a candle or two to create some mood in the room.

And the more comfortable I got, I didn’t always make an effort to make sure the candles were blown out.

I thought it didn’t really matter because they were small candles inside of a jar.

But as stupid as it was, there was a specific incident where I left the house to run to the corner convenient store and

I didn’t think it was worth shutting down because I was going for a drink and I would be right back.

But, as I was on the way to the store I realized I didn’t grab my wallet. So I turned around and immediately went back to get it.

As I opened the door I smelled smoke.

I ran into the recording room and found that a pair of headphones had been too close to a burning candle. The cord on the headphones had combusted.

I don’t know what material that headphone cords are made of, but it went up like a dead Christmas tree.

It had caught fire and melted to almost nothing in the time it took me to leave the house and turn around and come back because I forgot my wallet.

  Up till then, I didn’t consider candles to be dangerous. But after that incident I’m pretty wary of using candles.

It scares me now when I see someone, especially one of my teenage children sleeping with a candle burning. Especially when they have been told not too more than once.

I never knew how fast fire could take hold and spread so easily.

It’s as if the flame had jumped off of the candle and landed straight onto the headphones. Honest truth.

So when it comes to keeping 20 or so candles lit to warm a room, that in my opinion is a definite no no.

The ease in which a fire could start is much too risky.

2.  VOCs

Most of the information that you can find on whether or not it is safe to breathe with a candle burning suggests that it is completely safe as long as it is only one or two candles and it is an open area.

  And that the candles are non scented…

This statement kinda blows the idea of keeping a room warm with candles out the window.

Firstly we are not talking about 1 or 2 candles. We are talking about 20.

Secondly, we are trying to keep the room warm which automatically means closing the doors and windows and sealing it in as well as possible.

And granted, if you were going to purchase candles to warm a room, you probably wouldn’t choose apple cinnamon or warm vanilla sugar.

But I think it goes without saying that the scent of a candle is the main appeal besides putting off light.

And the candles most of us have around the house are strongly scented.

That’s the point

It’s the fragrance that they put into candles that creates soot and the black smoky flame. Imagine multiplying the amount of soot by 20.

  The chemicals released from the fragrance fall under the category of Volatile Organic compounds ( VOCs) .

Air purifiers are designed for getting rid of VOCs. Because they are dangerous to breathe.

I haven’t tried it, but you know it would be hard and near impossible to breathe with 20 sooty scented candles burning.

3.  Not economical

Candles are not cheap.

Votive candles are approximately $2.50 a pop. Times 20 is 50 bucks for about 5 to 7 hours of burn time.

Even if they burned 8 hours you’re still looking at $150 for 24 hours.

You can buy an excellent space heater for $150. You can buy three small space heaters for that.

And I know that they have emergency candles that last 100 hours. But they are definitely not $2.50. More like $10.

Times that amount by 20. You’re still looking at $200 for $100 of heat.

So heating a room with candles is definitely not a cheap way to get heat.

Emergency or Survival Candles

I understand that in an emergency there may be a need to use candles to warm up your room.

But unless you have a stockpile of candles already,

  I think the better money would be on purchasing a propane space heater for emergency situations.

Summing up

Whether or not candles can heat a room is an interesting question.

And the answer is yes. If you have enough candles burning, you can heat up a room with candles.

The number of candles that it takes to roughly match the heat of a 1500 watt heater is about 19 to 20 candles.

That’s based on a candle being able to create about 80 watts of heat.

But even though it can be done, is it something that really should be done?

Most people will say, “what about an emergency?”

That makes sense. What if the power is out and you do not have any heat, and it’s cold outside.

So yes, I can see how if provided, you have 20 candles sitting around already, that lighting them all would be a way of getting some heat in your room in that kind of situation.

But if you don’t have 20 candles ( more like 60 in a 24-hour period) then buying candles for emergency preparedness is not going to be the best ideal for warming your house or room. And not the best ideal for preparing for an emergency or survival situation.

The amount of money that it would take to purchase enough candles to keep a room warm for 24 hours is enough to buy a more than adequate propane heater that can be lit without electricity.

And be a much safer option than having that many candles lit.