DIY Carbon Felt Heater | Burns Forever Without Changing Out The Wick 

Add a steel mesh mantle over it and a shiny stainless reflector curved around one half of it. You’ll increase the heat output by many times.

Wind a piece of thread round the wick it makes it easier to get into the pipe.

Instead of using a full-size drill bit to make the hole in the top, use a center punch to mark your hole and then use a step bit. They are designed to cut through sheet metal nicely. Cheers! Also: Credit to Robert Murray-Smith for the carbon wick.

What did you do when you cut another piece of copper...was it longer or shorter...? What changes did you make?

Sheesh! Everyone is a critic. This is a terrific piece of advice for heating my greenhouse. The fans really do help to circulate the air. Got one on my wood stove now. I just don’t think I could leave it unattended. It’s a good set up for safety I think but a raging fire on the mountain isn’t worth the risk. I’d risk the carbon monoxide vomits first. Thanks for teaching me something. 👍

Also, if you use the vent hood on top of your stove, make sure it vents to the outside! Some of them only go through a screen/filter and exhaust back into the room. Thank You, Sir for this awesome idea and everybody be safe. 🙂🥰🕯🪔 Please also get a fire extinguisher🧯🔥 😀

My Cat would love that Heated Cat Box! 🤣Keep up the great work!👍

Awesome Video, Thanks for the Information. Have a Great Sunday.

I'd put the wick in from the bottom, since you only need a bit out of the top. 🤔

Nice , I like it . Finally a good use for canola oil .

Thank you very much.. I fall in love ❤️ with that heat fan😊

soak the wick material in the oil before inserting it into the copper tube?

Thanks 👍, I'll watch more of your demos. Have a good new year.

It's perfect timing for this video to be suggested. I've been experimenting with this type of hearer and heat sources. I started with making Crisco candles which had a good burn time but a cold flame. Then I made some alcohol candles which doesn't last as long but burns much hotter. I'll have to make a vegetable oil heater to test. My heater is made of items found at thrift stores. My burn chamber where the candles sit is a stainless strainer with a 2 1/2 inch air gap on top to keep the candles cool. This especially important when using alcohol candles. On top of the air gap there's another stainless strainer the same diameter as the burn chamber turned upside down with a slightly larger stainless strainer upside down on top of it. The top strainer has a 9 inch diameter so I can cook or sit my fan on it. For safety the burn chamber sits in a 3 inch tall Pyrex bowl just incase. I want to make a alcohol burning stove also, the one with the copper loop on top. My attraction to Crisco and alcohol is it doesn't produce carbon monoxide or so Google says. Google also says vegetable oil doesn't produce carbon monoxide. I'll use a sensor anyway. I want a heat source in my truck for when the motor isn't running.

Thank you for this information. Good video.

Very kool idea, never heard of carbon felt. Thank you

Thank you for the great ideas...

Some JB Weld would easily hold the tube in place. Some old aquarium filler will work as well as the sand. You can get the carbon felt in the plumbing section of Home Depot or hardware/plumbing store. You can use a little alcohol to help the oil get started to wick up & burn easily. The fan is called a peltier fan. If you plan to use some heating like this you need a CO detector- be safe rather than sick!

I made one of these about a year ogo. Took a few attempts but a handy emergency backup 😊

The stove fan works with a 'pelter disc' which generates small amounts of electricity when one side of this disk gets hot and the other side is cooler. As long as there is a differential in temps it will continue to produce from a few DC volts to maybe as much as 12 DC volts, in some cases. -- These do not wear out over time and can work for decades when cared for properly. -- Cost? $15 to $45 pending size, # of blades on the fan, etc.

great idea for the detecters close by, some folks may need reminded these should be operational..

That is cool my friend.

The coil alcohol burners are really neat.

Nicely done, no potential casualties. I've actually seen emerg heat videos that had no concern for safety.😵 👍🏽On Presentation Great Ideas and Safety!👍🏽 Thank You for this amazing video!

Very interesting. How long of a burn time did you get with that setup?

Good design. You could also use another aluminum tray, like you have under it, to collect the sooth from it. It can be used as pigment for black paint. It's also called as lampblack. Water glass (sodium silicate) is a good heat resistant base for the paints.

Nice idea ZEN GARDEN OASIS. Using easy to source materials is the way to go fella. Maybe you could make a industrial duty heating unit fella ?? Nice work and video too.

This would be a good repurpose for previously used metal canning caps.

used thin strip of leftover carbon felt from methanol heater diy project, wicked up side of tuna can, and extra virgin oil.... 2 Tbs took 3 hrs to burn , huge heat nice light

Black felt pen makes a good surface to monitor the temperature. Infrared radiant heat. A flat black surface is the desired surface to get a proper reading.

I love how he keeps a bottle of isopropyl right next to an open flame 🔥

bravo

Great Video! - To share what I learned about those fans- Not all will take that direct high heat. I was shopping for one to adapt to my Mr. Buddy propane heater, when I ran across that fact... So make sure they are high heat protected, or they can burn up to close to the heat source.

If anyone's curious about the fan it actually is an electric fan Inside the fan is something called a t e g or thermoelectric generator Basically it's a piazzo device where if you heat up one side and cool the other side it generates a small electric current That's why this unit has a flat bottom that's the hot side and then it has cooling fins behind the fan those are actually important because the way these work is on temperature delta difference in temperature between the hot and cold side if both sides get hot or saturated it stops working So the fan not only circulates the hot air but also keeps the cool side of the TEG cool maintaining that delta or difference in temperature between the hot and cold side which means it keeps generating electricity which is just enough to spin that little fan Ultimately the core problem with these heaters is not a matter of heat it doesn't matter how much temperature you produce it matters how many BTUs you produce You've got to be able to produce enough BTUs to actually heat the volume of space you're trying to heat versus how rapidly that's based cools down to the environment around you so no you won't be heating your house with this :-)

Interesting.

Awesome

Excellent!

Appreciate your information, thank you for going to the effort. It never ceases to amaze me how many want to piggyback on someone who has put the time and effort in, all these people with their 2 cent ideas. If they are so smart, they should make their own video for RU-vid.

What modifications did you make to copper pipe? Longer? Also, wondering if large soup pot or xl SS baking pan would work better than flimsy aluminum pan?

Great video! I hate to ask but how much electricity does the spcae heater add for that space and how much electricity does that fraw for you nightly on winter days?

i would make 2 tiny vent holes on the lid between the copper tube holding felt and edge of jar, for safety if pressure builds up. also lowering the wick until there's no smoke.

Fan is peltier chip (electrical powered). Basically a cluster of thermocouples that generate a current when heated. The electric powers the motor.

Is there that much difference in this and having 3 or 4 candles burning concerning carbon monoxide? Just curious. Thanks!

Is one is to use a vent for the heater one must make up the air that is being exhausted outside. It’s best to add a second smaller diameter pipe down low to the outside and bring it up close to the burner. It will supply the burner with cooler dense air that will offset the smoke if the candle does emit a lot of smoke and supply fresh air to replace air exhausted through the vent. Excessive smoke can be a sign that the wick is too far out of the copper pipe and the flame is excessively high. Upon refilling the candle the next day pull the wick back into the pipe by about a quarter of an inch and see if it produces smoke on the next burn. You will lose some heating efficiency by adding a vent pipe to the system.

My small pot belly Cold Stone works just fine for us😮 plus we have heat tape in the dirt the thermostatically controlled the Keith's dirt about 56° used industrial heat tape McMaster-Carr or Grainger carries it Harley uses any electrical

Great video. What were the changes you mentioned needing to do with pipe & wick? Is there a best size for the pipe? Thx-

the plants loves the co2

Did you get this idea from Robert Murray Smith RU-vid channel? I've made this kind of forever wick and it works!

Over time carbon felt will shrink half an inch, or a full inch per year from the heat. The glowing red means the carbon felt is drying up, and needs more fuel. This heater/lamp will make a great simmer stove. Perfect for baking. :)

I see there are many people helping your design. Let me add by saying you can use plumbers felt for a wick going into a canning jar with a hole in the lid. Use a two inch X 1/2 inch copper tube to hold the wick in place. Put some cooking oil into the canning jar and you got it.

Can you use this felt for candles, also did you make the copper tube longer in the second try ? Cheers !

Perhaps you should add a disclaimer to protect yourself. Good idea! Please protect yourself.

obviously you cant hook up a vent if you put the bowl on top, or did i miss a step? thank you for sharing this heat option.

Spin the felt so that the end flap is not wanting to unwind and bunch up as your inserting into copper pipe!😉

The fan works true a pellentier ellement makes current and soins a smal engine ;-)

You mentioned two pieces of safely equipment, but there's one more very important one. A fire extinguisher. 10 pounds minimum. There's no feeling like 'what could I have done more?'. When that smoke alarm goes off, you have one chance to stop a fire while it's small enough for the average person to make a difference. Leave the big stuff to professionals. The first priority is to preserve lives.

Don't make my mistake of using waste oil burners in the house. You'll get soot everywhere unless you use a chimney to take the fumes outside.

Correction, fan runs with electric 💡. But what it is in the middle bit there is a heat exchanger so that turns heat to 3 to 5 volt electric so fan has small electric motor basically, lovely little device which in emergency you can even charge your mobile phone by heat. I must say fantastic video. I like it.

all these people making these oil heaters need to understand FLASHPOINT. once the flashpoint is reached, the contents explode. around 500 degrees, different oils have different flashpoints oil flashpoints alvocado oil (refined) 480-520°F. Safflower oil 450-500°F. Canola oil 400-475°F. Soybean oil 450°F. Sunflower oil (refined) 450°F. Peanut oil (refined) 450°F. Coconut oil (refined) 400-450°F. be careful people!!!

Or, you could try sharp tin snips to do the cutting. New subscriber.

Idk what I’m doing wrong but I went through all the steps 3 separate times; used rubbing alcohol as a starter; different size wicks as well as waited till the next day to make sure the canola oil had time to soak the wick. After all that I can’t get it to stay lit for more that 5 minutes or so. Any suggestions?

Canola oil can be burned in a home as a oil lamp or heater, as long as it doesn't have more than a couple of these burning per room. They don't put out any more heat or toxins than regular fuel kerosene lamp oil. Some lamp oils contain as much as 20% ethyl alcohol which helps it to light and burn, and reduces smoke and carbon toxins. I live in the high mountains and kerosene and regular cooking oils will not burn well above 7,000 ft elevation. I stopped trying to use oil lamps and a variety of contraptions like this for heat, and have gone to pure hydrogen (separated HHO, removing the oxygen from the generator) as it will burn where kerosene and LP Gas will not. We have sufficient oxygen in the air, but super low pressure.

I mainly use corn oil for cooking, would I be able to use that instead

Can you use used vegetable oil in the heater?

The fan has a peltier device within I'm guessing 🤔. The fins of the fan is for the cooling effect of the peltier device within 😎.

You want to put a radical still fine mesh used for building preventing rodents and metal lead on top round the jar lid much more heat

That is a cool fan. That looks perfect for a small shelter. It's just hard to understand how such a small flame can counter the amount of cold air entering from the vent. It's only in the 20's F now. I understand the concern about CO, but if I crack a window, it will cool it down right now.

I'm quite sure hemp oil and olive oil would also work. Lard too because the heat from the wick would liquify the lard.

How long does that amount of oil last ?

También se puede colocar una olla y hervirá el agua

OK so how warm does the sand get? I think you need to make 2 containers, one with the heat element below and the 2nd full of sand above it so it absorbs the heat and keeps dispersing for hours after the fire goes out.

You should have shoved it into the pipe from the other end. Then you just push it through until the wick pops out the top, and you just let the free end hang down into the fuel oil. 😊 Thanks for the video

How long does this last?

I would be interested in some version of this that I could use as a space heater in my garage. I am not too concerned about carbon monoxide as I think there is enough ambient air flow in there. Plus it is a large 2 car garage. But on the subject of venting, I did not exactly understand how you would apply that venting hose in this case. All I can assume is that you would attach it to the top of the canister and use this device without the bowl?

Loved ur video. How long does it take run.

Master

Try double elevated clay pots, separated by about an inch (block the hole in the base of the pot)

I would call it a thermal fan. I need to find some for my wood stove.

An inverted clay flower pot may work better than the aluminium untensil holder. or replace the metal bowl with the flower pot.

I've tried things similar to this. Stainless steel bowl works great, cast iron frying pan works better. Cast iron is the best for holding heat and takes longer to cool down.

Exchange the metal bowl with a clay pot. Thank you for the information.

How long does it burn for please

I have an old hurricane lantern. Could that heat source (combined with a terra cotta landscape pot work?

Hi I just came across your video and if you get this message can you tell me how long can that burn for? I do appreciate your video thank you very much

Wet the carbon felt with the oil before puttimg it in to the copper pipe . Should slide in and ready when lighting it .

If you want to cut easy with your left hand, then you have to use the left-handed scissors.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems if you are venting the exhaust it is also convecting all of the created heat through the vent duct system thereby creating a less efficient heating effect?

Safety is always number one however keep in mind that this oil won’t burn if it tips over. It’s not like gasoline or alcohol or other flammables

Question how about used motor oil,??? Please respond to Cold in Michigan. Thank you and GOD bless

??? How long would 8 oz. of the oil burn for ?

change the cap with other without gasket at bottom. solder the pipe to the new cap and fill the top tiny cup with alcohol then fire the alcohol and this flame will pre-heat the pipe and star burning the oil.

Does the carbon felt actually wick all the liquid up from the bottom of the jar. Does the jar actually empty out completely?

I could use ceramic wool all the same as the carbon fiber right?

Fireproof regular felt or cotton cloth using a supersatrated solution of borax and table salt ..soke in the solution andallow to dry.

You should have started from the bottom to push the carbon wick, since that was where the excess was to remain.

We get it, man, safety safety, safety carbon monoxide. cool heater though!

Can I use denatured alcohol as the fuel in that heater you showed?

Can I use crisco vegetable shortening?

We're do you buy your Diy carbon. And what size, how much ?

question where would you get one of those fans...