You can use crayons for candles.

If you really don't want to carry around candles you can use crayons. Crayons when lit burn for a really long time.
You can make an emergency torch by tying or duct taping some of these around the top of a stick. These have dual purposes get a coloring book for your kids while your camping for extra activity and for a torch at night if you need one. The best part is these are easy to carry and don't take up a lot of room.

 

This sounds like a great idea. I never thought of this and it is genius actually. The paper on the crayon is flammable so this is an ideal life hack. The problem can arise in the actual advertising of this hack. Irresponsible children might end up getting hurt while trying to light one themselves. Another precaution that probably needs to be looked further into is the fact that most crayons have a label that states they are toxic and should not be eaten. If that is the case then by lighting a crayon you might end up inhaling poisonous fumes. If you do this too often then there can be some serious repercussions.

 

I always wondered when I was younger whether or not crayons were actually made of the same material as candles, and often they are. It really did surprise me how long it burned for when I first tried this too. I pictured it burning down as fast as string, but it burned for a very long time, and even then didn't use much of the crayon.

 

I'm really surprised to hear this, I knew that crayons were flammable but i didn't know that they would burn for such a long time, but it makes sense. They have the same texture and density as candles do but would you light the directly or try to use a wick?

 

Thanks tb65, this is a really nice idea and I should try it soon. I am currently living in a block with no electricity connection. Power outages are another source of concern in my region. I suppose that the cost of a crayon plus the length of time it burns will save on money used to buy candles.

 

Mmm curious but I guess is not so practical for me at least. Is more probable to have a pair of good old pieces of wax instead of a bunch of crayons. But maybe somewhere in isolated circumstances, someone have spare crayons to burn in a survival situation.

 

Thank you so much for the idea @tb65! This is a good way for me to make use of my child's old crayons instead of throwing them in the trash. It's stormy season here in our part of the world right now and power outage is a common thing especially during continuous stormy days. During this season, we usually stock up on candles to use during several days of no electricity. With your idea in mind, using my child's old crayons is one way of saving on candles and maximizing the use of crayons up to their last piece.

 

Thanks for this tip! Just make sure you are burning non-toxic crayons! Burning those super cheap chinese crayons are just plain toxic. You don't want to harm your health for a little light! Best if you have a solar powered flash light. This might be a last resort item. You don't want hot wax burning you if you're walking with these!

 

Yes, i recently come across this little useful info on twitter. I'm very happy to know this, it's very helpful in our day to day life and of course during survival situations. I will never take crayons for granted ever again.

 

I have tried this one and it works. Before I only used small pieces of crayons to color my candles by melting them together with the broken and left over candles. Now I can used it as candle as well when I can't find candle in emergency situations.

 

Good to hear that someone tried it out but didn't it let of a lot of smoke or did it burn just like a regular candle?

 

Wow...this is such a great idea. Never thought of this at all. I have stacks of them somewhere in all colours. Can also be used for a romantic candle light dinner haha

 

That's quite interesting! While they are simple to carry and cheap to buy I gotta ask though: How long do they last and are there any preparations necessary to make it burn more efficiently?

 

I use birthday candles as wicks for my homemade candles. Dollars store sell 24 count packs for $1.00 They are also a great addition to a BOB, or trunk of your car. Keeps tons around the house for emergency.

 

I buy wicks and then pick up old candles at garage sales for a little of nothing and melt down the wax to make new candles. The smells can be interesting but they burn good. When you have kids and Grandkids around there is never a shortage of broken crayons. I just throw them in with the other wax.

I also have 20 gallons of vegetable oil that can be burned. 10 gallons of Kerosine and lanterns that can burn unleaded gasoline. In the beginning though LED lights powered by batteries charged with solar or manual generators might be an option. Mainly though I live in the East Texas Piney woods and pine pitch and lighter pine is everywhere.

 

I keep birthday candles in all of my fire starting kits; usually two, one regular, and one of the novelty candles that won't go out. As Coffee said they are very inexpensive; don't weigh a thing. They will fit in an Altoids tin if that is what you want to use.

 

Candles or Crisco

I happened to start looking at other ways to heat a room and found how to make a little heater using a candle and clay flower pots. While in there, I tripped over a link showing how to make candles out of Crisco. Here in the States, Crisco is a brand of vegetable shortening that is semi-solid at room temperature. Maybe y'all already have done this. I've just tried this and my glass jar Crisco candle is working away.

The candle will burn for 3+ hour stretches and I really can't tell it has used much fuel at all. A quart jar candle is supposed to last for 2 weeks at 8hrs/day usage. And hey, brand-X vegetable shortening is cheap compared to paraffin.

If you put back shortening as a preparedness item, you can use it to fry food and to make candles. Too you can help heat a room with the stuff.

"Emergency DIY Crisco Candle/Burns 24 Days/Survival Skills"



Heaters using shortening-made candles:







Don't use the shortening container itself, because that's downright dangerous. Use a metal can or canning jar as the candle container.

Using carbon felt (composed of activated charcoal used in filters of all sorts) as a wick for vegetable oil. This video I found to be very interesting. Since the wick is already carbon, it doesn't burn out -- it goes on and on and on ... ! The guy giving the presentation seems like a TV speaker or a "Mr. Science" guy, still it's a fun watch and super informative.

"The Magical Forever Wick - The Plant Pot Heater On Steroids"



Here are ads for carbon fiber sheets / rolls -- I'm thinking this is the material the fellow is talking about:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=flexible...on+filter+sheets,appliances,63&ref=nb_sb_noss

----------------------------------------------
Crisco burner for make-do / emergency stove

 

Crayons are made of paraffin...

"Speaking of the negative side, paraffin candles are often considered unhealthy to burn as it contains chemicals. Unlike natural wax candles, paraffin wax candles emit harmful gasses that include benzene, toluene, and naphthalene when they burn."

 

I am now testing a wood wicks in vegetable shortening candles. So far, the wood wick looks very promising. This evening, the wood wick (1.5 cm wide) provided a great wide flame for over an hour once I got its height above fuel correct for optimum flame without soot. The wide wood wick gives off more light and heat, of course. I'm surprised how well this is working. If I get failures, I will report such.

I tried bamboo wicks that are around 2mm in diameter. They did not work with the veg. shortening candle.

 

Tallow candles provide light and you can eat them.

Plant pot candle heaters...don't work.

 

Shortening is edible. People fry their food using it.

The above video provided the numbers on the delta of room temperature. Multiple such heaters would be have to be used, duh.

Please provide evidence that the above video producers are liars.
.

 

The clay pot heater works simply because it prevents ALL of the heat from immediately going to the top of the ceiling and pushing the cold air down to the floor. People generally think of ceiling fans as good for summer cooling but they are just as good for winter warming. You just run them in reverse and slow in the winter.

 

Several layers of clay pots (increasing in size) form a thermal capacitor. Doesn't have to be pots.

My lineage being poor would heat large-ish rocks (usually rounded river rocks, 10-14lb, i.e. one stone weight) atop wood or coal stoves. People used several blankets/quilts -- quilt-making is a tradition in Appalachia. At the foot of the bed, one would put two or three of these rocks wrapped in blankets. The heat would last until morning.

Word of warning: River rocks can hold moisture. Sounds impossible, but it is true. Some river rocks put atop coal stoves can actually explode -- hopefully they'll only bust, but they have been known to really go-off and dangerously so.

Quilt-making was brought over from Ulster, Scotland, Germany, ... . This was a big deal. Quilting bees are a social thing, sure; however, quilts keep you alive during horrid winters up in the mountains.

Lump-sized coal fires are the best. These keep massive amounts of residual heat even as embers. God only knows how many coal fires I started as a boy. Divine stuff when your fingers and toes are numb.

https://csdt.org/culture/quilting/appalachian.html
.

 

I was a grown man with a kid before I ever slept under a quilt that wasn't homemade. You make a quilt then when it starta to wear out you put a new cover on it and tat it rather than quilt it. Back then people sewed and you always saved any left over scraps. Later you sewed them together and make a quilt top out of it.

 

The pot heaters don't work, the candles output in terms of heat cannot be improved by sticking a pot over it. These 'heaters' were promoted in the UK during WW2 to help heat Anderson bomb shelters but mainly as a safety thing, reducing fire risk from a naked flame in a small space full of people.

These seem to be 'discovered' every few years by preppers/bushcrafters and hit the social media headlines then fade into obscurity only to be 'discovered' again a few years down the line....good old fashioned hokum/sheeple fodder.

 

The super-heated air coming off candles shoots straight up to towards the ceiling. What to do? Trap that heat and radiate it out into the room where the people are. The clay pots are thermal capacitors radiating that heat at the human level of the room. There is a temperature differential in every room. Warmer at the ceiling and cooler lower down. Thermal capacitance radiating at the human occupation level helps to even-out/narrow that temperature difference, thus benefiting the lower area. A member of our family was a building inspector. Such folk measure temperature differentials. Energy at the ceiling level is wasted energy. One uses air handlers to make for greater efficiency when the electricity is on, but we are talking about when the power goes off.

Most people do not attach their furniture to the ceiling and live up there. Bat families maybe.

Also, the clay pots also serve to gather any soot coming from the candles. Easier to clean pots than room surfaces. Walls and ceilings don't fit into a sink very well.
.

 

Remember you throw out around 100w of heat just sitting there which helps heat a room.

Put plants in clay pots and grow something in them. Try making a reflector from aluminium foil for a candle and you'll find it works better than a pot heater.

 

In the old days when places all had high ceilings they also usually had ceiling fans that hung low, quite a distance from the ceiling. In the winter you reversed their rotation so that the warm air was pushed back down to the floor along the walls and the cold air in the middle of the room was pushed up. 12 to 16 foot ceiling heights were common before the advent of air-conditioners.

 

You didn't say that your engineering degree was in thermodynamics.

Mine is in electronics. Therefore, I will defer to the texts you kept from your days reading at University as reference sources in these matters.

 

What you said and many wall-mounted kerosene lamps had a brass housing with a shelf projection above the glass chimney that would heat-up and also prevent soot from heading up to the ceiling (would also stop an ember). One would clean and polish the brass every so often.
.