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May 20, 2023

Cost of Living: Viral DIY clay plant pot hack to heat a room works, but comes with a safety warning

With energy bills soaring, many households are looking for ways to save money,

With energy bills soaring, many households are looking for ways to save money, and videos about this DIY method to avoid putting the heat on have racked up millions of views

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A DIY plant pot heater hack has been doing the rounds on social media in recent days.

The hack involves using terracotta plant pots and tea-light candles to heat a room to avoid having to use the central heating.

The trick works by trapping the heat from the candle flames in the pots, instead of the heat of the little flames escaping and dissipating into the air.

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Instead, the heat becomes trapped under the pots and heats the pots up, allowing the pots to act like a radiator, pushing heat out into the room instead of it escaping upwards.

With energy bills soaring, many households are looking for ways to save money, and videos about this DIY method to avoid putting the heat on have racked up millions of views.

People do sell professionally made versions of this method as portable heat sources, but it has become a viral sensation online recently, with the vast majority claiming that the pots were able to heat a small room.

The hacks usually follow the same methodology - the heater is made with two or three different sized clay or terracotta plant pots turned upside down and stacked inside one another like a Russian doll.

A metal bolt can be placed between each one, securing with nuts and washers, so that they are not snugly touching one another and are steady - and provide metal for additional heating.

The pots are elevated on something like some bricks or a metal stand, and tea lights are lit and placed directly under the mouth of the pots to burn.

However, like anything that involves a naked flame being lit insIde your home, there are many safety concerns that come along with this DIY.

People with children and pets who want to try the hack need to make sure they are constantly supervised around the clay pot heater to avoid knocking it over and causing fires or burning themselves off the hot pots.

You should always keep oven mitts or heat proof gloves nearby while doing this hack, in case the pots need to be dismantled or moved at short notice.

The pots heat up very quickly and will be too hot to handle with bare hands.

Never leave the candles burning unattended and you must place the DIY heater on a flame retardant surface and away from anything that could easily catch alight.

You can find a tutorial on how to make one HERE.

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