Always make sure you have adequate ventilation when using any type of emergency heating or light options for your van or car. Cracking open the windows is needed for cross ventilation as well as using your roof vent and/or a fan. Never go sleep without making sure that any emergency candles have been put out.

If you are worried about the container burning then you can find deep cooking containers at thrift stores to put the Crisco in. A deep casserole or baking dish would work well. So would a small crock pot. They take heat, with no problems, and often have lids.

Great video on this and spot on. Couple things to add. You can also cook/boil water with Crisco candles, if you want or need to cook. Just need to set a pan or kettle above the flame. 2 or 3 candle flames work better for cooking or boiling water. For heat, you can set a pot of sand (yes, sand) above the flame. Once hot, the pot of sand will radiate heat for several hours. The bigger the pot (more sand) the longer it will radiate heat. Aim a little USB fan above the pot of sand and it'll blow heat directly on you for a few hours after the Crisco candle is extinguished. Seems safer to have hot sand radiating heat as you sleep than having an open flame burning unattended. The sand can also be heated with a camp stove, FWIW. Anyway, just food for thought. Happy trails.

Put the Crisco in babyfood jars and use birthday candles as wicks. Arrange four of them in a bread pan under a small terra-cotta pot. Put a piece of metal over the hole in the small pot. Then cover with a larger terra-cotta pot over the top. The small pot heats the air between it and the larger pot, then the heat comes out of the hole in the larger pot. Much better heat retainment by covering the hole in the smaller pot.

Nothing's warmer than wrapping up with a hound dog and a few blankets.

This is what I did. You could do it on a larger level but I got a smaller canister of Crisco and I put it in a paint can and I got a an oil can opener and punched holes near the bottom of the can and around the top of the can while putting the lid on top of the paint can. It is metal. The heat is trapped from going straight up and it comes out the top of the sides of the paint. Can. I started out with tea lights that were longer burning but the Crisco method lasts much longer

I’d like more people to comment about the odor and the possibility of greasy soot??? I had used my large Dutch oven on a stand over a can of sterno. Sterno doesn’t seem to have any odor at all to it as you burn it. I fill my Dutch oven with marble chips that you can buy in garden centers. Before I went to sleep, I put sternal flame out. And the cast iron Dutch oven with marble chips, acts as a heat battery giving off more heat after the flame is out. Right now I’m camping where I have an electric line coming in in and a small electric ceramic heater. (It was 6° for several nights last week. I slept in my clothes those nights. - i’m leaving for South Florida in a few days, so I’m not too worried about keeping warm. . But I was younger. I camped a little more remotely so the Dutch oven heat battery really worked well. Any kind of open flame I always extinguish before I go to sleep. I can see this Crisco candle thing working in an emergency, but I wouldn’t want to have the smell of Crisco in my van regularly. God bless the nomads, especially when it gets cold.

Hi Bob🖖 I work security overnight in Los Angeles. The job is outdoors and I use my vehicle a 1998 Ford Windstar . In the winter I have been using small Candles 2-4. In a foil lined brownie pan covered with a clay flower pot. It makes a huge difference! I am a lot more comfortable and I don’t need to waste gas to run heat all night.I have a center console and set my “ heater” on the opened up console. Thanks for all the info, time and effort! I’ve also got your paperback . Going to dabble with solar next. Wish me luck 😊

I believe I may test this idea, but, I will probably buy a couple of restaurant sized cans of fruit, empty the fruit and transfer the crisco to them. I'm uncomfortable with a plastic or cardboard encased candle. Interesting idea!

Sabbath wicks that float on olive oil or melting Crisco are available on amazon and will save you a fortune. as a fellow Alaskan...put an inch of water in a bowl, float Crisco on top, light wick....and you have Russian orthodox bush Alaska heat and light

My advice to everyone is always to go as lowtec as possible. I went throught -10f winters, stealth van living, with no heat. I ended up with about 6 cheap walmart comforters. They were ice cold when I got into bed, but once warmed up, kept me warm on the coldest of nights. Plus your body adapts to the extreme temps....

Terrific use of Crisco! Whatever you do, don’t fry in it. Use butter and bacon fat instead; it’s better for you.

81 hours with 3 candles in it is impressive. Thanks for doing these experiments for the community!

Bob you should warn your people that with the corning ware the flame can't touch the glass. If u don't heat the glass evenly it can explode. If the wick stays in the middle there shouldn't be a problem, but if it touches the glass to long, boom. I know this because my husband blew up my pie pans because the tea kettle was touching one when he was making coffee! Pumpkin pie and glass everywhere 🥺

A little backstory about Crisco, as relayed to me by a trusted source. Turn of the century, early 1900's, a German chemist/ scientist developed the product as a smokeless lubricant for submarines. Proctor and Gamble in the US later picked up the recipe and started marketing it as "shortening" a baking product. It didn't catch on right away because its fierce competitor was lard, a tried and trusted product. However, marketing and advertising finally won Crisco a place in the homes of housewives. I personally recommend burning it rather than using it as a food product.

Originally Crisco was marketed for candle making. As more and more homes and businesses went electric there was no need for candles. If you look at the "I' in Crisco it's a candle. I was a cafeteria lady for 20 years. I have in my garage some of the one gallon commercial sized food cans. I thought I would transfer leftover shortening into those. You might ask a local restaurant or school if you could get them to save you some or just go dumpster diving. I was also thinking if I couldn't use a 14 oz food can (aka corn, peas, green beans) for spacers to put my terracotta pot on. I also thought I could use my crock pot liner in stead of a terracotta pot. It's heavier and would not be as easily broken as a terracotta pot.

How do you deal with the soot accumulation over the long haul? Wax, shortening, animal fat type products do not burn clean. Yellow flame testifies to that fact. For an emergency, yes, use anything that works to help survive the event. However for non-emergency long term usage does have side effects. Soot isn't easy to clean off walls & ceilings. Neither is breathing it for any material length of time very healthy either. Burning any of the products mentioned in quantity can set off smoke detectors. Don't ask me how I know! Great advice for emergency situations. Thank you for sharing the how-to.

A 9×13 inch cake pan with several birthday candles would be super toasty!

I don't recommend those terra cotta or clay pots to absorb the heat. They can trap moisture and then if they get too hot the steam can build up pressure until the material explodes for it to escape. Use things made of soapstone instead - it's a safe material for this purpose and in fact was used in the "old days" for bed warmers and such. Although they take a while to heat up, they are just as stubborn in retaining the heat. In fact, I've been toying with the idea of making a safe way to hold "bricks" of soapstone that I can place in a campfire or fireplace to heat up over a few hours and then pick up with tongs and "drop" into holders to radiate heat all night as I sleep.

Thanks for doing this for us, Bob. These Comments and Replies are loaded with useful information and good ideas, so thank you Everybody! Woot, woot!!

Don't forget you can always shrink down the space you are trying to heat. Tack up blankets, tape up plastic sheeting, or whatever to partition off the minimal area you need. Just remember to ventilate for fresh oxygen and it never hurts to have a CO detector.

Bob, if I was parked somewhere, I'd do this during say, late afternoon and evening, then I'd put out the candles when I went to bed and let the terra cotta pots give off the heat at night. I lived in an old SUV for 2 years on Vancouver Island and I nevee bothered with heat from any source even when it snowed. I dressed warm and slept with my winter coat and boots on. I had a thick sleeping bag and a wool blanket and I was fine.

Oil lamps have been around for centuries, some of the best oil lamps (open flame) have a tapered base, small at the bottom, larger at the top, and the wick sits in the middle, the volume of oil is greater at the top than the bottom and this allows you to leave the candle for longer amount of time as the oil level drops, with no fear of fire.

Heat , light and can cook with this. During her during a hurricane when the electricity was out for 4 days I had to depend on a three-wick candle to cook food I had a small metal rack from my toaster oven and I set it up over the candle securely and cook hot dogs and beans it did take about 15 minutes for it to cook but I appreciated and enjoyed those hot dogs and beans so much. No it was nice to have coffee in the morning and I could scramble eggs too. I still have that candle and whenever I see one I buy it. I guess I could make my own also but I like the idea of Crisco being an option burning 72 hours

Candle wicks in extra virgin olive oil is what they use in menorahs/hannikias. They also sell long burning candles in the kosher section of grocery stores for shabot/sabbath . More expensive than crisco but better smell & take up less room.

I remember using candles to heat a small efficiency years ago downin Georgia ..it actually snowed that year it got so cold. It worked to it would get the room.bareable within about 40 minutes! Candles put off alotmore heat than you would think..i used like 3 candles in a10 x 10 room.

Heat may be a problem in a vehicle, but light isn't. Get yourself a Fenix E12 flashlight, which runs on a single AA battery. Battery life is nothing short of incredible. I tested mine with an Amazon brand green rechargeable AA (the eneloop clone) on low mode, and ran the light continuously to see how long it would last. After 80 hours, I finally got bored checking on it and turned it off. Fantastic. If you had just two AA rechargeable batteries you could run that setup indefinitely and it would probably cost you 40 cents/year.

I bought a much larger can of Crisco at a garage sale that was 5 years outdated years ago for $1.00. I also bought 5 tapered candles at a Thrift store for $1.00. They need not be white, nor perfect!

I saved several #3 tin cans and poured the Crisco in them with two wicks. They are very efficient and the size of the can is not prone to tipping. They work well with the medium clay flower pot. I used tuna cans upside down to hold up the flower pots. I set the whole thing on hot pot protectors from the dollar store. A couple of these really helped heat the bathroom.

When I lived in ND we always carried emergency candles made from either paraffin or beeswax, sleeping bag(s), and food (pemmican bars) when traveling in the winter. For the candles we’d make our own using either canning or baby food jars with holes poked in the lids to reduce the risk of an open flame.

This is valuable information for everyone, including house dwellers. During the winter you never know when the power will cut out or how long it will be out. This in a small space could make a world of difference.

Just put the shortening in a few canning jars or thrift store small sauce pans. It would be wise to place the candles on a fireproof tile, sheet pan, etc.

Ventilation is extremely important. This is going to produce fumes and moisture, neither of which is good in a small space like a car. The kind of cross ventilation required to make this “safe” will negate most of the benefit. Instead, get a couple of Walmart synthetic sleeping bags (NOT down bags), nest them inside each other and hunker down until the worst of the cold is passed. Then move thyself to a warmer climate!

Flower pot are not fired to a high temperature and may have voids in them that makes them shatter with high heat. I would suggest that for a least the 1st time that they are heated outside so if it does shatter it is away from combustible items. I still have scars from making a camper stove from rocks that shattered and landed on me and started my sleeping bag on fire. The pieces can be very hot and fly quite far.

Just last night I put a cast iron pan on top of my camping burner on low flame and it raised the temp in my ext Chevy express from 45 to 56. It also lowered the humidity inside by more then 10%. Next I’ll try the can of crisco the candles and the cast iron pan.

I have an off grid trailer and I use the exact same thing to heat just a bathroom and it makes so much difference. I have gotten so many great Tips from your channel you really make a difference in people's lives honestly thank you

Keep in mind this is emergency only. If this becomes a habit, the greasy and sooty compounds will go somewhere and that is all surfaces of your RV.

Added value: For just a little bit more money, you can buy a pack (usually 3 to 5) of oil lamp replacement wicks to use instead of the candles. They provide a wider flame, and may only require one or two per-container for the same amount of thermal units. Of course, that depends on how you're dividing your fuel. There are as many sizes of wicks, as there are of lanterns. I, personally, would divide the large canister of flammable grease into smaller metal/glass canisters, and use the smaller, broader wicks. Pro tip: If you're going to use clay pots for containment of radiant heat ... good on ya! However, you should keep those parts (the clay pots) of the "heater" very dry. If they get wet, they might explode when heated up rapidly. I say this because the average person might not know. I live in the PNW, where people *can* freeze to death, and I do keep clay pots for heating without planting things in them, because that would make them wet. We just plant things in pots that we wouldn't put over heat ... because it might explode. Maybe *one* full sized lantern wick, per can o'Crisco, could do that same job better ... or as well? Holler at me, if you figure it out.

Get a # 10 size restaurant metal can which is pretty easy to come by, warm up the lard until it will slide out of the plastic tub. Dump the lard into the # 10 can and it is dual purpose. The metal can will get hot and you can put the flower pot over it or something else. Use a little ingenuity. Watch some of the bush-craft/survival videos on KZfaq. This idea will work but is Raton Micky, you can make something sturdier and will last longer.

We used lard from our hogs rendered out from fat and the skin that we used for cooking on our wood cook stove for candles during power outages back in the 1950s we used braided cloth as a wick worked great

I buy freeze dried food. A #10 can and heated crisco would pour into a #10 easily then you wouldn't need to cut the plastic can as it burns. I'm going to give it a try. Great idea by the way!

When a clay pot is heated with a candle it diffuses highly polluted fine dust. I used to use this mthod until I read the tests. Now I use other thermal matter like big rocks, tiles and concrete bricks (with the candles) to heat my room. It doesn't work as well as the clay pot, but I don't want to ruin my lungs this way.

Two-and-a-half years i was living in my van I made myself a terracotta heater I got lot of compliments on it cuz it was really pretty the way I made it I purchased all my supplies from the hardware store. I use 1 votive candle which I purchased from the Dollar store. it kept me warm all night I blew it out during the day. opening all my curtains during the day to let the sun in and warm up the van. so 1 votive candle last me two nights. Of course cooking breakfast, lunch and Dinner using my butane stove kept the van warm. I remain homeless for four years. I now live in an apartment but I still use my terracotta heater to heat my bedroom. I still adopt some of nomadic lifestyle ☺️. But I have to say using this Crisco is a much better and cheaper candle.

Finally, someone has found a good use for Crisco!

Microwaved the Crisco and scooped into mason jars. Stuff a long candle into the middle. All good, all safe. Great idea.

With the power outages especially in Buffalo this could have been the difference between life & death!

You can pickup a new and empty 1-qt. Or 1-gal paint can at your local DIY store, and while you are there you can purchase a single ceramic floor tile for a heat barrier so that you can safely use your candle on either plastic or wooden table. Both are just a few dollars

Thank you for this Video. It is a very good idea as an emergency heater in a house. The only problem I see with open flames in a car, many People may burn themselves or even the car with something like that. When I was homeless and lived in my pick up truck for 5 years, I NEVER turned on any type of heaters...I parked my truck out of the wind with the back end towards the wind, and at night I had two pair of sweatpants+shirts on and two pair of Socks. I also covered up with two blankets and I had three dogs and one cat that also kept me warm. I grew up at a latitude of Montreal, Canada, but in Germany. So I am used to cold temperatures. I also had a half gallon water jug that I stuck under the covers, to keep it from freezing, for my coffee water and my pets water dish.

Bed curtains were popular ages ago to help with heat. I use a pressure rod with a shower curtain on the stairs to help keep hear from rising. This may work in some vehicles/vans to make your sleeping area warmer.

A 1 gallon paInt can with the lid would work too then you can extinguish and store.

Hi Bob I used this method recently in my mini van when the temperature went down to 7 degrees in Pennsylvania for 2 days. I have plenty of cover but wanted to heat the van a little and it worked really well I used 2 and when I got up the van was warm enough to knock the chill off and create enough warmth that I didnt have to start the van.

i have been using this in my home my bedroom gets a bit cold in winter. I use a carriage bolt run down the hole on the bottom of a large pot, add a nut to secure it, then added another medium pot inside the big one then another nut to secure that one in place then i added a 3rd smaller pot an nut to secure in place, then a tin can I cut a hole in the center on the bottom to slide on the bolt and a nut to secure and to collect the heat from the candles or whatever i choose to burn. I made several of them for my home and family about 8 years ago, i mostly use one in my bedroom in the winter it doesn't get to hot yet keeps the chill away while i sleep. they are amazing heaters, I've used a tuna can with veggie oil and a cotton ball they burn a while and you can safely add more oil as it burns it up. i have a slate tile i picked up at home depot to cover a night stand I place it on. so you know the size of room it's approx 12' x10' ceiling to floor about 7 1/2' you may like it warmer so 2 should make it comfortable depending how well insulated the space is. just doing this i save on my electric in the winter costing me pennies in comparison. i stopped using our central heater and use oil filled heaters, 200$ a month is better than 600$ a month. I'm not in a van or rv but this would be reasonable for travelers. it can be scaled to the size you need or make several still cheaper in the long run. you can reuse cooking oil here's a video on how to do that. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kMCXacua19GdomQ.html to use oil use a medal can or paint can and rolled up corrugated card board cut just below the top of the can with the holes in the card board up so you can drizzle the oil down the holes they light it. if you get a can with a tight fitting lid it's easier to store. can also use wax in this the card board acts as the wick. just wanted to add what I've learned from using this type of heater. Thanks for sharing this with other they are wonderful little things and cost effective too :) ♥much love♥ oh and i use 4 candles.

Bob’s BEST heating method was that single-burner Coleman with a 1LB bottle of propane, surrounded by a wind shield and topped with tin foil! For myself, I use a small Dutch oven (Griswold #7) on a propane burner, with an interior grate to cook a couple big sweet potatoes. My van gets VERY warm by the time those potatoes are ready-to-eat! (In about 45 minutes.) TIPS: First - burn off any cooking/priming residue on your Dutch oven OUTSIDE over a HOT flame until the pan is ‘dry’. You don’t want any of that smoke in your vehicle. SECOND - cast iron will direct heat downward, so make sure of air circulation underneath your stove along with some metal flashing or ceramic tile. THIRD - a three-sided metal camping wind shield with a ‘little roof’ diverts more heat outwards instead of upwards. NOTE: your cast iron pot must be free of any commercial coatings - it must be ONLY cast iron metal. OK - Put the Dutch oven on your stove with the flame on high for 10 minutes, then place the potatoes on the grate and turn the flame down to low. Cook for about 30 minutes. Economical, heat producing, and one has supper too.

Heat rises so I think insulating your roof would help a lot in keeping your rig warmer no matter what you are using for a heat source

Also put the crisco can in a barbecue grill or in a small wood burning stove or a converted small RV oven for a broader base for the Crisco candle.

Bob this video sure would come in handy for emergencies when you’re stuck in your car truck/vehicle and you don’t want to freeze to death like so many people had happened already this year. Excellent video and something we should consider during the winter months just in case we get stuck. I bought some shortening, hoping to use it like an old-fashioned pie crust but now I see even a better way to keep it for this type of emergency situation. Love your videos keep up the good work you and your team Bob.👍

Great tips for survival Bob, I would have never thought of using Crisco shortening.

Although it would be more expensive but is awesome to use as a candle and on yourself is coconut oil! Add a few drops of water essential oils and it’s awesome!

I really love how you make it all so simple. It takes the fear of living differently

I used a generator to boil water & put in big plastic bottles then put in my van & stayed warm all night safely ! It was still warm in the morning so I took a shower with it 🥰👍 what do you think about that approach ?

I have used the Terracotta heater in a canvas tent in a Minnesota winter for a week. outside temps were 30 degrees, We kept the shelter at 50 with candle heat.

I have empty LARGE vegetable cans with their lids bought at Sams Club that I have used the veggies. If you place a Crisco container in one of those I think that could be an added safety measure. Placing the lid on top AFTER the flame has been extinguished might help with protecting the container and spilling/dropping things into the Crisco.

The use of the terracotta pots improves the efficiency of the heat source. Without it the heat all rises up to your ceiling. The pot heats up as a heat sink. Then the heat is radiated out as infrared range light which is absorbed by you and any other objects.

I use a smaller version of Crisco can with 1 Shabbat candle in the center. Works very well and last for a long time. You can usually find Shabbat candles (short and fat) in a pack of 5 at your grocery store. Perfect height for a smaller can of Crisco.

great film watching from Cornwall UK

I would put the Crisco in a metal container and use the metal container over and over. The burning plastic of the Crisco container will smoke and give off toxic fumes. It is cheaper than buying propane canisters. Good idea!

I'd take the shortening out of its plastic container when new, ans slip it into a new metal 1 gal. paint can from the home improvement store which will also come with a handle and a metal lid you can use to extinguish the flame when you don't need the heat.

I use the clay pots and saucers to help heat my bedroom at home. One hint that works well with them and allows air to get under the pot is to use paper clips on two or three sides of the rim of the pot, leaving a nice air flow to keep candle burning. Another tip in using tea lights is to put foil under the tea lights to reflect the light better and heats much better. I enjoy trying simple things that do not cost much and enhance a simple life!!

Good ideal. Have u tried the toilet paper in a can with alachol .you pour alachol over the paper after you take the roll thingy out and light it .

TIP: You can buy wicks in 100 count for very cheap and push them down into the Crisco to the bottom and still have the wick poke out the top! I bought 28 cans of Crisco, (I'm a prepper), and 100 wicks for emergencies/SHTF situation.

I love your beautiful heart Mr. Wells. ♥️♥️🙏🏻

I make a heating pad or bed warmer/foot warmer by dumping 1-2 boxes of salt into a low temp skillet and after heating dry salt, dump the warm/hot, clean, dry salt into a single pillow case & tie. Put it at the foot of your bed or in any area of your body you would apply a heating pad. You can use the same salt over & over.

Also, shortening/lard/crisco is great in survival situations as simple calories as well. I mean, you probably wouldn't want to be eating straight fat as that would probably be a mess on your digestive tract, but it would work well as a calorie add on if you are limited on food.

I just discovered this gentleman's videos. I'm learning alot about this .

This might be an interesting experiment. Buy $6 Worth of propane. Burn it at the same rate of heat as 3 candles, Which would be about the lowest setting on a small stove. Then compare the time and the difference on how much fuel is used, Then you would have the actual cost difference. It would be interesting to know.

Wow. I contemplated this method during my test travel this past week, 20 degrees at night in FL (when the cold front moved south following me from Ohio). I hated to start the minivan, but it was necessary. I will definitely prepare a few to use in the future. In my sailboat, the lanterns work well to take the chill off, although I would not leave kerosene burning overnight. Thanks again, Bob. FYI, so many Vanlifers I met during my quick tour soo appreciate your advice. :)

Have you ever looked to see how much soot is in Crisco. I haven't but it would be a good experiment I think.

If you want a larger flame try lantern wicks , ,3/8 can be found in sporting goods at Wall World or 1/2 in candle section , of course burn time would be shortened

I really found this very helpful. I am in England and we are expected to have outages soon. X

Maybe build a small heating system with some small bricks with tiles & heat the tiles with the crisco candles. After tiles are heated you can put out the candle & the heat retained in the tiles would continue for a while to heat your space.

Just remember, don't have all stuff piled on top of you...... Good bedding that you are on TOP of is SO important!!! Bin there, done that.... 🤣🤣🤣✌️🇨🇦

I would never burn that thing in the plastic package unless it was an emergency. Excellent video though, and great ideas

Just went through my first power outage after 1 year full time. 36°F outside but I was super comfy with my emergency candles and tea lights. You're so right! Those tea lights burn so fast! And the emergency candles are not cheap! Adding all these items to my next shopping list, and learning how to salvage all the wax to make new candles. Thanks for all your helpful information.

another source of heat you may have on hand is used cooking oil. You don't need deep frying amounts, just whatever is leftover from cooking. I kept the used oil in a metal soup can on my stove and when it fills up I put a candle wick in it and it burns for days. I am trying to dispose of the oil but it does produce some heat. A variation of these two methods would be to fill the bottom of a can with shortening to hold the candle upright and fill it the rest of the way with waste or fresh cooking oil. I don't know about biproducts or interactions so I don't recommend using any other oils eg lamp or motor. One of the big benefits of the shortening is that it hardens when cool so you don't have a spill hazard, which would be present with any sort of oil based lamp/heater.

I like this very much. In a no-heat emergency i would set up shop in my bathroom and stay warm with the clay pot setup. 😊

This is why I have an oil heater that looks like the old steam heaters. It heats up the oil and it stays warm longer than anything else. So with it staying warm longer it uses less electricity. Now that’s if you have electricity. Bob you will have to show me some tricks when I come out next year. I’m sure you can teach me some things to help me out. I am most likely coming out next September.

Some kids I babysat for showed me how to do this back in the early 70's. It's kind of fun actually.

living in Canada this is a fabulous idea which i will indeed try- and once it proved to be safe and efficient for my dodge grand caravan it will be, literally, a life saver! sometimes the highways have accidents and cause pile ups and up to six hours of sitting on the highway with NO WHERE TO GO...but sit. this is indeed a life saver. I have had emergency candles before but this is super slick! Today as I watched this I attained the Crisco- here in Canada 11.99 and bought candles from the Dollarama for 1.75 and will be experimenting with it on Saturday when sleeping in the van enroute to Hamilton, Ontario. such a wonderful video and fb posts- life saving and also economical since I have not got enough money to purchase a Jackery and also do not know what model I need for my electrical items. thanks so much. love your videos and that ambulance- How cool!

this is an excellent idea, thanks. I ruggedized the concept and got three 6 inch diameter 2 quart stainless steel dog water buckets w handles, one 5 pack of 8 inch diameter stainless steel dishes, and one 20 pack of smokless no drip tapered candles from Amazon for $60 to make 3 of these emergency heaters. turn the crisco upside down in the bucket and heat the 48 oz crisco containers w a hair dryer until the crisco slides into the bucket. then set 5 candles in the bucket. no worries about having to trim the crisco containers. the steel dishes sit 1-2 inches off of the top of the steel bucket to deflect the heat horizontally instead of letting it shoot straight up. the "legs" for the plate are 4 balls of aluminum foil formed to clip on the edge of the plate & the edge of the bucket. if the power goes out, these three 5 wick candles will keep the gf & I warm if we camp out in the smallest bedroom.

I've done this for year's. I like the butter flavored scent. Put foil around the ridge to increase the reflection of the heat and light. I've added scented candles also. U can fill jars and old candle holder's to place around the house. Don't put the candle so deep, about an inch above works fine. I actually have been buying case's to take to homeless encampments. Lard melts alot slower, as does beef suet. Settlers, native Americans and other's around the world have been using fat with a wick since the beginning of time.

I lit a couple candles during a storm anticipating a power outage I was board watching the candles burning and I wondered if I could cook an apple using empty large tuna cans it took two tea light candles to cook the apple it was putting out so much heat it was impressive and I got to eat the cooked apple 👍👍

If you build a tower of terra cotta pots, largest on the bottom over the candle, next size on top of that and et cetera, you get a nice chimney. More surface area to exude heat. Good for folks in a tent or who have some height to work with. The pots nest inside each other when it comes time to move.

This is THE best and easiest "Crisco" candle heater! ❤❤❤

Not an old wives tale. My grandparents used to do this. However, I appreciate this, and the idea of the bowl is excellent. Thank you Bob. Happy New Year!

That is Genius! Use a Candle fir a ready made Wick! Super simple!

I have watched your videos for a long time to lean more about being prepared in case of an emergency. I am not a nomad (though I would love to be, but family obligations keep me in a stationary dwelling), and find your preparedness videos very helpful. Love this one about using Crisco - or cheaper store brand - for heating. Thank you for taking time to do this; you are helping non-nomads, too. Greetings from the earthquake prone great Northwest.

Thanks Bob! This started with the ceramic pot but didn’t end that way, reason? I use an old burner grate for a stove top to provide ventilation to place the terra cotta pot over a midsize Crisco-candle, sitting on a small cookie sheet ~it works well. The burner grate can be used as a trivet, the terra cotta pot for colllecting whatever and the cookie sheet for baking.

I have to say, this is a very good explanatory video. I do thank you for your testing and lessons of your experiments. Bravo

cool idea...head over to a good will, sort of used item store and look for some cooking pot's that you could scoop the crisco out of the paper package into the cooking pot. You might think to hacksaw off the handle but it will give you a safe way to move molten crisco.

Very impressive experiment, Bob! I can see this saving lives during snowstorms when people get stuck in their vehicles. Again, another impressive and useful video, thank you Bob!