How to Make a Clay Pot Heater and Will It Work?

If you were living in Kentucky back in the winter of 2009, you likely start to shiver any time someone mentions the words "ice storm." It was winter's version of Armageddon. Countless Kentuckians lost power for days, weeks at a time.

I remember being without power for six consecutive days and it was freezing in my house. I lived in a three-story apartment at the time- in a home in Owensboro's J.Z. Moore Historic District. The only heat I had, thanks to my gas-powered hot water heater, was the hot water. To get warm at night, I had to shut the bathroom door, light a dozen candles, run the hot water and soak in it as long as would stay warm. Given the fact that the interior of my house fell down to 42 degrees, that water didn't stay hot long. Neither did I or the dogs. We were miserable as were so many other people around the state.

If only I had known then what I just learned about this week. Did you know that you can turn a terra cotta pot into a heater? My friend Belinda Abell shared a ranom FB meme that claimed that "One clay flower pot and a candle will provide heat for one room if you're without power."

Wait!! What?? Is that true? I knew there was only one place to look and be sure- YouTube. Lo and behold, it looks like this actually works. You can take a terra cotta pot, get some candles and turn that flower pot into an "emergency heater".

Here's how you do it!

As you can see in Phil's experiment, the pot got hot. It started out at 66 degrees Fahrenheit but topped out somewhere close to 160 degrees. That was warm enough to heat the small room from 64.6 degrees to 67 degrees. Granted, it was only a couple of degrees difference, but the pot was undoubtedly generating some enough warmth to heat the space.

That sentiment is echoed by another YouTuber who ran a similar experiment.

Jolita says you have to be realistic about your expectations, but the pot does work and will heat your room about two to three degrees.

So, while I am not looking forward to another ice storm, I do know there's a way to at least generate some heat if I ever find myself laying in my kitchen floor again- staring up at the light and wondering if my electricity and heat are ever going to come back on.