Tea candles, three bricks and two flowerpots are all that is required to build a DIY space heater. Photo: City Lady

A reporter warms her hands around a candle-powered heater. Photo: City Lady

A group of college classmates in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province have helped heat dorms across the country this winter after uploading a video showing how to make a candle-powered heater using only bricks and flower pots.

The DIY heater, made from only two flowerpots and several candles surrounded by a triangle of bricks, is capable of increasing room temperature up to 3C in 30 minutes, according to Jinan Daily's City Lady on December 9.

Based on the principle of convection heat transfer, the efficiency to the simple device is the positioning of the two flowerpots over the candles - one smaller pot is placed over the flame which is then covered by a larger one with a hole in the bottom.

Web users living in cities that are not covered by the country's central heating system, such as Hangzhou, are especially enthused by the contraption.

"It is about 10 C today in Hangzhou and we have no heater in our dorm. We can only wear thick clothes and wrap ourselves up to keep warm. We will try it tonight to see the effect," commented Ma Yufei, a postgrad student at Zhejiang University of Technology.

According a Daily Mail report, journalist Dylan Winter uploaded a video introducing the DIY heating system on YouTube this year, claiming he effectively and cheaply heats both his office and boat with the device.

"The self-made heater transfers heat through air convection," commented Meng Fanhua, a physics teacher at Jinan Licheng No.2 High School in Jinan, Shandong Province. Although effective, Meng warned the device is not entirely safe and should not be used in closed spaces.

City Lady