Maybe your electricity has gone off, maybe you want to save money on your power bill, or just something to talk about and keep you warm while you give your girlfriend a cuddle. These pot heaters may look weird, but i can tell you , they really do take the nip out of the air in a cold house. In other words, without making your house really warm, they will improve the temperature enough to make it comfortable enough to avoid the temptation to turn on the heater. Then again, you won't be chasing your girlfriend around in the nuddie on a cold night.
It's winter in the Southern hemisphere, so i thought i would post this now. For my friends in the North, keep this in mind until you want to try it.
Here's how it's done. Go and get some Terracotta clay pots. You can use any size, but my ones are the 11 inch and the 9 inch size. You get the different sizes because they nest inside each other nicely. The idea is both of the pots hold the heat better than one alone. You also need to buy 3 small terracotta saucers and an extra one to hold the tea light candles, so 4 saucers for each pot setup. Place the saucers in a triangle on the floor so that the pots can get ventilation for the candles to keep burning. There is very little fire risk from the candles, but i like to keep them on the tiles instead of the carpet.
I like to set up a lifting wire to save my back from bending over too far while lifting the pots off to light the new candles. A long nail below the holes of both pots does the job. If you can't stand the ugly wires, then you're young enough to bend over all the way and lift them up. Alternatively, you could put some extra effort in and make some nicer handles.
The photo above shows you the Tealight Candles, i use 2 per setup, but you can use 3. Use a slightly larger saucer and you can use more fpr more heat. They work out at about 10 to 15 cents for each candle. You can get them at most supermarkets. A close up of the nested pots, and you can see the nuts and bolts which i use to hold the pots together. Use washers so that the nuts and bolts don't slip through the holes when lifting up the pots. The nail is what is letting you lift the pots with the wire.
There is very little fire risk from the candles as long as they are in a saucer, and there is hardly any smoke. The candles will last for about 8 hours, and the pots take a good hour to heat up so they are hot to touch. They are not a new idea, but they work.