How To Make a Coffee Can Heater

Posted on April 22nd, 2009 by Jodi and Julie

DON’T FORGET TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO ENTER OUR WONDERMILL GIVEAWAY. HEAD OVER TO OUR NETWORK BLOG FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO ENTER!

As part of our Emergency Preparedness Plan we include a list of items to include in a “Car Kit”. This is a kit that you keep in your car with useful items in case you have a road-side emergency. One of the items we recommend is a “coffee can heater” and we have had quite a few people ask us for clarification on what that is, so here is the answer will full instructions of course :)

How to Make a Coffee Can Heater – Video

How to Make a Coffee Can Heater – Instructions

  • Step 1: Clean out an old coffee can (if you don’t drink coffee, any large can will do … just make sure it has a lid!)
  • Step 2: Remove the cardboard center from a roll of toilet paper
  • Step 3: Stuff the roll of toilet paper into the can and place the lid on
  • Step 4: Insert the can, one package of matches, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol into a larger container or bucket (extra rolls of toilet and bottles of alcohol can be handy as well)
  • Step 5: Place the larger container into the trunk of your car

How To Use Your Heater: If you need to use the heater to warm your hands or provide a little heat in the car, simply pour the alcohol over the toilet paper until it is well saturated (but not so there is alcohol sitting in the bottom of the can). Then light the toilet paper on fire. It will act as a wick and should provide heat for quite a while. You can also smother the fire and replace the lid when the can has cooled down and save it for later use

coffee_can_heater

UPDATED TO ADD: To answer some of the comments below, I did some tests on actually USING the heater and here are my remarks. I thought that cocoa can WAS metal but apparently it’s just got a metal lining. Yes you should use a metal can! I tried this indoors and the fumes weren’t bad, I would probably crack a window or door in a car though. Also, this can gets HOT so you can’t just hold it on your lap or in your hands. Have something prepared to set it on. But it produced a great amount of heat. I could only hold my hands about a foot above the can without it being too hot. Also, when you go to light it, just throw the match in. I tried to set it straight on the toilet paper and burnt myself and screamed and threw the match, thus scaring my children and causing a safety hazard. Now you know everything I do ;)


Technorati Tags: car kit, coffee can heater, disaster kit, Emergency Preparedness, food storage, gencmergency heater, hand warmer

Filed under: Car Kits, Getting Started

« FUN WITH FOOD STORAGE…EXCITING NEWS! Food Storage Shelf Life »
  • kimmyjling
    I'm just putting together my coffee can heater kit, and had a thought. Can flannel fabric be used in place of the toilet paper? I sew cloth diapers and have a ton of flannel scraps which could come in great use here. What do you all think??
  • I'm not finished read this yet, but it's so fabulous 'n I'll back again when I was finished my job :D
  • pukwudjivc
    What we used to do as a kid (was a school project) is use a tuna can and a cofee can. We'd cut a one inch strip of cardboard and roll it up so it fit inside the tuna can. Melt some parafin wax and dump into the tuna can with the cardboard. This makes a nice little candle.
    Next we would cut a small slot out of the side of the cofee can which was a few inches wide. The slot is cut out of the open end of the can. Then you turn the cofee can over so the open end with the slot is sitting on the ground. Add a small vent in the top of the can for the gases to escape so the candle stays lit and you have a nice little hot plate. I hope you can picture this from my description, but basically you are using the bottom of the cofee can as your cooking surface. The candle can be lit and then slides under the cofee pot through the slot you cut.

    We called these hobo stoves.
  • kdonat
    There are two types of rubbing alcohol, 70% and 91%. The 91% alcohol burns cleanest. Using a can as small as a tuna or catfood can works well for your 72 hour or car kits. Use cotton balls soaked in alcohol, cooking oil, or vaseline as the fuel and wick. Just make sure there's a hot pad or heat resistant surface on which you set the can. A piece of tinfoil can be wrapped around and over the can for storage, then be used to snuff the flame if needed. Also, a birthday candle gives off a good bit of heat (especially the kind that you can't blow out), several can be stored in a recycled pill bottle or film canister, and carried in a personal/car/or 72 hour kit. They also are good fire starters when camping or using other fuel sources out of doors .
  • Thanks for the great tips!
  • moana
    You can use a new quart sized paint can. You don't ever have to replace the toilet paper just add more alcohol. That way the lid is metal and you just put the lid on to stop the flame, or put it on part way for a smaller flame. It can be used in the car but crack the window just a little bit. It is safe. I tape matches to the outside of the can. You can also tape a penny to the top to help open the can when you need it.
  • Jodi -- Food Storage Made Easy
    Thanks for the tips! Julie's sister also used a paint can. I was just trying to find something I had handy around my house. I will have to look for a better container for my own kit!
  • ctdaffodil
    I'm confused - the big swiss moss containers on the east coast are foil lined cardboard....do they ship them diffferently for the other side of the country?
    If you need a coffee can - as your neighbors - We do drink coffee so I've never had to worry....
  • Jodi -- Food Storage Made Easy
    Ours are foil-lined cardboard too. I didn't realize it until after I had made the video. I did try to update the post to reflect the fact that you MUST use a metal container. Thanks for the heads up ;) It was late at night while I was making it so I have a little bit of an excuse. lol.
  • sarahdanette
    Here's the link for the Heat Cells http://www.shelfreliance.com/product/view/p182.
    Turns out it lasts 10 hours!
  • sarahdanette
    I just bought a bunch of Heat Cells (from shelfreliance.com for about $3 a piece, cheap!), which are little cans of fuel that you can burn for heat or to cook food. Each can will last up to 8 hours and is PERFECTLY SAFE to use INDOORS or inside a car (its an ecofuel that is odorless, non-toxic, and 100% biodegradable)! I think the coffee cans would be a safety hazard, and could eventually kill you, if in an enclosed space. It's very small and easy to store, I haven't checked to see if it's safe to keep in the car, but it's non-flammable, so I think it's probably ok.
  • Great Idea!!!! I love it! Nice idea to improvise a stove too.
    This reminded me of my passed grandmother. She was very catholic and did the rosary every single day. To do it. She lighted her candle. What's so funny about it? Well, her candles were not the usual wax candles!

    She put a metal lid up side down. Put a cotton ball in the center. Spilled some vegetable oil over it. Made a peak in the top and then lighted it! I guess that's how they made it back in her times. I never got to ask her about it. Now that I think of it is brilliant but back then, did I cared about it! Nah! Shame on me!
  • gaby
    or probably we can only use half of the toilet paper so we can have a moderation flame don't you think? if we have to use it inside the car so it will be not dangerous !! and the flame or fire it will not go very high.
    just a thought!!!
    sorry for all the many comments Im just thinking at loud!!! LOL
    any way!!!
    what do you think girls?
  • gaby
    and actually if you have little kids like my Im a little concern to just have the alcohol in the car because sometimes my kids are playing there what am going to do is I'll put the bottle inside a vacuum sealer bag and seal it. so it can be safe for my kids , and when I need to use just open the bag and ready.

    I think these my be interest for some one.
    have a great day!!!
  • gaby
    thank you well then Im excited I'll put these on my car and probably we should add a kitchen cloth to hold it if we want to move it. and I'm sorry I don't know how you call it in english but the ones that we use to put hot pans on the table so we can put there a #10 can (form cannery) on the top and star the fire any way Im excited to give it a try.
    thanks girls!!!!
  • Jodi -- Food Storage Made Easy
    I answered some of the questions in my update above! Shame on me for not actually USING it before posting this ;)
  • gaby
    well i have the same question does is safe to use indoor?
    because it's a really good idea, even you can use it too cook or warm things you just put on the top a small cooled rack for cookies and there you go
    \but I want to know if these is safe

    thanks!! excellent idea !!! I love it.
  • Janae
    wondering if it needs to be an all metal can? I'm thinking that the cocoa can you show is cardboard and might not hold the flame?
  • Amy
    How easy to do! Here's a question. I'm guessing it's obvious (or is it?) that a person would want to burn this outdoors, but what if the weather conditions were horrid? Would a person become sickened by the fumes if the coffee can heater were burned inside an enclosed space? Does anyone know? Thanks!
  • Sandra
    Would that actually be safe to user IN a car? Seems dangerous to use unless your outdoors?

    Very inventive though! :-)
  • While burning any carbon-containing compound (in this case isopropyl alcohol) in an area with reduced oxygen can produce carbon monoxide, rubbing alcohol is still relatively safe to burn indoors. In a car, you'll want to be sure to crack the window a bit so as not to deplete all the oxygen as well as to create some good air circulation.
blog comments powered by Disqus

Please note: we reserve the right to modify or delete any comment that is inappropriate, promotional in nature, or offensive. Please be considerate in your remarks.