The Woodsman's Journal Online: Emergency Shelter, Part Four

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So you’ve decided to stay where you are, immediately seeking shelter and making do with the available terrain. You found a windbreak to huddle behind and pulled a trash bag out, ripped a face hole and tugged down around you. How could you make your emergency shelter even better? With a tea candle of course!

The heat from a candle flame can be used to warm your body by allowing the exhaust gases from the burning candle to flow under a shirt, poncho or trash-bag pulled out and away from your body, a technique discovered originally by cold miners, and later nicknamed by cavers the “Palmer furnace”, after Dr. Jonathan Palmer, who advocated its use (for more on Palmer Furnaces read It’s Time to Tune Up Your Palmer Furnace!©). According to Genevieve, the author of “A Month of Wilderness Medicine”, within minutes of lighting her candle, the palmer furnace had her “nice and toasty in the 55 degree cave”.

According to scientists affiliated with Cambridge University, 8 grams of petroleum-based wax creates about 80 watts of energy, of which 95% is heat. In other words, since the average tea candle is about 17 grams of wax, it will generate about 170 watts of energy over four hours, the length of time a tea candle burns, of which 161.5 watts will be heat energy.

According to research by the Cornish Scent Company and Sylvane Inc., one tea candle can heat about 16 square feet or 1.5 square meters¹. Since a person sitting in a fetal or tucked position, while holding their knees, takes up a footprint of 1-½ to 2 feet wide by 2 feet deep, occupying roughly 3 to 4 square feet of space, this a metric footprint of 45 to 60 cm wide by 60 cm deep, or 91 to 121 cm squared. This means that a single tea candle can provide enough heat to help prevent hypothermia in a small, enclosed space like the cab of a stuck vehicle, a small tent or a trash-bag shelter!

So even though, according to the US Airforce Survival experts, making do with the available terrain was the worst choice, if you create a palmer furnace out of a trash-bag and a tea-candle, you might survive the storm.

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource! To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE. Thank you and Happy Trails!

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE. Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site. I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, so watch for me.

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

Sources

Genevieve; “A Month of Wilderness Medicine”, October 18, 2018, [© Copyright 1995-2026 Regents of the University of Michigan], https://medschool.umich.edu/dose-reality/month-wilderness-medicine, accessed May 2, 2026

Midnight Sun Council; “Extreme Scouting”, Scouting Nov-Dec 2008, page 32, https://books.google.com/books?id=4vwDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA32&dq=%22at+another+station,+scouts+learned%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjBwb6ZxpuUAxU3UGcHHf6wNiAQ6AF6BAgGEAM#v=onepage&q=%22at%20another%20station%2C%20scouts%20learned%22&f=false, accessed May 2, 2026

Pearl; “Pearl’s Cold Climate Survival Candle”, United States Army Aviation Digest, Volume 18, October 1972, page 40, https://books.google.com/books?id=fX_PMHbuxfQC&pg=RA8-PA40&dq=shelter+candle+heat&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjhh-Cy28aJAxXohIkEHZPnFAI4ChDoAXoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=shelter%20candle%20heat&f=false, accessed May 2, 2026

The Cornish Scent Company; “Can you heat a room with a candle!”, February 2, 2023, https://www.thecornishscentcompany.com/blogs/news/can-you-heat-a-room-with-a-candle?srsltid=AfmBOoov2GdSouuB3oJa9vTWNU7N41Cd8EUll6kjqH8YNerRzaYVk5Ux, accessed May 2, 2026

U.S. Department of The Army; Guide For Platoon Sergeant, PAM 350-13, [Headquarters, Dept of the Army, August 1967], page 87, https://books.google.com/books?id=0h25AAAAIAAJ&pg=PP7&dq=pam+350-13&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi9u9if5dCJAxUgpIkEHbwEJcUQ6AF6BAgMEAI#v=onepage&q=pam%20350-13&f=false, accessed May 2, 2026