DIY Candle-Powered Fan Keeps You Cool at Home Using Fire

Staying cool in the summer heat sometimes feels like it takes all the energy in the world. But what about a fan using no-cost electrical energy? If you're looking to keep cool during a power outage, or if you don't want to break the bank by running your DIY air conditioner all day long, you can use candlelight to power a fan!

Household Hacker outlines the whole DIY process below.

What You'll Need

A lot of these items can be found in an old desktop computer you might have lying around. If not, these items can be found for cheap on the internet.

• Peltier cooler
• Thermal paste
• 2 heat sinks
• 4 screws
• Hobby motor
• Tea lights
• An old fan blade

How to Build It

Peltier coolers are used to generate electricity by using heat. This device will power the fan, but it can also work with a lightbulb, charge a cell phone, or do about anything that involves electricity.

1. Use thermal paste to connect the Peltier cooler to one of the heat sinks. The heat sinks prevent damage to the Peltier cooler, and also acts as a stand.

2. Put the four screws directly into the heat sink by each corner. This will give room to put the tea light underneath.

3. Push the positive and negative wires of the hobby motor through the second heat sink and secure the motor.

4. Attach the fan blade to the motor.

5. Attach the heat sink with the hobby motor and fan to the Peltier cooler using thermal paste.

6. Hook the wires together.

7. Place a tea light under the fan and watch it start on its own after it reaches 1 volt. If not, just give it a helping tap.

Ahhh, feel that breeze! You can also use this same fire-charging technique to power up your smartphone instead of power a fan, so check out Kipkay's video guide on that to see how it's done.