Candle Warmer as a mug warmer Review
Introduction Coffee mug warmers
After making a mistake on a smart tech purchase,
I quickly was brought up to speed on the topic of mug hot plate warmers
for keeping a beverage warm for an extended time.
After seeing what they look like from several examples.
With that in mind, I went to the thrift store and found something close enough in spirit to the mug warmer design. And that was a Candle Warmer, looks identical; how well does it work?
How Hot does the Candle Warmer keep the drink
First, we have a starting temp of 149˚F for both mugs of similar shape and size. Water was heated using an electric kettle to about 160˚F. Both mugs are not flat bottom on the contact surface, so there are only the rings around the edge in direct contact with the heating surface. So this is the worst case, and the way most mugs are made. If you have a true flat bottom mug, you can probably expect higher temperatures than what’s been displayed below, so your results will vary based on the mug used. If when I get such a mug, I will give it a try and see what the results are.
| Candle Warmer temperature ˚F | non heated temperature ˚F | minutes |
|---|---|---|
| 149 | 149 | 0 |
| 126 | 118 | 15 |
| 120 | 109 | 30 |
| 116 | 94 | 45 |
| 112 | 87 | 60 |
| 111 | 83 | 75 |
| 110 | 78 | 90 |
| 109 | 76 | 105 |
| 109 | 75 | 120 |
Other details that are important to this experiment. Starting room temperature was 68˚F Ending room temp 70˚F
I call this a success for me, and with the maintained temperature of around 110˚F. I find that to be a pleasant warm temperature for a beverage. So if my drink is around that long to get to this temperature, it works and more than meets my expectations.
Can it recover a cold drink? How long does it take?
If you have an already cold / room temperature drink, how well does this heat the drink back up.
This is the same plan of testing the temperature every 15 minutes until the temperature holds steady.
In this testing environment, it took 120 minutes to heat the drink back up to drinkable warm, which I also call a success, a long term one, not really practical, since 2 hours is a long time to wait for a warm drink, but that’s not too long in an 8-hour work day.
| Candle Warmer mug temperature ˚F | minutes |
|---|---|
| 73 | 0 |
| 89 | 15 |
| 96 | 30 |
| 102 | 45 |
| 106 | 60 |
| 108 | 75 |
| 109 | 90 |
| 110 | 105 |
| 111 | 120 |
| 111 | 135 |
Starting room temperature is 72˚F Ending room temperature is 73˚F
Conclusion
I call this a success, it works, keeps my drink a drinkable warm temperature, no matter how long it sits on the warmer. Also, it looks like there are saving to be had as well as buying a candle warmer over an equivalent coffee or beverage warmer plate. I saw a new candle warmer at BI-Mart for $6, which is a great deal, usually the coffee/ drink version can range in price from around $10 to over $20. So over double for a similar product. Another win for the educated buyer.