[Setting Lights] Practical Candle Burning - RealPagan- Paganism for the Real World

Quick question about wicks, i…

2013-06-26T01:41:14.908Z

Quick question about wicks, if it's okay here? I refill my novena candles with container palm wax, and I'm using wick from a spool that I bought at Hobby Lobby. It didn't really specify a size, but it is a flat braid wick. Primed it in wax, positioned it. Let my candle sit and cool for 24 hours before lighting, trimmed the wick, and the flame was still huge. It smoked for about 5 minutes and then no more smoking, and although the flame stayed huge, it is burning just fine, with no smoking and no problems whatsoever. Any reason why it would do that?

VLM said:

ah hah! :) So if you see what I said before about wicks, this really does point to the wicks being the wrong size, combined with a slight breeze, even something you couldn't perceive on your skin.

If it smokes, it's too large, if it drips, the wick is too small... This is to clarify my earlier statement.
Elise said:

I'm glad to hear that... I have to say that the end result was an incredible (and never seen before) mess of melted wax, all on the right side. Wax I intend to keep and make a sachet out of for Korb.

The leaning is going straight toward the South, by the way.

And yes, I should have mentionned, that white candle is my current Master Candle. :)

Alorer Stefanos (The Gecko) said:

They really don't look close enough for such small flames to make them burn faster.. Even tealights *right* next to each other don't burn faster. It would require a smaller candle very close to a bigger one and in that case, the bigger candle would have melted mid-way.. not together.

The identical leaning of ALL the flames, even the Master Candle's (sic?) is quite bizarre.. And doesn't fit any physical reason I can think of. Perhaps others may have ideas as to why these things happened.

Elise said:

I'm not sure where to put that question, but I think this thread is the best...

Can the candles' proximity affect how fast they're going to burn down?

I'm asking this because today I did a candle burning for my spouse Korb, and the candles went down extremely fast... I used chime candles - I've been using them for five years, and I know their average burning time is a little over two hours, without fail.

But Korb's setup all burned down *within* ONE hour. AND, the flames were all leaning to the right - even though there was no draft.

And so before going off in the directions of omens, I'm looking at physics, for which I am hopelessly null. Could it be that when candles are too close together, they melt faster?

Here is the setup:

Taking good notes, Shawn, esp…

2011-03-29T20:02:03.740Z

Taking good notes, Shawn, especially as I have a mind to make my own candles at some point in the future (once I finish using up my current stash LOL).

Shawn said:

ah hah! So if you see what I said before about wicks, this really does point to the wicks being the wrong size, combined with a slight breeze, even something you couldn't perceive on your skin.

If it smokes, it's too large, if it drips, the wick is too small... This is to clarify my earlier statement.

ah hah! :) So if you see wh…

2011-03-29T18:59:18.495Z

ah hah! :) So if you see what I said before about wicks, this really does point to the wicks being the wrong size, combined with a slight breeze, even something you couldn't perceive on your skin.

If it smokes, it's too large, if it drips, the wick is too small... This is to clarify my earlier statement.
Elise said:

I'm glad to hear that... I have to say that the end result was an incredible (and never seen before) mess of melted wax, all on the right side. Wax I intend to keep and make a sachet out of for Korb.

The leaning is going straight toward the South, by the way.

And yes, I should have mentionned, that white candle is my current Master Candle. :)

Alorer Stefanos (The Gecko) said:

They really don't look close enough for such small flames to make them burn faster.. Even tealights *right* next to each other don't burn faster. It would require a smaller candle very close to a bigger one and in that case, the bigger candle would have melted mid-way.. not together.

The identical leaning of ALL the flames, even the Master Candle's (sic?) is quite bizarre.. And doesn't fit any physical reason I can think of. Perhaps others may have ideas as to why these things happened.

Elise said:

I'm not sure where to put that question, but I think this thread is the best...

Can the candles' proximity affect how fast they're going to burn down?

I'm asking this because today I did a candle burning for my spouse Korb, and the candles went down extremely fast... I used chime candles - I've been using them for five years, and I know their average burning time is a little over two hours, without fail.

But Korb's setup all burned down *within* ONE hour. AND, the flames were all leaning to the right - even though there was no draft.

And so before going off in the directions of omens, I'm looking at physics, for which I am hopelessly null. Could it be that when candles are too close together, they melt faster?

Here is the setup:

That's why it's always best t…

2011-03-29T18:55:07.466Z

That's why it's always best to get multiple opinions on a given subject! :D Thanks for the clarifications Shawn, I never thought the quality of the wax and wick could affect the burn time. :)

I'm glad to hear that... I ha…

2011-03-29T18:52:26.348Z

I'm glad to hear that... I have to say that the end result was an incredible (and never seen before) mess of melted wax, all on the right side. Wax I intend to keep and make a sachet out of for Korb.

The leaning is going straight toward the South, by the way.

And yes, I should have mentionned, that white candle is my current Master Candle. :)

Alorer Stefanos (The Gecko) said:

They really don't look close enough for such small flames to make them burn faster.. Even tealights *right* next to each other don't burn faster. It would require a smaller candle very close to a bigger one and in that case, the bigger candle would have melted mid-way.. not together.

The identical leaning of ALL the flames, even the Master Candle's (sic?) is quite bizarre.. And doesn't fit any physical reason I can think of. Perhaps others may have ideas as to why these things happened.

Elise said:

I'm not sure where to put that question, but I think this thread is the best...

Can the candles' proximity affect how fast they're going to burn down?

I'm asking this because today I did a candle burning for my spouse Korb, and the candles went down extremely fast... I used chime candles - I've been using them for five years, and I know their average burning time is a little over two hours, without fail.

But Korb's setup all burned down *within* ONE hour. AND, the flames were all leaning to the right - even though there was no draft.

And so before going off in the directions of omens, I'm looking at physics, for which I am hopelessly null. Could it be that when candles are too close together, they melt faster?

Here is the setup:

It could be something... BUT…

2011-03-29T18:51:22.479Z

It could be something... BUT I do have to disagree with Stef here..

I make candles. A LOT of things affect how they burn. When we buy them in the store, 99% of the time the manufacturer has used whatever they could get the best price on, in terms of wax and wick.

If the wick is slightly (and I mean not even enough to really tell by eye,) thicker, the candle can burn MUCH faster. if the dye to wax ratio is different, it can affect the burning. The quality of the wax itself (which changes with each batch usually) does as well... If the wick or quality is vastly different from "ideal," then it can lead to either smoke, or dripping, where-as if it's close but not perfect it simply affects the burn time.

However in this case, there must have been a draft. You may not have perceived it, but the fact that all the candles have the identical "lean" to the right says that there's a little bit of air flow.

Add air flow, means an increase in the oxygen they get, means a faster burn time.

Lastly, their proximity can indeed affect their burn times as well. If they're closer, then the wax can melt faster. In the case of tea lights, they are really too wide across for the small flames to affect each other, but in the case of "normal" candles, they could indeed affect the burn, especially of the ones in the middle (which would get additional heat from all sides.)

So *maybe* you had something else cause it.. but from the picture and your description, it sounds more like environmental variables.

They really don't look close…

2011-03-29T18:38:49.362Z

They really don't look close enough for such small flames to make them burn faster.. Even tealights *right* next to each other don't burn faster. It would require a smaller candle very close to a bigger one and in that case, the bigger candle would have melted mid-way.. not together.

The identical leaning of ALL the flames, even the Master Candle's (sic?) is quite bizarre.. And doesn't fit any physical reason I can think of. Perhaps others may have ideas as to why these things happened.

Elise said:

I'm not sure where to put that question, but I think this thread is the best...

Can the candles' proximity affect how fast they're going to burn down?

I'm asking this because today I did a candle burning for my spouse Korb, and the candles went down extremely fast... I used chime candles - I've been using them for five years, and I know their average burning time is a little over two hours, without fail.

But Korb's setup all burned down *within* ONE hour. AND, the flames were all leaning to the right - even though there was no draft.

And so before going off in the directions of omens, I'm looking at physics, for which I am hopelessly null. Could it be that when candles are too close together, they melt faster?

Here is the setup:

I'm not sure where to put tha…

2011-03-29T18:29:32.974Z

I'm not sure where to put that question, but I think this thread is the best...

Can the candles' proximity affect how fast they're going to burn down?

I'm asking this because today I did a candle burning for my spouse Korb, and the candles went down extremely fast... I used chime candles - I've been using them for five years, and I know their average burning time is a little over two hours, without fail.

But Korb's setup all burned down *within* ONE hour. AND, the flames were all leaning to the right - even though there was no draft.

And so before going off in the directions of omens, I'm looking at physics, for which I am hopelessly null. Could it be that when candles are too close together, they melt faster?

Here is the setup: