Liquid olive-oil candle help

[dacq]

I have a small plastic container with a round base, filled with water & olive oil. It has a lid, which I put a hole in. I soaked a wick (18/50 2mm thick) with the mixture & threaded it through the hole, leaving 2cm above the lid. I lit it but it burnt all the way down to the lid and expired. I've seen YouTube videos of such things working. What's wrong?

[TallTayl]

Because many of the web/blog/pinterest ideas are bogus. There's a whole blogosphere of pinterest fails.

1)Why would they advocate water in a candle? Safety hazard #1

2) why a plastic container for what is essentially a torch? Safety hazard #2

3) wicks need to be of specific sizes and materials for the application. Any old string will not do as a wick. I have seen survivalists try to use poly clothes line as a wick, tampon rope, kite string, etc. with varying levels of success.

[Trappeur]

I've never heard of such a thing?

 

What is this thing?

 

Trappeur

[mzphee]

I've never heard of anything like this.. They are gonna get someone seriously hurt

[dacq]

I've found the answer. I put a wick in a sustainer in a non-plastic container. I then added the oil. 10 ml lasted 160 minutes.

I've since found that you are better off making non-toxic natural candles using cheap healthy rapeseed—canola—oil:
http://www.rapeseedoilbenefits.com/guide-to-rapeseed-oil/rapeseed-oil-health-benefits.aspx

[TallTayl]

I've found the answer. I put a wick in a sustainer in a non-plastic container. I then added the oil. 10 ml lasted 160 minutes.

I've since found that you are better off making non-toxic natural candles using cheap healthy rapeseed—canola—oil:

http://www.rapeseedoilbenefits.com/guide-to-rapeseed-oil/rapeseed-oil-health-benefits.aspx

In a pinch, a torch like that may be nice. However, combustion is combustion. There will always be exhaust of partially combusted, carbonaceous, sooty materials even from "healthy" canola (another discussion altogether). My kitchen gets coated in 'healthy' oil any time someone fries something wotta pain to clean it!

If glass torches were a safe, viable alternative to wax candles masses of people would embrace them in their homes. I look at oil in a random glass container with any old wick as a molotov cocktail type of thing to be used outside only, and with a fire extinguisher handy

[ChrisR]

I've found the answer. I put a wick in a sustainer in a non-plastic container. I then added the oil. 10 ml lasted 160 minutes.

I've since found that you are better off making non-toxic natural candles using cheap healthy rapeseed—canola—oil:

http://www.rapeseedoilbenefits.com/guide-to-rapeseed-oil/rapeseed-oil-health-benefits.aspx

 

They are healthy if you eat them, not burn them.  Like Shannon said, when you burn it you will still get sooty materials. 

[Jcandleattic]

I agree with the others, it's just not safe. 

I'm not sure what your end goal here is with this type of ... whatever it is (can't call it a candle) but... Why not just be safe and learn how to make a safe candle with either liquid paraffin (if it's a liquid that you want), or soild soy wax, paraffin wax, or a parasoy combo, or any number of other - safe - waxes on the market? 

[Candybee]

I remember years ago I had a liquid oil candle. The oil floats on top of the water in a wide flat jar with a wick in a tab holder. It burned quite nicely and I enjoyed it until one day I knocked it over and the oil and water went all over my stereo cabinet. It left a dark stain on the cabinet wood. Never again! I don't care how nice it burned it was an accident waiting to happen.