soot on jars with coconut wax

[madam_majed]

55 minutes ago, moonshine said:

That's from you using 2 over sized wicks for your jar size and a very very soft wax 

 

How long did you burn the 34 for?

you do not necessarily want a full melt pool on your first burn or within a couple hours 

let it go to the end and see, unless it's tunneling straight down with zero hope of catching up you would benefit from seeing the complete results 

you seem to be stuck on wanting ginormous wicks - 2 RRD 29 in a 3.5" jar with a super soft wax is going to be way too big at the end - I will be shocked if it's not - I did this with a 100% soy with hardening additives and it's about perfect, coconut wax is like water to compared to that blend 

 

yes adding a wax hardener will have to be tested thoroughly with all your scents and it isn't an automatic soot fixer. Could cause more - no matter what you add if you use to big of wicks your going to get soot and black flecks - your wicks are probably basically popping like a bonfire leaving the ash behind 

 

can you post a picture of this candle?

how many hours at a time are you burning it and can you comfortably pick the jar up and move it? 

 

[moonshine]

8 hours ago, madam_majed said:

 

That does look like a result of over wicking to me

if the 34 didn't work try a single 37 and a 40 to see how either of those do

[madam_majed]

1 hour ago, moonshine said:

That does look like a result of over wicking to me

if the 34 didn't work try a single 37 and a 40 to see how either of those do

I will try both those sizes as soon as they arrive. Is this a problem? Other then the esthetic looks of it? ( the flecks ) 

[moonshine]

My opinion and others may disagree is that it is a problem - this is telling me you have to much wick going on in your candle and it's sooting on the inside and falling on your wax, you can see the soot on the inside rim - your basically literally burning your wax 

I have seen this in my testing with straight soy years ago and it could also be wrong wick series for that wax 

I haven't used that particular coconut but what your using I understand to be way softer than the one I have tested and honestly the RRD didn't do great in it 

you can try maybe the CDN series and see if you get a better burn 

a 8 for a starting point and they can be found at southwest candle supplies or have you tried a single eco at all- like a 6 maybe 

Edited November 10, 2017 by moonshine

[Kerven]

Are those black specks floating around in it? I wonder if your wicks are ashing into the melt pool.

That may be something else... Repeated burns that are too hot or frequent and incomplete can supposedly change the melt pool's characteristics, causing it to turn dark among other things.

 

I might have missed it, but what FO are you using?

 

You might get a better feel for which wick size to aim for if you made a few candles with different sizes and tested all of them at the same time. As they burn, watch how the flames perform. Check for sooting, smoking, mushrooming, excess heat, rate of consumption, flickering, melt pool diameter/depth per hour, etc.

 

Those wicks appear to be mushrooming and producing smoke (soot). If that's after a 4hr burn, check it each hour to see if there are mushrooms. If the mushrooms appear at the 4th or later hour, then it's probably not a huge problem. Ideally, a candle shouldn't smoke, especially early on. I'd suggest wicking down two sizes but I know nothing about that wick style... so I'm not. I can, however, say that, in my experience, ECO wicks in straight coconut wax, double wicked in particular, are going to be near impossible in anything but a massive container. CD's will be difficult as well (mine turned into mini flame throwers). LX was... meh but worthy of going back to to test the larger sizes (they burned cooler than the others). Keep in mind that this wax is very thin like paraffin. Wicks made for viscous, natural waxes are likely to cause problems. Have you tried HTP or Premier?