bfroberts Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 I've been testing feather palm pillars for the last week. I've read through all of Top's posts dozens of times, but I have a question. If I have a tiny blowout because I lost track of time and burned the candle for 6 hours is that telling me I am over-wicked? I'm not sure if that is a wick failure or just my failure for not setting the timer. This was the 3rd burn, if that matters. The first 2 burns were for 4 hours and looked great (or so I thought). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcandleattic Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 38 minutes ago, bfroberts said: I've been testing feather palm pillars for the last week. I've read through all of Top's posts dozens of times, but I have a question. If I have a tiny blowout because I lost track of time and burned the candle for 6 hours is that telling me I am over-wicked? I'm not sure if that is a wick failure or just my failure for not setting the timer. This was the 3rd burn, if that matters. The first 2 burns were for 4 hours and looked great (or so I thought). what do you mean by "tiny" blow-out. If you wouldn't have noticed, and kept burning the candle, would it have caused a hazard? When I test, I think about how my end-user will burn/use the product. Not all consumers are going to set a timer to burn candles (in fact probably none of them) Most are going to light it and go about their day. So if you think that will be a problem for the end-user, then I would re-wick and re-test to get the optimal results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfroberts Posted June 11, 2018 Author Share Posted June 11, 2018 1 minute ago, Jcandleattic said: what do you mean by "tiny" blow-out. If you wouldn't have noticed, and kept burning the candle, would it have caused a hazard? When I test, I think about how my end-user will burn/use the product. Not all consumers are going to set a timer to burn candles (in fact probably none of them) Most are going to light it and go about their day. So if you think that will be a problem for the end-user, then I would re-wick and re-test to get the optimal results. What really happened is I noticed the shell was getting very thin on one side so I touched it, and it melted a hole the size of the tip of my finger. So I figured if I had left it alone, it would have been a blowout very soon. What threw me is that I've seen warnings on other sites that say not to burn pillars longer than 4 hours to prevent a blowout, and that got me wondering if my expectations were wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcandleattic Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 6 minutes ago, bfroberts said: What really happened is I noticed the shell was getting very thin on one side so I touched it, and it melted a hole the size of the tip of my finger. So I figured if I had left it alone, it would have been a blowout very soon. What threw me is that I've seen warnings on other sites that say not to burn pillars longer than 4 hours to prevent a blowout, and that got me wondering if my expectations were wrong. No, your expectations weren't wrong. Pillars, for the most part, are meant to be burned 1 hour per 1" diameter of the candle. This is the general rule of thumb, However, how many consumers do you know that actually follow the directions given? Very few. There are some, but most just don't. I test my pillars the same as I test my containers. One the way they are meant to be burned until complete, one a power burn all the way through until complete, and one burning erratic meaning sometimes lit for a few minutes, sometimes several hours at a time, and sometimes for the correct time - all at different intervals until complete. Whichever wick does the best in all 3 scenarios, is the wick I go with. For me, I don't wick for a shell in my palm pillars, like I do with my paraffin pillar. The main reason being, I can't "hug" the wax shell in palm like I can in paraffin, so I use a CD 10 in my pillars, and get a small shell that will consume itself eventually without blow-outs or tunnelling. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfroberts Posted June 12, 2018 Author Share Posted June 12, 2018 Thank you! That helps a lot. When I compare my candles to others, I always feel like I am overly cautious in my wicking, and I waste a lot of time second guessing myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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