Soot on jar walls...anything I can do?

[Paintguru]

Okay, before I drive myself crazy, my SIL gave me feedback that the double wicked 16 oz country comfort jar developed a fair amount of soot on the inside once the candle burned down.  I use 4630 and zinc core wicks.  My single wick, 7 oz straight sided jars are similar, especially when the wick gets lower in the jar.  To be fair, she's not the best at trimming her wicks.  Before I drive myself crazy with this, is there much one can do when using a relatively narrow jar like the 7 oz jar (2.5" diameter) or the country comfort jar?  I use the smallest wicks possible to clear the walls of wax.  

Edited February 24, 2019 by Paintguru

[Trappeur]

Paint, I can't help you wick wise as I use 464 but someone will come by and I know will.   In using 464 in the country comfort I use 2 small cd5 wicks and can get by at times using 1 cd20.

You probably need a different style wick for the 7oz jar.

 

Trappeur

[Paintguru]

It seems like every wick type does a similar thing where the air currents make the wick dance and throw soot once it has burned down about half way.  I'm open to try more....I did wick down on my most recent one and it is doing okay but still has a slight film of soot on the wall.  

[GoldieMN]

I use to have black walls from burning paraffin candles.  Haven't had any soot problems with soy, though.  So I don't have an answer.

GoldieMN

[Sarah S]

Sorry @Paintguru, I have the same experience using CBL-125, HTP wicks, and the country comfort jar. Even candles that I know are slightly under wicked develop some soot around the neck of the jar. I have a friend who power burns and never trims her wicks. I can't even look at her candles. 😲

It's not as bad with the 16oz straight jars, although I will get some soot around the neck during the last quarter of the jar. Really wide open bowls don't seem to have that issue at all.

[NightLight]

Paraffin sooting is a known. You can do two things. Change your wax or change your wick. My natural wax tests all the way to the bottom in various glass don’t have soot marks. Add paraffin thensotting will occur especially high percentages. You could try making a parasoy or blending one until you get little sooting. Just a thought 

[Paintguru]

4 minutes ago, Sarah S said:

Sorry @Paintguru, I have the same experience using CBL-125, HTP wicks, and the country comfort jar. Even candles that I know are slightly under wicked develop some soot around the neck of the jar. I have a friend who power burns and never trims her wicks. I can't even look at her candles. 😲

It's not as bad with the 16oz straight jars, although I will get some soot around the neck during the last quarter of the jar. Really wide open bowls don't seem to have that issue at all.

 

Okay, so it isn't just me!!  Yeah she was comparing it to a wide bowl from Bath and Body Works.  I think the shallow/wide containers don't have the contact time and have better air flow that minimizes the sooting (even though, again, I've seen her BBW candles on power burn, and it is a near forest fire of flickering flames!).  

[Jcandleattic]

I don't use 4630, but I do use a paraffin container wax, and I very rarely get sooting in my 16oz jars, and when I do, it is very minimal. What sized zinc core are you using? what is your scent load? I find that most sooting in paraffin is either due to a wick(s) that is too large, or that too much fragrance is being used. Try dropping your scent load, and using a smaller wick or different wick series. 

[Candybee]

When I used paraffin wax I also used zincs because they were the best at scent throw. However, zincs are prone to mushrooming which can lead to higher sooting. All candles soot, its not a 'paraffin given' issue. Soy, coconut, beeswax, palm, et al., all soot. Its the amount of soot we try to control. Properly wicked candles will minimize sooting. Too much FO can also cause sooting, lots of sooting. So getting the wick and FO load down is what will help minimize sooting issues. There are other reasons too but these 2 are generally the biggest culprits. 

 

I was reading on a suppliers website that 4630 can hold up to 1 1/2 oz FO PPW.  That's just under 10% FO load. Just because it can hold that much does not mean it should have that much FO. That's a lot for paraffin. I never went above 6% FO load in my paraffin candles. You should be striving for the least amount of FO for the best burn and best throw to help minimize sooting.

[Jcandleattic]

3 minutes ago, Candybee said:

All candles soot, its not a 'paraffin given' issue. Soy, coconut, beeswax, palm, et al., all soot.

I've been telling candlemakers this for years, but because the natural waxes soot is a lighter color and less noticeable, people think it doesn't exist. It's very frustrating!! 

[Paintguru]

12 minutes ago, Candybee said:

When I used paraffin wax I also used zincs because they were the best at scent throw. However, zincs are prone to mushrooming which can lead to higher sooting. All candles soot, its not a 'paraffin given' issue. Soy, coconut, beeswax, palm, et al., all soot. Its the amount of soot we try to control. Properly wicked candles will minimize sooting. Too much FO can also cause sooting, lots of sooting. So getting the wick and FO load down is what will help minimize sooting issues. There are other reasons too but these 2 are generally the biggest culprits. 

 

I was reading on a suppliers website that 4630 can hold up to 1 1/2 oz FO PPW.  That's just under 10% FO load. Just because it can hold that much does not mean it should have that much FO. That's a lot for paraffin. I never went above 6% FO load in my paraffin candles. You should be striving for the least amount of FO for the best burn and best throw to help minimize sooting.

 

I stay at 6%, and you're right, zinc does mushroom.  Maybe I just need to go down a size and see if I can get enough heat to clear the walls.  

 

 

[Paintguru]

Here's the result of wicking down.  Definitely a little less sooting, but still there.  Not sure the sides are acceptable.  

[Sarah S]

Maybe my standards are low, but that looks good to me! I hardly see any soot at all. 

[Sarah S]

Maybe my standards are low, but that looks good to me! I hardly see any soot at all. 

 

Oh! Did you mean how the wax isn't cleaning off the sides? How far down is that? Sometimes my sides won't clean up until the last quarter of the jar. How is the throw? If the throw is good, I personally would be okay with it. If there is still a ton of wax on the sides at the end, or if the throw sucks, then I'd reassess. That's just my opinion though! 😁

[Paintguru]

46 minutes ago, Sarah S said:

Maybe my standards are low, but that looks good to me! I hardly see any soot at all. 

 

Oh! Did you mean how the wax isn't cleaning off the sides? How far down is that? Sometimes my sides won't clean up until the last quarter of the jar. How is the throw? If the throw is good, I personally would be okay with it. If there is still a ton of wax on the sides at the end, or if the throw sucks, then I'd reassess. That's just my opinion though! 😁

 

Yeah the soot isn't too bad, but again, I've been trimming pre-burn, so if someone doesn't follow directions, things may change.  It probably has 1/4 jar to go, and there is a small film of wax, maybe an inch or two, above the main wax level.  This one is unscented, so don't know about throw yet.