Coconut Wax Suggestions?

[PeaInThePod19]

Hi there,

Happy Monday!  I am brand new to this site (well actually, I've been looking at past topics for over a year now and have found so much helpful information already! Thank you all!)  I have been trying so hard to figure this out on my own, but I am desperate for help and am hoping one of you will have some advice for me.  I have been testing Northwoods coconut wax for many months now and am still struggling to find a wick that works well with this wax.  I have tried using the eco wick series and have tried various fragrance loads ranging from 7% to 10%.  I have tried the following wicks which have produced lots of extra hangup on the sides (burned candle to the end of the wick) and some sooting at the top of the candle: eco 4, eco6, eco8, eco10, eco 12, and eco 14.  I have also tried small wood wicks, small ribbon wicks, cotton wood wicks, and one premier 780.  All of those were like torches and left lots of soot at the top.  They seemed dangerous, so I stopped burning at about 3/4 of the way due to the tall flames and soot.  I did try doubling 2 eco 2's in my jar and that seemed to clear the wax on the sides and left very little soot, but it burned the wax very quickly and the sides of my jar were dangerously hot! I couldn't touch the sides even for a second.  I am using a 12oz salsa jar with a 3.5 inch diameter and am test burning after a week of curing in 4 hour increments.  Do you have any suggestions for wicks I can try from here or any advice on what I am doing wrong?  I reached out to the wax supplier, but they said they had no suggestions for me.  Thank you so much for any advice you might have in advance.  I appreciate your time!

[TallTayl]

Yeah, those wicks Are seemingly designed for very difficult to burn waxes, like soy. They’re all overkill for coconut. They funnel too much fuel to the flame.  The flame can’t combust the level of fuel and ends up burning dirty, not unlike a car running rich. 

 

true coconut wax blends are more like soft paraffin waxes, and need more delicate wicks.  I’d give cd, CDN, HTP or LX a try. 

[PeaInThePod19]

@TallTayl  Thank you so much for the explanation and for your other wick suggestions!  That makes sense with coconut wax being so soft.  I'll definitely try the other wicks you have suggested.  Thanks again!

[TheClassicModern]

I purchase the same wax and I really like it. I found that I have to add soy wax to the coconut wax to tame the flame. I yield the best results with ECO 12 wicks with my blend, the cottonwood wicks worked pretty well, but they slumped over as the wax burned down. ECO 14 work best for me when the fragrance oil has a high vanillin content.

[TallTayl]

56 minutes ago, TheClassicModern said:

I purchase the same wax and I really like it. I found that I have to add soy wax to the coconut wax to tame the flame. I yield the best results with ECO 12 wicks with my blend, the cottonwood wicks worked pretty well, but they slumped over as the wax burned down. ECO 14 work best for me when the fragrance oil has a high vanillin content.

What size containers? Those wicks seem awfully big for primarily coconut wax. 

[TheClassicModern]

@TallTayl 8 oz tins (those are the only containers I've been working with) and those wicks work well for me. 

 

I did a test with plain wax using ECO 8, 10, 12, and 14.

8 tunneled;

10 burned through but left a little bit of hangup at the bottom of the tin;

12 burned great, I got a full melt pool on the 4th burn and throughout the entirety of the burn. I noticed a tall flame once I got into the 5th & 6th hour.

14 burned similar to the 12 but I got a full melt pool on the 2nd burn. 

 

When I added fragrance:

ECO 10 would not create a full melt pool and just tunnel out (if I used a fragrance with a flashpoint over 160)

ECO 12 burned just the way it did with the plain wax, but it struggled to create a full melt pool with high vanillin content and fragrances with a flashpoint higher than 200

ECO 14 worked like a 12 using high vanillin content fragrances like "Birthday Cake" from TFC.

[TallTayl]

that's so weird. All of the coconut with ECO wicks of those sizes go completely liquid with soot puffs and giant flames on the first burn in my tins of the same size. I've tried the same with beeswax from 1-5% and the same thing happens. The infrared thermometer on the tins shows alarmingly high temps. 

 

something else must be going on with coconut waxes. again. One thing I've learned is that coconut wax is not a fixed formula product. For anyone reading, make sure to test EVERY case/lot of coconut wax in a container we use/sell from top to bottom, just like we learned we need to do with soy. 

[TallTayl]

Also, don't use flashpoint of an FO to determine anything other than shipping requirements for that FO. Flashpoint means absolutely NOTHING when wicking candles. Ingredients withing the total compound determine how it will burn, and that varies between waxes as related to pH and similar conditions.

[NightLight]

You need to revisit premier wicks, and htp wicks. Coconut wax is hard to wick and depending on your own blend or manufactures you will have to test different types of wicks. If 780 too hot go down two sizes. Ecos not enough sizes to fine tune. Try htp series.

[PeaInThePod19]

Thank you so much to you all for your advice! I’m going to try some other wicks suggested (luckily I already have most of them) and then add soy if I need to to see if I can get a better handle on this wax. My issue with the premier (and most of the ecos) was that it had soot at the top, but also had quite a bit of wax still clinging to the sides. I could never get a full melt pool other than using the 2 eco 2’s, but again, that one was dangerously hot. Maybe I need to go down a few sizes in the premiers and complete the burn to the end. From my other testing, it seems like much of this wax doesn’t melt off of the sides until I get closer to the bottom of the jar. Back to testing!  Thanks again everyone for your help!