Desperately Need Feedback... Please

[MissMargie]

A new customer purchased a candle from me. It was Mac Apple in an 8 ounce dodec jar. The wax used was EcoSoya 135 and the wick was an HTP 104 and I used medium red liquid dye. She claims that the jar was burning less than 2 hours when her smoke detector went off. When she checked the candle, she found it had broken; almost a perfect horizontal break all the way around the jar and the label had started to burn.

I'm soooooo upset by this since I sell an awful lot of these. I tested the best possible wick for this line and I can't think of what might have caused it.

I won't risk my customers safety or our reputation.

I've wondered if maybe the jar was a defect or maybe she burned it longer than she estimated.

I'm very concerned. Have any of you ever experienced anything like this?

My mother-in-law (in spite of my constant warning to her) burns these candles for hours and never had one break.

Any feedback would be so very appreciated. I'm really worried.

[KFTS]

I've had once incidence where a jar broke, but it was a tester jar with an unsecured wick and the wick had tilted to the side and overheated the glass. Was her wick off center? If it was brand new probably not, but if she had burned it several times and maybe it wandered and she didn't center it?

[iammommytwo]

oh my

....all I can say, is that I have never had one break. I power burn all my personal candles . Even had one w/a wick that off centered and the label started to turn brown, but the jar never broke.

IMO, sounds like a defective jar.

[shafferbuns]

My sister bought a candle from a lady last year, and the jar broke on her like that. My sis is a very good candle burner too, always makes sure the wick is trimmed and never really power burns them. Probably the jar.

[magsglass]

MissMargie,

IMHO, it sounds like a thermal crack, which was likely caused by inadequate annealing of the glass during its manufacturing.

I'm glad the customer caught it before it became a disaster. Too bad she didn't heed the common advice to never leave a candle unsupervised.

[Rus]

We go through thousands of glass jars each year and despite getting them made in USA - we still find several jars w/ hairline fractures. These are a disaster waiting to happen! We try hard to inspect all jars, but some cracks are not very visible to the eye. I would question a crack first since you were using soy wax and a cooler burning wick.

It you use jars that aren't seamless, we've found this to be a larger problem glass type.

Rus

[Marilyn]

That is why I tell my customers not to assume that a jar won't break, and to use caution where they are setting the jar and don't leave unattended. But of course some people ignore warnings.

[MissMargie]

Thanks so much for all the feedback. You've pretty much echoed my rationale but I really needed to "hear" it from other candle makers. The thought that a candle I made could be a hazard was enough to lose a year's worth of sleep.

I'm just gonna have to stress more of the cautions and instructions. Gee... should I buy liability insurance? Sigh....

[Beth-VT]

If you are selling a product.....you should already have insurance

[ChrisR]

I had insurance in place BEFORE I gave any candles to even my testers!!

[Gretchen]

From what I can tell, jars with the seams are generally thicker glass; which is a safer senario, thick or thin, or is that not even part of the equation?

Gretchen

[Meridith]

Did the wick move and maybe get too close to the side of the jar? I've had that happen a few times that my wick didn't stay in place despite the fact that I use wick stickers. My wick slid over next to the side of the jar and caused it to get really hot but the jar didn't break. Just a thought.

BTW - I'm jeoulous that you can get MacApple to throw. I can't get that one to throw to save my life.