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So Excited & Question


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I am a total newbie and placed my first peaks order .. it should be here tomorrow!! I am so excited :) For anyone that didn't get my recent introduction post, I tinker around at home I do not sale my candles they are just for me.

Question: I did buy a presto pot and have been making some chunk votives. My question is this ... my presto pot setting says warm ... then 200. I have been putting it on warm but when my wax is melted and I put my thermometer in it reads almost 200 and if I try to let it cool down it hardens up before it ever goes down to say a 180 or 170 reading on the thermometer. What am I doing wrong?? Good thing I don't sale them, right? lol like i said .. NEWBIE! but I have really loved what I have made for myself so far. The thermometer I have is from Michaels so I assume its a good thermometer. Any input would be appreciated!

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2 questions: 1) Is it a candy thermometer and your hanging it on the side of your pot? If so, the heat/temp from the metal on the side of your pot is causing an erroneous reading. Or, 2) It's a candy thermometer and your allowing it to sit on the bottom of the pot. Again, the heat/temp from the metal on the bottom of your pot is causing an erroneous reading. I use a "Tru Temp" Digital Thermometer by Taylor. I got it at Target for about $16.00. It even has an alarm that lets your program what temp you want and if it goes above that temp it will alarm. It allows the probe to float in the wax without touching the sides or bottom of the pot. I would say that would be your best method to accurately measure your temp. JMO

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Well .. duh .. YES I am, like a dork, clipping it to the side of the presto pot :laugh2: That's got to be it! Boy is my face RED!! I'll try the CORRECT way and see how it reads this time. It is a candle thermometer I got in a starter set at Michaels with a pouring pot and some other things. Had a gift card for Michaels and decided to try out candle making. I am so glad I did - It's alot of fun and addicting! The Target thermometer sounds great. I may need to invest in one of those.

Thanks so much -you guys rock! I'm sure I'll have tons of other embarrasing questions too! :wink2:

Melody

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Hey Melody,

I have one and enjoy it very much. You definitely cannot go by the dial, however what I do is hang my thermometer in the wax, and let it level out to the temp it happens to be at. If it were 180, I would turn up the knob just a little till the light kicked on the thermostat, then wait for a few more minutes to level off, then check the temp again. When I reached the temp I wanted, I took a white marker and made a reference mark on the dial and thermostat so I could set it back to the right mark after shutting it off.

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