Drowning wick questions

[Mozzie]

I've been test burning tealights for my everlasting candles and am totally baffled by drowning wicks. I thought that if a wick drowned it was because it was too small but I am having no trouble with smaller wicks but (supposedly) larger ones are dying all over the place. I'd love a scientific explanation from you candle geeks (you know who you are) if you happen to read this. Help, please!

[grammafransfixins]

Not 100% sure but you could have many things happening. To much fragrance, to much dye, air pockets, just to name a few of the most common things.

Sheila

[Georgia]

My guess would be the tealight melt pool is too small to supply the larger wick with enough fuel to keep it going. You might need to try a different type of wick if you don't have the right size in that type.

[topofmurrayhill]

I'm not sure what's happening but I'll take a shot in the dark.

If the flame gets big and then gets small as it burns, the wick could be tunneling into the wax at first (digging a hole because the wax right beneath it gets used up fast) and then drowning out when the wax from the sides melts and floods it. That's something that could happen with a bigger wick and a tall flame if the melt point of the wax is high enough.

I see this with pillars now and then, but I don't mess with tealights much so I'm not sure if the same thing can happen to them.