Benefits of Wickless Candles

[modhatter]

Possitives:

1. No flames to be concerned with burning house down.

2. No soot from wick burning.

3. Better scent throw

Negatives:

1. Loss of any flame ombiance

2. Shorter life on candle scent ?? (seems reasonable but jury is still out on this one)

3. Not portable. Must be on top of plugged in candle warmer.

Question: There is some talk about candle burning causing cancer. I am not sure what is immited in the air that might cause cancer. Is it the soot from burning or the fumes from the fragrace oils, or both. Correct answer might make for another positive in the columns above.

[IndyGirl]

There is definately a shorter life of the candle, much shorter! Look at a tart....you can put the max FO load in them and still once they melt the FO starts releasing and usually after 48 hours more or less you are left with wax. A candle will only release the fragrance in the melt pool, a little at a time. So in putting a candle on a warmer and liquifying it all at once, makes is no better than a big tart. You can always add more FO to it after it starts to lose scent. I guess I've never understood the need for a wickless candle instead of a tart. One reason possibly is that you can add way more FO to it because you're not going to burn it.......and you don't have to worry about getting it out of a tart mold............I don't know but I just don't see the use! But why waste the wax! Just get an oil warmer!

[prcandles]

I sent 3 4ounce tins with a warmer off to my daughter. She is the type to burn a pillar on a paper plate, so the tins were wickless. She left the tin on the warmer, on for 4 straight days until she decided it wasn't scenting as much. For my personal sanity, wickless is safer for her type.(She is 22y/o btw)

Each persons own choices decide what the benefits are.

HTH

Pat

[jillgunter]

You could still burn your house down if you left one of those warmers on while unattended. I am a little scared of them.

[Erin Lea]

I do both wickless and wicked...However, I never understood the wickless craze until I made them. I only burn wicked candles in my house now for testing purposes. For scenting up my house, I choose wickless. They last a lot longer than 48 hours. I've had a Red Velvet Cake wickless on the burner for at least a month and it is still going strong--not a month straight!!! While I would never stop making wicked candles, I'm a dedicated wickless user.

[Tizimarezie]

IndyGirl: I guess I've never understood the need for a wickless candle instead of a tart.

With a wickless, when you get tired of the scent, you can put another wickless candle on the burner and change them as often as you want....but to change a tart, you have to wait until it has completely lost it's scent before you can toss it, clean the warmer and melt a fresh, new one. Or toss it and waste the scent. Also, it's been my experience that wickless candles have a better throw distance than a tart.

I enjoy both wickless and tarts for the ease of not having to worry about a flame. I've never known a tart to only last a mere 48 hours. And I've got a wickless candle that I burn daily for the past two weeks. The scent is getting weaker but it still has a lot of fragrance life left. It might be true that wickless candles and tarts lose their scent before a wicked candle...but I don't think this should be taken to the point of exaggeration.

[blazerina]

Now I'm confused...again, lol.

I thought if I made a batch of wax- everything added-- it was a tart if it was not self contained, but rather molded (w/o a wick of course )and it was a wickless if it was in a container, tin, etc with out a wick. Same wax though. Same Fo, same amount, same color, same additives, etc. Just put to differnt use. So how can one last longer or throw differently than the other??? But other than that, if bought from two different sources I'm not sure you can compare these two things given the inherently different factors that each person uses when they make them. From what i've seen around here at least, there is no different formula for wickless than for tarts. It's just what you pour it into. And other than how hot they get on the warmer and what it's contained in... i'm not understanding the real significant difference between a tart and a wickless as far as scenting. I'm not saying there isn't one, just saying I don't know of any. (yet?)

By the way... I beleive it has been decided and is the general consensus among candle makers on this board... that any health problems one might have that is due to candle burning is A: not been proven yet. B: from the dye and or FO emissions because C: it HAS been proven that soot from a large amt of candles burning at once contained less carcinogens than what is found in the filter of one single cigarette. (Forgive me if I misquoted the study but that's what I got out of it.) There is SOOOO much information on this board and links to follow so you can do your own research on it if you want to look into it deeper. SOOOO much so that even I as a newbie know that it's a well discussed, all be it tired, topic, lol.

[Erin Lea]

I'd say the significant difference between a tart and a wickless candle is the amount of wax used. My wickless, for example, are 8 oz. and most tart warmers hold considerably less than this. 8 oz. of liquid, scented wax will have a greater scent throw than 2 oz. The second significant difference has already been stated---that with a wickless candle you can just remove the jar and replace with another scent as opposed to removing the wax from your tart warmer.

[blazerina]

You are absolutely right on the amount of waxed used point. I had not thought of this. In my own little world where I live, lol... I forget that other people make big ones just like candles. To me, it simply means do I have enough 4oz tins or do I want to use a cute mold and make it a tart, lol. But you are absolutely right and I stand corrected! The amount of melted wax would definitely make them different.

Here is a theory I wonder if anyone has tested though... a 4oz wide shallow tin vs any size of anything else wickless with a smaller opening/melt pool. I mean would an 8oz mason wickless throw better than a Jumbo tart in a wide mouth electric burner basicly is what im wondering. Same batch same burner. I've never used larger than 4oz of anything wickless. So i'm curious.

[Erin Lea]

Ok...I think that if the wax, FO percentage, and any additives were exactly the same and the tart was 4 oz. and the wickless was 4 oz. then you'd probably get a similar scent throw. Of course, a lot would depend on the opening of the container. I doubt something like a square mason jar would be a good one for the wickless. I think it would still throw, but I doubt it would work very well because of the narrow mouth. But say you were using the Ball Platinum jar with 8 oz. of wax and you had a massive tart burner that could hold 8 oz. of wax and had a wide mouth, then I bet the scent throw would be very similar. Of course, I haven't tested this but I don't see why it would be any different.

[modhatter]

Well, the larger the melt pool, the more scent is ommitted. However, in my experiments with tarts and 4 oz. wickless tin candles, I seem to feel that I get a lot more time out of my 4 oz wickless candle (per ounce). In other words, I find that my tarts are usually good for either 4 hours, and some real rare ones up to 8 hrs (two tealights)

Well, if I go by the one tea light (4 hr. burn)

per tart and the tart is 1 oz., then in theory I would get at leat 16 hours out of my 4 oz. tin and up to 32 hours out of a better one. HOWEVER, the tin is burning more scent and giving me a stronger fragrance, so theoretically it should not last as long as the tart. HOWEVER though I have not timed them, I feel they give me equal time if not more than the tart.

So now I see, I am going to have to test burn one until it loses it''s fragrance to settle this hypothetical question here.

I agree by the way by another poster. I thought the idea strange until I picked up a cheepy candle warmer at WalMart and made my first wickless candle (4 oz tin) Now I'm hooked. The convenience of just swaping tins whenever you feel like a new scent is great. No more taking tart warmer to kitchen and putting in freezer so you can get wax out, and then have a freezing cold tart warmer to have to put a flame to.

[Sag_77]

I am just starting with some wickless and do love them. Just have to say though for the last 5 years I have never had to burn a tart till it was dead to have to put in a new scent. Maybe it is my t-light burner but I have never had a problem with tarts sticking, my dish is removable and I just tap it on the bottom. Then when I want a new scent I just pop out the one that is in there and put in a diff. scent and save the popped out one for later. JMO

[msonmez]

I haven't tried a wickless candle yet. But I would like to. Sometimes I need to go out to get the laundry from downstairs and I feel uncomfortable to leave the candle going, but I don't want to blow it out, then re-light it when I come back up.

How much are the warmers at wal mart? Maybe I'll try one from them.

Also...Can you use a wicked candle on a warmer? Maybe that's a silly question but I never used a warmer before.

[Gravity]

You can find warmers for a couple bucks just about anywhere. I grabbed one at Kroger a few weeks ago for $3.00

You can use a wicked candle on a warmer, absolutely... just be aware that it's heating from the bottom up. A large, tall container will take a while for the melt pool to reach the top so you can get a scent throw. Squatty containers work best.

[blazerina]

My first electric burner was a Wal-mart mug warmer looking thing. $4.95. Very plain and industrial looking. I thought it was pretty neat though. The wattage is 17watts. And it's just a metal hot plate type.

THEN I got a 2pc dual purpose one from my secret santa here on this board (Thank you again Raggedy Dani) And ohhh my- were my eyes opened. I don't know where she got it from but I know she's done a few co-ops on warmers in general.

Let me tell you about it!!!! It has a removeable ceramic, wide and deep crock that sits on top of the warmer plate. It holds jumbo tarts with ease. It really is a very... very wide mouth crock. I love it. Then if I want to heat a tin or jar candle I just remove the crock and sit the tin right on the base just like any other electric jar warmer. It has a toggle switch on the cord and the whole thing is made to look like one peice of glossy ceramic. Only the red indicator light gives away what it might be. Mine is solid black so it fits in so nicely. But i've seen it in Country and Prim styels as well. And- it's 24 watts. It's just a whole other class of burner. So you can try the wal-mart one or jump right in and get a good one from the start.

[Cissy]

I'm jumping in on this thread a little late, but have a question regarding the 24 watt electric burners from OBI in Dani's coop. For those who have used them, do they get very hot on the bottom? I am using another style 24 watt warmer that gets so hot on the bottom, the table I set it on, is getting really too hot. I have even set it on a dish and the table still gets too hot. I can watch it, but I am concerned about selling it to someone else who might not be as careful. I am thinking about making some wickless candles and need a warmer which will melt the wax as quickly as possible, but the one I'm using really concerns me. I don't want to sell one which could damage tables or countertops. Could some of you who are using these from the OBI coop, please check the bottom of these warmers out and let me know? I would like to get in on the next coop for these if they are safe to set on any surface.

Just as Sag 77 mentioned, a tip I learned with using tarts: If you are using a tart warmer that has a separate bowl, you can change a tart and save the wax to reuse later by pouring it into a paper cup. When you are ready to reuse it later, you can just tear the paper cup away and plop it back into your bowl.

[blazerina]

They get pretty warm yes. But it doesn't worry me at all. Mine sits on an old antique wooden chest of drawers. I purposely don't put it in the center where the cloth runner sits just because I AM a nervous nellie... but it doesn't bother me at all to have it on the bare wood. It might help to know that the bases of these particular ones in that co op of which you speak are not flat... they are somewhat footed and there is actually an air flow allotment. The wood gets pretty warm when I've left it on alllll day- (and then another dohhhhh-as I do.) But if you have ever had a fireplace and felt the wall around it... you'd know it's not a big deal, lol.

But that air flow helps a lot. It probably looks like it sits flat on the ground, but it doesn't. HTH.

p.s. BUT- if you are looking for one that melts the wax quickly... keep looking, lol. These are 2 pcs of heavy duty crock pot material- they do not heat up or melt very fast at all. Just like a real crock pot! That is the ONLY drawback, but I've got enough other kinds around that if I need to be in such a hurry I just light them up until this big daddy takes over, lol. But do not expect this one to melt quick- it just doesn't!

[Cissy]

Thanks Blazerina,

If you're not concerned that it gets your surface too hot, then it must be OK. I will definitely have to try those on the next coop. The 24 watt one I have does melt a 9 oz Hex in a little over an hour. I just thought that the design of another 24 watt warmer could affect melting time and didn't wish to increase this time too much. Of course, if I decide to make some wickless, I will probably use the tureen jars, so I would think they will melt much faster, being shorter and broader. I just didn't want a warmer that could take 2 or 3 hrs. to completely melt a wickless. Thanks again!

[blazerina]

Hi again- I always forget one thing.....

I ONLY use mine for tarts or 2oz or so of wax in a 4 oz tin. But 99.9% of the time I use the crock pot on top of the plate for a handfull of little tarts made in candy molds. I really can't speak for how long or quick they burn a jar candle. I'm sure since in this application a jar would go directly on top of the hot plate part - and there would be no waiting on the crock to warm up- it would be a different story! Just wanted to clarify that.

[Cissy]

I forgot one thing too, and might as well ask while on this subject. OBI's site shows the warmer diameter of 4.6". How wide is the actual plate (the maximum width jar which will fit the plate)?