Climate Control, Industry Standard ??

[Guest LightofDawn]

I have been reading alot on the threads about how the climate effects the outcome of the end product in candles. My question is... Is there an industry standard in which suppliers do their testing and are reporting the results. i.e. temperature and humidity.

For example: I work for a company that manufacturers various types of custom gages out of different metals. The industry standard is that the shop be maintained at 68 Deg F (+/-1) and the humidity is less than 50%. Because metal expands and contracts (much like wax) with the rise and fall of temperatures this ensures that whoever uses our gage will get the same results as us.

If our suppliers are following a certain standard for their climate control when testing than wouldn't we be able to create the same result in the end.

I know, odd question, but I have been curious about it.

Thanks

Dawn

[bugtussle]

Good question!

I am sure there is NO industry standard for testing or even for storing candle supplies. Some companies I buy from store wax and even FO in unairconditioned/unheated warehouses. The wax gets very hot in the summer and really cold in the winter. That's saying a lot living in Texas. I don't know how it effects the fo.

When we make candles, we store them in an airconditioned, humidity controlled bldg, 50% or less humidity and 78 degrees or less temp. Before we started doing this, we had problems with fo seeping and candles getting soft. One of my customers lets the temp rise at night in her shop by turning off a/c. By the end of the summer, her candles (she buys them) start looking really bad. Candles hate heat. Maybe someone else will respond. Carole

[Guest Candelishis]

I work in my basement. It's half-finished. "My half" of the basement is just concrete floors and walls, and in the finished part, there are way too many a/c vents for the size of the room, so it stays cool in the whole basement. But I set all my candles on a rack far away from any drafts to cool. I also use a de-humidifier in my basement. It's usually about 70 degrees and somewhere around 50% humidity. I have no problems with and discoloration, seepage, etc. Before I got the dehumidifier, I noticed that I had a few issues with consistency, like some batches would cool beautifully, and some would have funny looking tops, you know. I bought a cheap indoor "weather station", and that tells me the temp and humidity at all times.

[coconut]

Good question!

I am sure there is NO industry standard for testing or even for storing candle supplies. Some companies I buy from store wax and even FO in unairconditioned/unheated warehouses. The wax gets very hot in the summer and really cold in the winter. That's saying a lot living in Texas. I don't know how it effects the fo.

When we make candles, we store them in an airconditioned, humidity controlled bldg, 50% or less humidity and 78 degrees or less temp. Before we started doing this, we had problems with fo seeping and candles getting soft. One of my customers lets the temp rise at night in her shop by turning off a/c. By the end of the summer, her candles (she buys them) start looking really bad. Candles hate heat. Maybe someone else will respond. Carole

I store my wax, FO, and finished in the living room which is air-conditioned at about 80 degrees and 60-70% humidity (the lowest I can do with my leaky windows) and I have had no problem with any of them. I had some old testers which I left in boxes in the lanai for almost a year. Recently opened these up and they looked terrible. Lots of FO leakage. In contrast, I found some that I forgot about stored in the house for the same length of time and they looked fine. Lanai gets up to 95-98 degrees for about five months. Heat is definitely a problem. I recently starting buying FO from a Texas supplier-I hope it is not the one that has the hot warehouse!

[kandlekrazy]

I'd be willing to bet that if you went to one of the large candle mfg plants, they would have climate/humidity controls in the production area, the curing area and the storage area. Once it leaves their plant, they can't control what retailers or end users do. This is almost impossible to achieve for those of us who are using our homes, especially our kitchens for production.