Maximum Temperature for container candles

[HorseScentS]

Horsescents, you remember correctly. I probably do need to build mine a bit hotter but I doubt I'll ever go to 175 on the glass. I've had testers tell me the opposite, that they like the throw, but there's enough feedback to take the GF seriously.

Personally, I didn't think her Yankme candles threw better, just sooner. They seemed to get to FMP faster and that was the issue. I was working on a way to get a faster FMP without compromising the container temperature and now that I have some "stuff" out of storage I'll continue a bit more on this project.

I guess it would be appropriate to experiment a bit and see what the glass temp is when the FMP is 1/4 inch deep and when it is 1/2 inch deep and when it is 1 inch deep. That would be some data that I don't have at the moment.

I'm not saying we can fool proof candles. Heck, when you build a better foolproof candle, the world seems to produce a smarter fool.

I'm just saying that we ought to think about it and if we can build a better and safer candle, we should. I'm not ready to dismiss the science of this just because it seems difficult, but I know the safety of electricity and the safety of hot coffee and the safety of lawnmowers and bicycles and cars and turbine powered helicopters has been enhanced over the years. So I think we can look at a candle and ask the same question about how to make it safer. I'm sure you would agree.

Not all safety enhancements are efficient. Car batteries that first went to "waterless" to avoid hydrogen explosions didn't last as long as the ones that needed water to be added. Today they are better.

There are five ways that products get better over time. The first is the best - builders who want to make their stuff better and safer. Another is the gov't that regulates the product. Another is a banding together of builders in a guild or association that issues guidelines. Another is the consumer when they stop buying the product. The last (or first) is the court system that drives all the rest when someone is hurt and should not have been.

This last one is very effective in driving gov't and guilds to higher standards but probably the most heartrending because it means someone got hurt.

As for the GF picking up the candle, she's been educated and doesn't do that any more (Yeaah!). I recall another story on here about a gal who's aunt forgot and left one burning too long and tried to get it out the door and went to the hospital with burns. If people can let go in a second and drop it on the floor, no big deal, but people don't always do that. They mistakenly think they need to save the carpet, or worse, they drop it on themselves and probably can't strip their clothing and get to cold water fast enough - like Stella Leibeck.

I agree with you, Eric. We should make our candles as safe as possible and still get good performance in terms of HT and minimal hangup. My concern is when newbies are told that the glass must always be cool or comfortable to hold, and never get hot even at the bottom of the container, instead of telling them whatever the ASTM/NCA max temperature is, whether it's 140 or 175, they will have unrealistic parameters which drive them crazy. But, yes, we should make the candles as safe as we can.

The story about the gal who's aunt picked up the candle when it burst into flames and got burned trying to rush out the door with it is kind of different, don't you think? It had actually burst into flames because it was overwicked and it overheated going through the narrow part of the jar after being burned non-stop overnight. Did it have a wood wick? Maybe the FO load was too high, too, I don't know. But, that's a good story about the importance of testing our candles by power-burning them, for sure!

I admit the whole idea of making candles for sale to careless consumers is scary.