Electric Burner / Range Plate?

[mlomeli]

Ok, so I've filled my head with the presto pot thread. But, I've also been looking at the electric range plate burners. I've thought that this might be an option as well, because after I use the presto pot once...it's pretty much a candle melter, right?

I have a couple of pour pots (put directly on the burner) and thought a burner can also do double duty when the stove is taken.

Anyone use these? Yay/Nay?

Edited November 4, 2011 by mlomeli

[ksranch]

I use one daily - but never ever ever put a pour pot directly on a burner! You need to use the double boiler system for safety reasons. I have a GE unit that has two burners on it and got it at Walmart, I'm trying to remember - $30 or so. Is on for like 6 - 8 hours a day 6 days a week, and hasn't given me a bit of trouble - love it - recommend it.

[HorseScentS]

I use one daily - but never ever ever put a pour pot directly on a burner! You need to use the double boiler system for safety reasons. I have a GE unit that has two burners on it and got it at Walmart, I'm trying to remember - $30 or so. Is on for like 6 - 8 hours a day 6 days a week, and hasn't given me a bit of trouble - love it - recommend it.

I want one of those! I use a Presto to melt the wax, and I've been using my electric skillet to set my pour pot in, but I'm thinking the GE unit with the covered burners, that are safe to set the melt pot on, would give more precise temperature control. Can you set it at 180, 185, 190 etc?

[Stella1952]

I have bought 5 Prestos, total. One is dedicated for food use. The others are for wax melting. It's best not to use implements and containers used for candle production for food contact and vice versa.

I don't melt wax directly on a burner of any kind. Pour pots often have some wax residue on the outside and that dripped on a burner = smoke & fire. Some people do this anyway. Best defense is not to do this. An electric griddle or frypan with water in it is a far safer choice than placing a pour pot on a direct heat source.

While we're on the subject of FIRE, it's SUPER important for all chandlers to know how to extinguish a wax (oil) fire.

NEVER PICK UP THE FLAMING POT!

Keep a lid or cover nearby to smother a fire.

Keep the lid on for a good while after the fire is extinguished because it can flare up again until the temperature drops sufficiently.

NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER throw water on it. Here's why:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmdEhyxHcpE

...just sayin'...

[EccoLights]

Safety Stella to the rescue!

Very good points Stella! Double boiler system over here for small batches and got the big daddy 50lb melter for the bigger ones =)

[robertgibbens]

I've melted wax on a direct burner for months. Never had a problem as I've never left it alone. EVER. Wax will get on the burner and it smokes off in a few seconds. Certainly smarter not to use a burner directly, but it can and is done safely often. Actually if we were all "certainly smarter", we would have found a cheaper hobby!!!

[jeanie353]

Those pictures are worth more than any words could get across.....

I don't know what I paid for my older double boiler maker thingies I had. Just picked up 4 more from CC for $4 each. Thought that was a decent price since I was ordering anyway.

[Stella1952]

I figured with a lot of new folks on the site as well as Thanksgiving coming up (with all the weekend warriors frying turkeys), we could ALL use some sobering videos showing how LITTLE water it takes to make a HUGE fireball with a small amount of burning oil or wax (15 tealights melted down in the second one?).

BTW, this goes for a candle on fire also. Do NOT move it; throw a wet towel over it to smother the fire and do NOT throw water on a flaming candle. It may make a bit of a mess, but that is lots easier to clean up than 3rd degree burns on your arms, face, upper body, etc.

I suggest that everyone drill themselves on throwing a wet towel over the top of their melting pot because doing the WRONG THING if a fire erupts is a sure-fire (no pun intended) trip to the burn unit. Practicing what to do in case this happens will help you make the right decision if it happens to you for real.

Having lost a home to fire (nothing I did, okay? LOL), I take fire extremely seriously. Seeing how quickly one can go from normal to having their skin falling off in sizzling sheets is also very sobering. If posting this saves ONE PERSON from having anything like this happen to them, it's worth being a PITA about it.

I've posted links to this stuff before, but I really had a hard time BELIEVING what I was seeing, so, of course, I did this in my own back yard, just like that young man in the video illustrated. The long-handled water device is essential. A tin veggie can of burning wax scorched the grass in a circle about 8 feet across and the fireball was at least 15' high.

I am now a TRUE BELIEVER. :shocked2:

[coconut]

The reason you should use a double boiler is because boiling water has a max temp of 212 F which is below the flash point of most wax. When you put a pot right on a burner, it can get much hotter possibly flash over. I don't have the patience to sit and watch wax melt.... so I use the double boiler. A Presto is thermostatically controlled which is why you can melt wax in it. A burner has a thermostat too but it is not insulated and the heat is not dispersed the same as a Presto.

[Jillsthings]

I use a hot pad/electric burner and put my pot right on it, but I set it to warm/low. It takes a while to melt the wax, but I find it's still quicker than when I did the double boiler method. I also have it set up right next to me, so I can actually sit at my desk and stir it, lol.

[burnt_fingers]

The reason you should use a double boiler is because boiling water has a max temp of 212 F which is below the flash point of most wax. When you put a pot right on a burner, it can get much hotter possibly flash over. I don't have the patience to sit and watch wax melt.... so I use the double boiler. A Presto is thermostatically controlled which is why you can melt wax in it. A burner has a thermostat too but it is not insulated and the heat is not dispersed the same as a Presto.

Don't be fooled into thinking a thermostatically controller unit is safe. Just 3 weeks ago my wife called me to ask why the clothes in our dryer was too hot to handle. When I came home to check it out, even the no heat setting raised temp far above what the high setting would produce. After three service calls it was determined that the relay that read the thermostat had burned out which cause the heating coils to overheat until the safety fuse kicked in. The point is never ever leave melting wax unattended.

[Stella1952]

If you are a "set it and forget it" person, you will have more accidents.

If you are a person who pays close attention to what you are doing, you will have fewer accidents.

[coconut]

Don't be fooled into thinking a thermostatically controller unit is safe. Just 3 weeks ago my wife called me to ask why the clothes in our dryer was too hot to handle. When I came home to check it out, even the no heat setting raised temp far above what the high setting would produce. After three service calls it was determined that the relay that read the thermostat had burned out which cause the heating coils to overheat until the safety fuse kicked in. The point is never ever leave melting wax unattended.

You're right, any device can malfunction. My point was that the burner has a higher degree of fluctuation and it is risky to put a pot of wax directly on a burner.

[coconut]

If you are a "set it and forget it" person, you will have more accidents.

If you are a person who pays close attention to what you are doing, you will have fewer accidents.

Yes, you're right. I wouldn't say I use a "set it and forget it" method. I don't put my wax on and go to the store or go watch a movie, but I don't sit and stare into the pot either. I make my candles outside in my lanai. I put my double boiler on the burner at the temp setting that I know from experience will heat the water enough to melt my wax and hold it at the desired temp for a long time. I go back in the house and prep my jars, come back out and check on the wax, go back in and get my FO and recipes, come back out and check on the wax... Our lanai is in constant use so I am in and out all the time checking on the melting wax. So far in over five years, the only accidents I have had take place when I am pouring and spill the wax. Not sure what approach I would take if I was using a Presto pot, but I am comfortable with the method I use with the double boiler.

[Stella1952]

My point was that the burner has a higher degree of fluctuation and it is risky to put a pot of wax directly on a burner.

Which brings us back to the original topic of this thread and I agree with this statement, underscored with the flaming videos.

Best defense is no be there.

(...oh ye of little faith who think we can't stay on-topic...)

[EricofAZ]

There are a lot of reasons why melting wax in a pot directly on a burner is a bad idea. The fire issue is fire, of course. Another is that burners tend to heat the pot from the bottom and that causes the wax to melt and expand which can blow the top of the wax off causing a splatter (and a fire). Presto pots also heat from the bottom, but the heat tends to creep up the sides as well. Regular candle melters are designed to heat from the sides and that's the best.

Be careful about homemade double boilers. I read a tutorial about just bringing a pot of water to boil and putting the pour pot inside that. Well, if the pour pot sits on the bottom of the water pot, its getting direct heat on the bottom (and only a little on the sides in comparison) which leads to bottom melting and spectacular whale blows on the top.

If the pour pot will suspend in the boiling water, that's better. Some have a handle and hook onto a deeper water pot. Be careful though to not spill the wax into the boiling water. It can boil over and that will put wax in contact with the burner. I had one fire from that. I was melting wax in a glass container that I wanted remove and the bottom of the container cracked causing the wax inside to run out into the boiling water. Boiled over and the burner lit it the little bit that touched the coils. It was very little so I slid the pot (which was not on fire, only boiling) to a cold burner and let the pot water stop boiling and the burner fire burned itself out which it did in a few seconds. Tossing a wet rag over a hot burner might have worked and it might have just dried the rag and lit that on fire (wet rag is better suited for a pot fire), so I had a fire extinguisher in hand which I think is the better way for that kind of fire where the wax is on the burner and aflame. Fortunately, as I said, there was very little wax and it burned itself out quickly.

So I'm pretty much not using the double pot method any more for anything. That said, I have used food warmers to set an already melted pour pot on to keep it warm. I have one of the GE units mentioned above from Walmart. I would never use that to melt wax, but keeping already melted wax warm seemed to work. However, the reason I was doing that was to dip candles in and I quickly decided that the rules of exposure were against me.

(Rules of Exposure say that the more you expose yourself to a potentially dangerous situation, the more likely it is that you will experience that situation. ie, jaywalk enough and eventually you're going to get hit.)

So to make the cut/carve candles, I went to a Norco full size food warmer/cooker and bought one of the 6 pot lids and pot arrangements. The steam will melt the wax pots from the sides pretty fast, about 45 minutes from fully hardened wax, and no spewing. A spill just goes in the water tray and the heat source is contained in a way that wax won't easily get to. Plus, the rheostat lets me control the wax temp very well.

Edited November 8, 2011 by EricofAZ

[coconut]

I bought a large deep Revere ware pot at a thrift store. I don't use a pour pot (I'm too cheap). I use clean coffee cans. I use a silicone ladle like Stella for the larger can and I have a handle gripper for the small cans. I put my cans on a rack in the water. You can get them here: http://www.culinarycookware.com/round-cooling-rack-with-feet.html. Try to size the rack to closely fit the pot so the can is always suspended and can't slide off.