Plastic or Aluminum Tealight cups?

[classiccandle]

For those of you who sell tealights do you use plastic or aluminum cups? I'm just a little nervous about using plastic around a flame but they seem to be pretty common in the industry. Has anyone had any bad experiences using plastic cups?

Are they even worth the effort?

Thanks!

[ksranch]

There are several threads discussing this - many do use the plastic, but not me -- I use aluminum. Too many reported issues with the plastic for me.

[classiccandle]

Thanks ksranch. I did do a search prior to asking the question but couldn't find any threads that asked this particular question. Maybe I wasn't using the right keywords.

[ksranch]

no problem, like I said, many do use them and have never had an issue - but on the other hand, there are numerous reports of them catching fire, and there have been recalls on them. They are better looking, but not worth the risk to me.

[JanetsCandles]

I've had them melt on me during testing. I figured I didn't want to take the chance of it acting as a wick for flame if someone didn't use it properly (like you guys know they usually do.) So I use aluminum, but they just aren't popular for me, so I don't sell that many.

[Sharon44]

I am constantlly test burning my tealights in the plastic cups. I've never had any issues at all. Rarely do I extinguish the flame. I let it burn itself out. That being said, I don't have them in an enclosed container or tealight holder that would hold in more heat. I hope that makes sense. I only pour tealights with my votive wax, so the melt point is higher than a container wax.

[Dolphin146]

I used to make tealights all the time using the plastic ones. Of the many I sold I never had an issue with them.

[debratant]

Here ya go classic...here's my experience with them. Will I still use them? Only for personal use now...and under close scrutinty. I now have

aluminum cups. That incident scared the crap out of me, so would never ever sell them or burn them unattended.

http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?100309-plastic-tea-light-catches-fire&highlight

[classiccandle]

Thanks Debratant, that's exactly what I want to avoid. I guess when in doubt, err on the side of caution.

Now, are tealights even worth the effort to make? Which are more popular, scented or unscented? I'm just trying to decide whether or not to add them to my product line.

[ksranch]

Now, are tealights even worth the effort to make? Which are more popular, scented or unscented? I'm just trying to decide whether or not to add them to my product line.

Depends... in general I don't sell many. But, I have one store that sells a ton - because they also have handmade pottery and they started making a handmade tart burner that uses tea lights - so they push the scented tea lights along with my melts to "go with" the melter.

[Chefmom]

I really like the little plastic tealights. I was quite skeptical when I read about them melting, catching fire etc, but I use them to pour those funny "bits" that I have left over from the candles. I have burned quite a few to find the "just right" wick for the wax mix and I have never had any issues. I'm quite shocked that the plastic doesn't even get hot let alone soft enough to melt.

I use the 6006 wax and TL wicks from candle science. It takes patience to pour them, but I'm usually only pouring one or two of the leftover bits from the container candles. I package them individually right now and use them as free samples. I'm looking for a good package to sell them for people to buy as sample scents.

Most only scent a small area, but I have a few scents that even the little tealight scents the whole room.

[kandleindulgence]

I personally like and use the plastic tea light cups with TL28 wicks. I have never experienced any issues in using these in the last 13 years of selling. The plastic tea lights using the wick specified will burn for 10 hours guaranteed using soy wax.