Is your candle burning too efficiently? Dancing flames are not always a problem.
Posted by Lyschel Bersch on
Is my candle too efficient? Not a question that I think about very often. Especially not with a vanilla scent. Vanillas are notoriously hard to wick. But not the Vanilla Voodoo! I have always know to wick down with this one. My usual base wick (without scent or dye) for a 3" diameter using Enchanted Lites Classic Soy Wax is a CD18. So when I did my recent testing I used CD12, CD14 and CD16. I expected that there would be one of the three that burned correctly and that the other two would be too big or small. What I was surprised by was that all three were dancing like Hula dancers. Dancing wicks is usually a sign that the wick is too big or that they are being burned in a draft. If they were wicked incorrectly then we would see signs of excess carbon build up, too deep melt pool and the glass getting too hot.
Two on the left CD12, two in the middle CD14 and two on the end CD16
The CD16 was too big and we did see all of this. And the CD12 was too small because the melt pool wasn't very deep and the sides didn't clean totally. One would think that the CD14 would be just right. And in most respects it was. Sides of the glass were nicely cleaned, very little mushrooming and the glass was still touchable. The melt pool wasn't as deep as I would have expected and the wick was dancing. So I called another expert and got to talking about efficiency. It seems that the candle is burning great!
I got to talking to one of the wick company experts and described all this and I was informed that this combination was simply just too efficient! Funny. Apparently what happens is that the Vanilla Voodoo burns so well with the Enchanted Lites classic container soy wax that it creates convection currents in the candle. The wax is pulled up the wick so quickly that there is a surge of oxygen which enters the flame (flame increase), then the oxygen is consumed (flame decrease), so on and so on. Flame dancing. The combustion is good so there is little excess soot. In this case the dancing flame is not a sign of a problem. So, the CD14 does burn well but it has a dancing flame.
What I don't like is that the melt pool is burned so quickly that it doesn't have as much depth as I would like. I guess I shouldn't complain because the scent throw is still incredible at just .8oz per pound of the Vanilla Voodoo. But I am going to do some more testing with a line of Premier wicks and CDN just to see what happens. Stay tuned :)
I also have to say that efficiently dancing wicks can happen with a lot of different scents, not just the Vanilla Voodoo. And it will be more noticeable when the candle is lower in the glass.
To wrap up-since the candle is not smoking, sooting, hot to the touch or mushrooming there is nothing to worry about with a little wick boogie.
What to check out our Vanilla Voodoo for yourself? Come on over!
Two on the left CD12, two in the middle CD14 and two on the end CD16
The CD16 was too big and we did see all of this. And the CD12 was too small because the melt pool wasn't very deep and the sides didn't clean totally. One would think that the CD14 would be just right. And in most respects it was. Sides of the glass were nicely cleaned, very little mushrooming and the glass was still touchable. The melt pool wasn't as deep as I would have expected and the wick was dancing. So I called another expert and got to talking about efficiency. It seems that the candle is burning great!
I got to talking to one of the wick company experts and described all this and I was informed that this combination was simply just too efficient! Funny. Apparently what happens is that the Vanilla Voodoo burns so well with the Enchanted Lites classic container soy wax that it creates convection currents in the candle. The wax is pulled up the wick so quickly that there is a surge of oxygen which enters the flame (flame increase), then the oxygen is consumed (flame decrease), so on and so on. Flame dancing. The combustion is good so there is little excess soot. In this case the dancing flame is not a sign of a problem. So, the CD14 does burn well but it has a dancing flame.
What I don't like is that the melt pool is burned so quickly that it doesn't have as much depth as I would like. I guess I shouldn't complain because the scent throw is still incredible at just .8oz per pound of the Vanilla Voodoo. But I am going to do some more testing with a line of Premier wicks and CDN just to see what happens. Stay tuned :)
I also have to say that efficiently dancing wicks can happen with a lot of different scents, not just the Vanilla Voodoo. And it will be more noticeable when the candle is lower in the glass.
To wrap up-since the candle is not smoking, sooting, hot to the touch or mushrooming there is nothing to worry about with a little wick boogie.
What to check out our Vanilla Voodoo for yourself? Come on over!