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WoodWick Candles Burning Tips and Guidelines
Tips and Guidelines for getting the best from your WoodWick Candle
- Signs of a Hearthwick bad burn
- Signs of a bad burn
- How to achieve a good burn
- If your candle is smoking
- If your candle has air bubbles
- What are the average burn times
- Any complaints?
- If your candle has air pockets
- Candle burning guidelines
Hearthwick Candles...
Because the Hearthwick Flame candle is unique, it can occasionally display different burning characteristics than other candles. Here are a few simple steps to ensure the best burn every time:
- Light the wick all the way across,not just on one end. This helps the candle to burn evenly.
- Allow the candle to burn until the wax melts out to all the edges of the vessel. This may take from about 30 to 60 minutes. The flame height may vary at times and occasionally even appear to self-extinguish, but its OK! Even if you are experiencing a “low” flame, it will continue to heat and the flame height will return. The recommended burn time is 3-4 hours.
- Keep the candle away from drafts, such as ceiling fans, air conditioners or breezes.
- Never move or handle the candle while burning. This is very unsafe, and pouring or removing liquid wax from the vessel will cause the wick to extinguish.
- Keep the wick trimmed to between ⅛ and ¼ inch. If the candle begins to smoke, or if the flame height is greater than 1½ inches, gently blow out the candle, allow the wick and wax to cool, and trim the wick by gently running your finger across the top of it. Remove all wick trimmings before relighting.
- For your safety the candle is designed to self-extinguish when ⅜ inch of wax remains.
This is a classic example of what happens if you do not burn your Hearthwick candle long enough for the melted wax to reach the sides of the glass jar. As you can see, the next few times the candle has been lit the wax pool has tunneled down the centre of the candle rather than spread across it. This burn pattern, once established, is difficult to rectify.
You can download our handy HearthWick burn guide here (pdf, 650k)
Bad burn...
This is a classic example of what happens if you do not burn your WoodWick candle long enough for the melted wax to reach the sides of the glass jar. As you can see, the next few times the candle has been lit the wax pool has burrowed down the centre of the jar rather than across.
This is typical of nearly all candles in containers and is not exclusive to WoodWick candles. Once this pattern has been established it is difficult to rectify and your candle will burn for less than the normal amount of hours. In time, the flame will be starved of oxygen, burn slower and eventually extinguish itself.
Good burn...
Burning these candles for a minimum of 2 or 3 hours at a time will ensure that the melted wax pool has reached the sides of the glass jar optimising your burn time. It is also important to keep the wick trimmed to 1/8 th of an inch by either snapping off the excess wick with your fingers when the candle is cold or using a wick trimmer. Keep the candle wax free of any loose wick trimmings. Never place your candles on anything that could catch fire and always place them on a protected heat resistant dry surface. Allow the candle to cool completely before relighting or handling. Never leave a burning candle unattended.
If your WoodWick candle is smoking...
Do not place your candles in a drafty area such as a hallway, near a window or by a fireplace. There are normally only two possible reasons why a candle is smoking, the candle may be in a draught or the wick is too long. Simply move the candle out of the draught or, extinguish the flame, let the candle cool down and trim the wick back to about 1/8 th of an inch removing the excess wick fully from the candle jar.
The manufacturers of WoodWick Candles recommend burn time perameters, for example the medium candle, burn for 3 - 4 hours per use. This is to ensure the wick does not get too long which is when it will start to smoke. WoodWick candles are made from a blend of soy wax which usually produces a much cleaner burn than paraffin wax and under normal burning conditions WoodWick candles are virtually smoke free.
All WoodWick Candles are tested in laboratories in America before they are launched into the market place. The laboratory test for many things such as burn time, consistency of fragrance throughout the burn and to ensure that each individual fragrance of candle burns well in a draught free environment.
Air bubbles in the candles
Sometimes you may notice air bubbles in your WoodWick candles between the sides of the glass jar and the wax. Soy wax is more sensitive to temperature change than other types of wax and will sometimes shrink resulting in air bubbles. This is not considered a fault and will not affect the way the candle burns.
Burn Times
- A WoodWick Hearthwick candle will burn for up to 80 hours.
- A WoodWick large candle jar will burn for up to 180 hours.
- A WoodWick medium candle jar will burn for up to 100 hours.
These burn times assume that you use the candle as directed on the product label and to ensure you get the most out of your WoodWick candles it is best to burn them for the time shown on the product label on the bottom of the candle. Each time you light a candle ensure that you burn it long enough for the melted wax to reach the sdies of the glass as this will optimise your burn time.
If you burn your WoodWick candles for shorter periods of time it is likely that the wax pool will burrow down the centre of the candle rather than burn evenly across the width of the candle jar. Once this effect has started it is then very difficult to use all of the wax and it is possible that the wax will ‘drown’ the wick.
Keep the wooden wick trimmed to 1/8th of an inch to obtain the cleanest burn. The wick, when cold of course, will gently break off with your fingers and can be discarded. Do make sure that you discard all parts of the wick that you have broken off from the candle jar and do not leave small pieces of it on the top of the wax.
Use the wooden lid as a base for the candle when it is lit to prevent damage to surfaces and to enhance the good looks of the candle jar. When your WoodWick candle has finished you can reuse the glass jar and base as a posy vase or storage jar.
Have we ever had any complaints about WoodWick Candles?
Our complaints ratio for WoodWick Candles equates to between two and three in every thousand sold (0.3%), a sure sign that WoodWick candles are a top quality product. The few complaints that we have had were regarding the wick which would not stay lit. These candles were returned to us by customers for testing. The wick is made from natural organic wood and if it has not been kiln dried to the correct humidity it may cause burning problems.
We have also had feedback about the wax drowning the wick and extinguishing the candle. This is because the candle had not been burnt for long enough for the wax pool to reach the sides of the candle jar and we considered this to be more of a user error than a fault. It is imperative the candle burns until the wax melts to the edge of the glass every time it is lit to ensure the maximum and most effective burn. The manufacturers of the WoodWick Candle brand in America lab test every fragrance type of candle before it is launched to check it burns properly.
There are pockets of air between the sides of the glass jar and the wax in my WoodWick candles.
We too have noticed that sometimes there are pockets of air between the glass jar and the wax, this is not a problem and will not effect the quality or burn of your candle. All candles are sensitive to heat so slight shrinkage and expansion is to be expected.
The following guidelines apply to the burning of all candles including WoodWick.
- Never leave a burning candle unattended.
- Keep burning candles away from flammable materials, children and pets.
- Do not place candles on or near other heat sources.
- Burn the candles on heat resistant surfaces
- Extinguish candles with great care ensuring that hot wax does not splatter.
- Keep the wick trimmed to no more than 1/8th of an inch.
- Keep the hot wax pool free of wick trimmings, matches or any other flammable materials and ensure that the wick is always in the centre of the candle.
- Do not allow anything to drop into the hot wax pool such as parts of the wick or a match as in very rare occasions this can cause a candle to explode.
Now your have a full understanding of how to get the best from WoodWick candles and which size might suit you best, why not take a look at our range:
