Should I be getting more!

[Oddsox]

I've made a lot of tealight candles recently and have experimented with different wicks, colours and fragrances. I am using soy wax both container and pillar and variations of the two mixed.

When burn testing them I am getting about 4-5 hours full burn time from them at best. Is this the right level of expected time from soy tealights? I know ordinary paraffin candles burn a similar length of time and would expect soy to burn for much longer!

Am I missing something or not doing something ?

Any comments appreciated.

Thanks

Oddsox:)

[girlyracer]

Hiya

That sound about right although mine burn for approx 6-8 hours. A lot of it depends on the wick and FO used.

Soy wax does burn cooler than paraffin and you do get slightly longer burn times but we are talking about tealights here which hold only 1/2 oz of wax. If it was a container with 8oz of wax then you would notice a difference in the burn time because of the larger volume of wax.

1/2 oz isn't much really so the burn times are going to be near enough the same between soy and paraffin.

Hope that makes sense, I'm not too good at explaining things sometimes :D

[Oddsox]

Thanks Ruby, that would have been my thinking. Due to the small proportions used the differences should be neglible.

What set me thinking was looking at some soy wax tealights on ebay for sale offering 8-10 hours burn time which is doubling the average time I have been experiencing. Maybe some additive is being used to enhance the time and reduce the speed the wax is being used up!!!

I tend to use small amounts of both colour and essential oils in mine and maybe this adversely affects the burn time!!

Oddsox:)

[candles by lisa]

What kind of tealight cup are you using? Is it metal or plastic. The metal build up more heat than the plastic ones and that might have something to do with it. Never heard of a tea light able to last 10 hours before!!

Cheers.

Lisa

[girlyracer]

Lisa's right, 10 hours does seem to be a bit excessive. I use the plastic cups for mine and I guess on average they last around 7 hours. Some fragrances a little less some a little more. That's why I say 6-8 hours on my site.

Would be interesting to know how this eBay seller gets them to last 8-10 hours though.

[Oddsox]

[quote=candles by lisa;192590]What kind of tealight cup are you using? Is it metal or plastic. The metal build up more heat than the plastic ones and that might have something to do with it. Never heard of a tea light able to last 10 hours before!!


I use only plastic cups as they are easly reused. I would asume that these are more efficient than foil cups due to the heat loss through the metal is greater. I'll try and find that link again and have another look!!