What Every Candle Burner Should Know About Candle Soot

What Every Candle Burner Should Know About Candle Soot

Candle soot can be a real headache.

You're burning a candle only to find that there's a black smoky substance coming from your flame. That stuff can get all over your appliances, walls, and cabinets causing the need to repaint.

The bad news is that black smoky substance is soot.

What Every Candle Burner Should Know About Candle Soot

The good news is that if you're burning a candle that's properly made, there are a number of ways you can reduce the amount of soot that comes from your candles. Following these tips will not only help your candles burn better, but you'll have a much better candle experience.

So, first things first.

Where does soot come from? 

Every candle is fueled by its wax, and the wick is the vehicle, which creates a capillary action, that carries the fuel to keep the flame burning.

A process, called combustion, is what happens when you have a carbon (in this case, wax) react with oxygen in the air. The reaction creates light, and the burning fuel produces carbon dioxide. Steam, in small amounts, is also a produced as the flame melts the wax, as well as smoke.

The smoke is basically from the minuscule particles of carbon in the wax (that weren't completely burned) combined with a bit of steam. This produces a black smoky substance from the flame (carbon) that causes your walls, fixtures and such to become black when the carbon is released into the air. 

When you light a candle, the blue part of the flame that you see is where the steam is produced. In this area, the wax is clean burning with lots of oxygen (hence, the blue color).

A bit further up, in the bright yellow part of the flame, is where the smoke is created. This is because the oxygen is pulled up the wick at the bottom and heat is given off at the top of the flame, giving off hot air.

There isn't enough oxygen that reaches the top of the flame to create a perfect combustion process. 

What Are You Talking About?

Okay, simply put. Your candle needs three things to burn well. Those things would be a consistent amount of fuel, a steady flame and oxygen to burn well.

The key word is consistent.

So, if I were to place my candle by the window, where there's a gentle breeze, just because I want to give it oxygen, it would create an inconsistent flame, because that gentle breeze would cause my candle flame to become larger and then smaller.

That little breeze would create a large "flicker" from your  candle flame.

That flickering happens because the flame is bouncing around in the draft and causes the wick to require larger amounts of fuel.

When the flame becomes smaller, in the flickering process, it's not going to burn all the fuel that it took in when the flame was larger and the extra fuel is burned off as carbon or soot. 

 

One of the best ways to keep candle soot down is to keep your candle out of drafty places. 

 Tweet: One of the best ways to keep candle soot down is to keep your candle out of drafty places. @everythingdawn #candletips

 

Contain Things

One way that to help this problem is to contain free standing candles, such as votive and pillars, in cylindrical containers to keep the draft from the candle flame.

While it may seem to make sense, since cylinder containers have a closed bottom, this solution is going to limit the amount of oxygen that the candle will need for its flame to consistently burn.

In fact, it's almost like being in any closed in space where oxygen is limited. The oxygen will be used more quickly and will run out in such a small, enclosed space.

Remember, your flame will need sufficient and consistent oxygen to burn, and that oxygen will largely come from the lower area surrounding the flame. If the lower air is trapped and the flame can only pull from the oxygen coming in from the top of the container, there's a fight as the steam that's produced by the burning candle is trying to escape. This conflict will produce soot and cause the inner part of the cylinder container to become black.

A Quick Solution

One way to combat this issue is to use a cylinder with an open bottom to create air flow from the bottom of the container.

Then, raise the cylinder just a bit at its bottom to allow air to enter in from the bottom. This can be done by taking something about the height of a tea light container and placing one on four areas of the bottom of the bottomless cylinder. This would raise the container enough to allow air to come in through the bottom. Remember to always use something stable to raise your candle vase.  

Keep Things Trim

According to the National Candle Association, one of the absolute best ways to keep soot down when you're burning a candle is to keep the wick trimmed to about ¼".

When you first light a candle, you want to make sure that the candle is trimmed down to that ¼" length so that you don't start off with a high flame. If you find that the flame is dancing and your candle isn't in a drafty room, you'll likely need to trim the wick a bit more.

This is one of those reasons why a candle should never be left to itself. If your flame gets too high, it could really mean trouble. However, keeping your candle wick trimmed will keep your flame under control and allow a better burn with less soot. 

Go With Cotton

Try to get candles made with cotton wicks, rather than lead wicks (that are more prone to producing carbon).

Cotton fibers absorb wax best because their fibers pull in the wax. Cotton cored wicks (as cotton wicks are referred to) aid in producing a cleaner burn. It's a good idea to ask your candle maker which types of wicks are used in their candle making process (if it's not already listed).

Keep Debris Out Of Your Candle

Make sure that any foreign objects are out of your candle. Match sticks from lighting your candle, dirt, and other objects (or pieces of them) don't belong in candles. I mean, it's completely like seeing a bonfire and tossing debris into it. It kindles the fire. Not a good idea.

Be Sure You're Buying Well Made Candles

Candles that are made with an overload of fragrance are another culprit for sooty candles. While many of us would like to have our candles loaded with extra fragrance so that our homes will be filled with this super fragrance that spreads from room to room, overloaded fragrance is wrong.

Okay one more time. Overloaded fragrance is wrong!

Candle wax can only hold so much fragrance. If you put more in than it can hold, all of that fragrance will sit on top of the wax because all of the fragrance won't bind to the wax properly. 

The fragrance that sits on top of that wax is going to cause an interruption in the candle's burning process, causing major soot and possibly even a candle fire.

As a side note...

When purchasing candles, it's good to have some knowledge about who you're buying from.

Always keep in mind what type of candle you're looking for, whether it's one designed more for aesthetics, one designed for enjoying aroma or just for illumination. Buy from someone you trust is going to give you a quality product and one who is knowledgeable about candle making.

 

 

 

 

2 comments

I burn three tiny candles at a time in my therapy room and the black soot is horrendous – wicks not long so I don’t know how to correct this.

Sandra Mockridge

Hello, thank you for all candle info! Ive been making candles for 2 years, tried many different types of waxes, from paraffin to soy. I usually buy scents from candle science and use cd wicks. Not super happy with hot throw. Any recommendations? I have tried increasing wick size to pouring scent at different temps etc. Wondering if I need to buy from another company. Thanks again for providing assistances. Have a great day! Norma

Norma Schrils

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