Ideal Wick Stand The wick comes out of the candle in an upright position and bends at the tip towards the outside of the flame, where it combusts completely in the"glow zone" with the highest temperatures and exposure to oxygen. | | |
Wick Forms a Corkscrew This is either caused by an uneven tension in the yarn bundle during the braiding process, or by two yarn bundles with a different number of threads. It may also be caused by twisted wick strands before inserting into the candles. | | |
Wick is too thick The flame is too big in proportion to the candle diameter and will tend to smoke. | | |
Wick stands too straight This "mushrooming" is probably the most common and annoying burning problem. The wick does not bend, so that the tip of the wick does not reach the outside of the flame, where, as you know, the highest temperature is registered, ensuring complete carbon combustion. Causes: | | |
| (1) | Cores, such as lead, zinc, paper, etc. prevent the wick from curving. | |
| (2) | Impurities, such as hard waxes, additives, dyes, fragrances, etc. clog up wick and prevent bending. | |
The flame will melt more wax than the wick can combust. The candle bowl fills up with liquid wax, which eventually will overflow or drip. | | |
Wick is falling over The wick is too loose in the candle. This particularly occurs when candles are pressed and the wick guide is not properly adjusted. This may also occur with molded candles if the wicks have too much slack.
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Wick is too short Due to impurities in the candle wax formula, the wick will clog up. The flame shrinks, the bowl fills up with liquid wax and the candle will drip. Under extreme conditions, the flame may even extinguish. This is caused by impurities in the wax formula of inorganic nature: hard wax, synthetic waxes, dye stuffs (especially pigments) and fragrance oils. | | |
Wick smokes This type of smoking is caused by drafts. Candles should be burned in a draft free environment. | | |
Wick is too strongly bent This can be caused by weak paraffin (high penetration) or insufficiently treated wicks. A specially treated wick will stay upright better in weak paraffin than a regularly treated wick. This is often the case with pressed candles. Regularly treated wicks, used in pressed candles, bend too much. Therefore, a specially treated and braided wick is recommended in pressed candles. | | |
Wick is buckled This is due to a braiding fault, e.g. a nonbraided spot in the wick. | | |
Wick forms rests of ashes The formation of ashes is caused by impurities in the wax formula. The non-combustible materials concentrate at the end of the wick in the shape of thin threads and can even lead to a double wick. Special wick treatment can completely combust a limited amount of impurities. | | |
