Have you seen those scary videos of wax melters on fire?
That can be enough to stop you from using wax melts all together, but if you want to learn how & why those melters go up in flames & how to prevent them, then keep on reading to see if you're making any of these common mistakes.
CLP LABELS AND THEIR IMPORTANCE
The labels on the back of wax melts & candles are just general fire & allergy safety labeling, these are known as C.L.P. labels, but those labels leave a lot of valuable information out, and it could be costing you a lot of money in wasted melts. I’ll be sharing four more safety tips to prevent those accidents occurring, while saving you money along the way!
Can I Use Scented Tealights With My Wax Melts?
Using scented tealights can be so tempting to intensify your chosen scent, or to even have a wee mix of scents, but you should always refrain from using scented tealights in your melters!
Fragrance oils have individual flash points (this is the temperature it needs to reach to catch fire) which means that each individual scent has different flash points .
What happens if I use scented tealights in my melter?
Stating the obvious here, but scented tealights have fragrance oils in them, that’s what gives them their scent and this is where the danger lies. Scented candles get to much higher temperatures than unscented ones do, and if used in a melter it will overheat your wax melt in the pool, and not to mention how hot it can get inside the melter.
A whole host of problems can happen here, your melter can crack & break, your wax melt can boil in the melter spurting out wax and it makes it much easier to reach the flash point of the fragrance oils.
So stick to regular unscented tealights in your melter, and use strong scented wax melts like the ones you can find here at Wavy Waxes.
You can always try adding a little more wax if your melter pool is big enough, and if you were wanting to use scented tealights to mix scents, we have melters designed to melt two different scents at once safely.
What Size Should My Wax Melter Be?
Smaller melters are common as they are so cheap and easy to find in so many shops, BUT did you know that these smaller ones are actually oil burners and not for wax melts?
Oil burners are much smaller and are not intended for wax melt use and are only for fragrance or essential oils. Putting wax into these pools causes excessive heating and stress to the melter and it can create cracks in them, and if any wax leaks into the candle below it can catch fire.
What is the difference between Wax Burners & Oil Burners?
Well, one major key difference is their height. Oil burners are generally smaller than 10cm (4 inches) which is about the same height as a pack of playing cards.
Okay so the bigger the better?
Not exactly, the taller the melter, the harder it is to heat the wax pool, so I always suggest anything between 10cm-13cm, this is my goldie locks height, it's not too hot or too cold and best of all you won’t be wasting your melts (and money) on overheating the oils and finishing them before their time or only melting half the pool at a time and not getting the full intensity of your wax melts.
Should I Use 8 Hour Tealights?
This is a major no no in the wax melting circle! I know a lot of wax lovers swear by using 8 hour tealights as it saves them trips up and down to their melters, but it’s still a candle and candles shouldn’t be on for any longer than 4 hours at a time.
8 hour tealights are twice the height of 4 hour tealights meaning the flame is so much closer to the base of the pool, causing the melter to overheat, which we now know causes cracks in the melters and makes the wax overheat that lead to fires and can cause the wax to spurt out.
Best case scenario, you’re wasting money.
Overheating the wax will cause your fragrance oil to burn off much faster too, which will drastically reduce the burn time of your wax melt, costing you more money when you rebuy them much sooner than you needed to and also having to replace any cracked melters too.
Stick to 4 hour tealights, even if it’s just to save money on your wax melts and melters, there’s no shame in making a little saving!
Is My Melter Too Full?
There are a whole list of reasons why your melter might not be melting your wax, but this one is very common. More wax doesn’t always mean stronger scents, not only is it a fire hazard as it can spill over if you overestimated how much wax you melter can hold or it can also get too hot, creating cracks in your melter.
Why isn't my wax melting?
If your wax isn’t melting and still has solid wax, either fully or just around the edges, it could be that there is too much wax in the melter, and you’ve just added more wax for a more intense scent throw and this caused the opposite effect! This is because it’s just too cold and more wax needs more energy to fully melt it, and this is wasting your wax melts and tealights (and money).
How much wax should I use?
You should always start off with a small piece of wax to gauge how strong the fragrance is. Some melts can be really deceiving on a cold sniff and can really pack a punch once melted.
- Snapbars - I always recommend starting with one square
- Geo Heart - roughly a third of this shape
- Waffle Heart - one quarter of the heart
- Heart Shapes - add one to your pool
- Free Samples - the whole pack (these are the same weight as one heart shape!)
You can always add more if you want, but you can’t take it back out without wasting your wax, but you should only add more if your melter has the capacity for more wax. So always remember less really is more!
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