We were contacted this week by a customer who was disappointed that their beeswax Refill Tealights hadn’t been leaving leftover wax. When someone asks "why isn't my candle burning completely?" our first question is always about what type of cup were they are using - without a snug fitting cup, the wax pool flows too far away from the flame and hardens making full wax consumption impossible. The second question we ask is usually about the ambient temperature in the space where the candles were burning. The photo below demonstrates why we ask that question:
All four of these Tealights were lit at the same time, the two on the left were placed on a concrete floor in a cold room where the temperature is approximately 4 degrees Celsius, the two on the right were placed on the kitchen counter where the temperature is approximately 17 degrees Celsius. Both sets were left to burn and extinguish naturally.
The cold environment meant that the candles on the left could not maintain enough heat to melt a wax pool out to the edge of the candles. The candles on the right, in the warmer room consumed almost all of the wax before burning out.
We are constantly test burning and choose our wick sizes carefully so that our candles perform well at room temperature. Typically, in ambient temperatures greater than 17 degrees, the wax is even more completely consumed, though dense, cool surfaces like concrete or marble, and cool zones like window ledges can have an impact.
If you happen to end up with leftover beeswax because of an incomplete burn, don’t despair! You can break it into smaller pieces and “feed” it to a beeswax candle with a larger diameter melt pool such as a Pillar. This will increase the burn time of the larger candle.
