Troubleshooting Guide: Is It Normal If My Candle…

You light your candle and all seems well...until you notice something weird. Is it it normal for your candle to do...that? In this post, we'll explain whether the following things are normal and, if not, what you can do to correct them:

1. wax hangup on the sides of the jar

2. tunneling around the wick or very thick hangup on the sides of the jar

3. unstable, large, or wildly flickering candle flames

4. sooty-looking smoke is frequently whiffing off the candle flame and/or soot is building up on the sides of the jar

5. there are sooty balls on the wick after burning the candle

6. the jar is hot to the touch

There's wax hangup on the sides of the candle jar.

This is totally normal! It is normal for there to be some wax clinging to the sides of the jar, especially during the first several burns and even halfway down into the jar. This wax will continue to ‘catch up,’ so to speak, as the flame gets lower into the jar and heats the sides of the vessel.

Below are two examples of a normal amount of wax hangup.

There's a really thick amount of hangup (also called tunneling).

If your candle has more than a little hangup and is starting to form a tunnel around the wick, this is not normal. Usually, this is caused by burning the candle for very short periods at a time (as in, 1-2 hours). The melted wax pool takes time to expand and melt the wax towards the jar’s edges. If you continue to burn the candle for short periods, it will be unable to catch up, and the candle will become unusable.

Flickering Feline's candles are meant to be burned for 4-5 hours at a time, so to prevent tunneling, make sure to burn your candle in this timeframe.

Below is an example of a candle that is starting to tunnel.

There's an unstable, large, or wildly flickering flame.

Some flickering is normal, but your flame should not be very large or flickering wildly. To fix this, make sure to burn your candle in a draft-free location and trim the wick to 1/4 inch before each burn. Drafts can make the flame unstable, and forgetting to trim the wick can cause the flame to flicker excessively and/or be larger than it should be.

There's sooty-looking smoke frequently whiffing off the flame and/or soot is building up on the sides of the jar.

This is not normal. To fix this, make sure to burn your candle in a draft-free location and trim the wick to 1/4 inch before each burn. Drafts and untrimmed wicks both contribute to excessive soot. A little soot is to be expected, but your candle should not be producing a noticeable amount of it. If you can wipe your finger on the inside of the jar and it comes away covered in soot, then that is too much!

FUN FACT: Both plant-based waxes and paraffin waxes produce soot! It is a myth that plant-based waxes are soot-free because anything that is burning will produce some amount of soot due to the nature of incomplete combustion.

There are sooty black balls on the wick after burning the candle.

This is usually normal, but it depends on the size of the balls! Candle makers often refer to these little black balls as mushrooms, or shrooms for short. They are a result of carbon buildup on the wick. Mushrooms are only a concern if they are large (this can impact the size/quality of the flame). Having a smaller shroom here and there is normal, and they can be more common depending on the type of wick being used.

Make sure to trim your wick to 1/4 inch before each burn; this ensures the shrooms are cut off. Additionally, do not burn your Flickering Feline candles for over 5 hours at a time; this helps reduce soot and shroom buildup.

Below is an example of a candle that has developed a couple of normal, small shrooms after burning.

The candle jar is hot to the touch.

This is completely normal! A candle consists of a flame inside of a jar, so it is normal for that jar to heat up. All of Flickering Feline’s candles are tested to ensure the surface temperature of jars with a lit flame do not exceed a safe level of 155 degrees Fahrenheit even if left burning for up to 8 hours.

Is there something we missed?

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