Candle Making Safety Tips

Candles add a wonderfully lit ambiance to any room and make impressive decorative pieces. However, candles can also be extremely dangerous and can result in serious injury and/or damage to a home. Fire professionals have noted that the majority of candle related fires are due to consumer negligence of simple fire safety and/or to the misuse of candles. Please follow these basic safety precautions when using candles to ensure a safe and beautiful environment.

Always keep a burning candle within sight. Extinguish all candles when leaving a room (even if you leave the room for a few moments) or before going to sleep.

Never burn a candle on or near anything that can catch fire. Keep burning candles away from curtains, furniture, carpets, bedding, paper, books, flammable decorations, etcetera.

Keep candle out of the reach of children and/or pets. Do not place burning candles where they can be knocked over by children, pets, or anyone else.

Trim candle wicks to 1/4 inch before burning. Long or crooked wicks cause dripping, uneven burning, and/or large flames.

Always use a candleholder specifically designed for candle use. The candleholder should be sturdy, heat resistant, and large enough to hold any melted wax.

Always place a candleholder on a stable, level, heat-resistant surface. This ensures a safe burning location and will also help prevent glass containers from cracking or breaking and prevent possible heat damage to table surfaces and counters.

Keep the burn pool/melt pool free of wick trimmings, matches, and/or other debris at all times. Debris of any kind in the burn pool could catch fire.

Always read and follow the manufacturer’s safety and use instructions carefully. Never burn a candle longer than the manufacturer recommends.

Keep burning candles away from drafts, ceiling fans, vents, and air currents. This will prevent uneven or fast burning and help avoid sooting and flame flare-ups. Note. drafts could also carry papers or lightweight drapes into the flame where they could catch fire.

Always burn candles in a well-ventilated room. Do not burn too many candles in a small room or in a snug home where there is poor air exchange. The gathering of fumes could cause serious illness. If this does occur, evacuate the area and make sure it is well ventilated before returning.

Never burn a candle all of the way down. Extinguish the flame if it comes too close to the container or holder. For an extra amount of safety, snuff out the burning candle when there is 1/2 inch of wax left in a container or 2 inches of wax remaining for a pillar.

Never touch a burning candle or attempt to move a container or votive candle when the wax is liquefied. The candle and/or containers will be hot and you could get burned.

Place burning candles at least 3 inches apart from one another. This ensures the candles will not make their own drafts that will cause them to burn improperly. The spacing also makes sure that the candles do not draw heat from each other that will cause them to melt faster.

Use a candle snuffer or a wick dipper to extinguish a candle. This is the safest way to prevent burning wick embers from flying and hot wax from spraying.

Never extinguish candles with water. The water can cause the hot wax to splash and the temperature difference between the hot candle and the water might cause a glass container to break.

Be very careful when using candles during a power outage. Never use a candle during a power outage to look for items in a closet or when fueling equipment (such as a kerosene heater or a lantern). Flashlights and other battery-powered equipment are safer sources of light during a power failure.

Always put votive candles in a snug fitting container. This allows the candle to achieve the best burn. Votives are formulated to completely liquefy when burning, fundamentally becoming a small container candle.

Always make sure a candle is completely extinguished and the wick ember is no longer glowing before leaving the room. The flame may be gone, but if the wick is still glowing there is a possibility that it could re-ignite.

Never burn a candle in a container that is chipped or cracked. The change in temperature from a cold, unlit candle to a hot, burning candle could cause the container to break and possibly allow the burning wax to leak out.

Extinguish a candle if it flickers repeatedly, smokes excessively, or the flame becomes too high. The candle is not burning properly and the flame is not regulated correctly. After snuffing out the flame, let the candle cool, trim the wick, and check for drafts before re-lighting.

Never use a candle as a night light. Always keep a candle within sight. Extinguish a candle when leaving a room (even if you leave the room for a few moments) or before going to sleep.

Candle Making Safety Instructions:

Never leave melting wax unattended. Stay near the wax at all times while melting, even if you are using a double boiler remain close to the wax.

Never overheat the wax. If the wax reaches the flashpoint temperature, the wax will spontaneously combust. Also, the fumes from the overheated wax could cause serious illness. If this does occur, evacuate the area and make sure it is well ventilated before returning.

Always keep the wax away from open flames. Candle waxes are fuel for fire.

Always use a thermometer. Take accurate temperature readings while making candles for safety reasons and for optimum results.

Never use water on a wax fire. Instead, use a pot lid to snuff out small flames in a container candle, baking soda to smother small fires, or a fire extinguisher to douse large flames.

Always use pot holders and/or pliers when handling hot pots or containers. Molten wax is extremely hot, as are the pots or containers you are working with, and they could burn you.

Never pour wax down the drain. The wax will solidify and clog the pipes. Instead, pour the excess wax in a milk carton or a can and throw it away in the trash.

Never let candle making grow habitual to the point that you become reckless. That is when accidents and serious injuries could occur.

Note: These Candle Safety Tips are provided by Nu-Scents for the personal use of our customers. No portions of this document may be reproduced for distribution, sale, or publication of any kind without the expressed written consent of Nu-Scents Wholesale, LLC.