Candle Safety

Candles are an everyday luxury found in most homes of today. Don't we all love watching the flicker of the flame as the scent fills the room? I know I do! At Darceys we produce luxury scented candles from natural soy wax giving a clean burning fresh scent with no harmful toxins or carcinogens. As with all candles, though, there are some basic safety guidelines that should be followed, not only to get the most out of your experience but also to ensure safe use. Tunnel Prevention Did you know that wax has a memory? When burning a candle you should ensure that you are burning it long enough to melt the wax in a pool right to the edge of the jar. Failing to do this will result in a tunnel effect as the candle will only melt to the previous pool diameter. As a general guide, you should ensure that you burn your candle for 1 hour for every inch in diameter. So for Darceys small candle, you should burn for a minimum of 2 hours and the large candle 3 hours. Wick Trimming Wick trimming is important for every candle! Since the wick is made of cotton if it gets too long it will begin to emit soot and black smoke which can be unsightly and can leave marks on your walls and ceiling. A long wick also produces a large flame which can overheat the jar and become a fire risk. Please always ensure that you follow the wick trimming instructions. The candle wick should be trimmed to 1/8th of an inch or 3mm before each use and should be done whenever the first signs of a large flame can be seen. Do not burn the candle for more than 4 hours at a time to prevent this happening. After 4 hours, or if the wick is showing signs of smoking, extinguish the candle and leave to return to room temperature and the wax solidify. Trim the wick and then relight. Wax Anchoring It is vitally important to leave a layer of solid wax at the bottom of your candle jar. This acts as an anchor for your wick tab keeping it centered in the jar. If the wax is allowed to melt to the bottom of the jar, the glue that holds the tab to the bottom of the jar will melt and the wick will drift to the side of the jar. This is a major fire risk as the glass may overheat and burst. You must ensure that if the wax is showing signs of melting to the bottom of the jar you extinguish the candle and leave to solidify before lighting again. The time taken for the wax to melt to the bottom of the jar will depend on the candle as well as how much wax was in the jar to begin with so always keep a close eye on it. Candle Placement Where you place your candle in your home is another important safety issue. Mostly common sense but there are a few things you may not have thought of.

1. Keep candles out of reach of Children and Animals. Even if you think your children know better than to go near them, don't take the chance, keep them up high and out of reach.

2. Keep candles away from draughty areas. A draught will cause a dancing flame which will lick the side of the jar, it will also encourage a quicker burn which will mean you'll need to extinguish and trim sooner.

3. Do not place a candle between shelves. There should be at least a 1 meter gap between your candle and anything above it.

4. Ensure candle isn't' placed in a busy environment, e.g beside greetings cards or photo frames etc that could fall onto the candle.

5. Keep away from flammables, do not have a lit candle sitting beside a lighter, a reed diffuser, aerosol can or any other flammable items.

NEVER LEAVE A BURNING CANDLE UNATTENDED!! It can be tempting to light a candle in an empty room and leave it alone to scent the room whilst you are in another part of the house. DON'T!!! All candles carry a certain level of risk and any number of things can go wrong. If it does you should be near enough to notice and extinguish immediately before the problem gets out of hand.