My room smells funny. I mentioned this to my friend a while ago, and for my birthday she got me this oil burner and a bunch of wax things (don’t know the names, sorry). I’ve never burned candles before. My parents are always paranoid about the house burning down. So, I’m totally clueless to what I’m doing right here.
I burned a chunk of wax earlier, and when it melted, it started bubbling. It kind of freaked me out because it reminded me of when I almost burned the house down with an oil fire on the stove so I put it out. Then the wax got hard and got stuck on the dish. So I melted it again and poured it out into a glass, getting half of it onto the floor. :rolleyes:
I just googled my situation, and apparently I can let it burn for as long as there is scent. Oops. That was a wax block wasted. But is it supposed to bubble and make popping sounds?
For those who use candles and the like, how do you use them? Am I better off using water and those oil drops rather than the wax blocks?
Well, first of all, what you’re burning there are “tarts” - wickless candles that should not be burned directly, but placed in a warmer – that would be a ceramic dish with an opening under the dish part for a tealight candle. You place the tart in the shallow dish and place a tealight underneath, and you light the tealight, not the tart. A tealight is a short candle, maybe 3/4 of an inch tall, usually in a tin cup. To get the melted wax out of the tart warmer, throw it in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes, and it will slide out of the warmer in one piece.
If you were melting the tart correctly and did not actually set it on fire, the only explanation I can think of for it bubbling, popping or smoking is that the flame below it was too high - I did that myself once when I was out of tealights and thought I could get away with a votive under the tart (a votive is about 1.5 - 2 inches tall and nearly reaches the bottom of the dish part of the tart warmer, so it heated the tart way too much.)
I use tarts all the time for “ambience” but I would venture to say that if your room smells funny, it might be time to locate the source of the odor and eliminate it, rather than attempt to cover it up.
I’d also make sure you’re using an actual “tart burner” or “tart warmer” rather than an oil burner.
It should be a two-level affair, with a space on top for the tart, and a space below for the tea light. There should be several inches between the two so the melted tart doesn’t get too hot.
I’ve never had a tart bubble; they just melt and give off their scent. Are you sure you’re using the correct type of burner?
tarts? that’s a new one to me. I don’t know what those are called here, but I’ve seen them before (though I know they were not called tarts). I’m a HUGE fan of burning incense (either Egyptian Goddess or vanilla) in my place. I also buy “Bath & Body Works” plug-ins (Warm-Vanilla Sugar is my favorite!)!
I agree with the above poster however…find the origin of the odor and get rid of that first. No amount of “good smelling stuff” will overcome an embedded odor. (Like covering body odor with perfume…ewww!)
Alright! Thanks guys, I think my friend bought me an oil burner (It’s ceramic and there’s only about two inches between the candle and the dish) but gave me tarts. So, I went out and got a proper tart burner, I think.
When I said my room smells funny, I didn’t mean dead-rat funny, it’s just a bit… stale at times and could use a little scent. So, I guess having a tart/oil burner is perfect.
When you said freeze the dish with the wax, do I freeze it immediately, or wait until it’s solid?
I’d wait until it’s cold, otherwise you run the risk of spilling - the tart warmer dish is shallow enough to make hot wax spill over at the slightest angle.
Get thee to Yankee Candle, my friend, and don’t go when your nose is all stuffed up. You’ll be in wax tart heaven!
OHHHH!! I think I may have just figured out your problem!
You said in the OP you burned a CHUNK of the wax - did you by any chance break the tart and only melt part of it? If that is the case, that’s why it started bubbling. You need to melt the whole thing at once so there’s a proper proportion of heat from the tealight to wax in the burner.
The Fire Marshals insist that no open flame be left unattended.
This sounds a bit overboard but unloaded guns kill people and "I just went to the bathroom and when I got back to the ??? it was in flames!
Option one is to put the oil or candle burner in a shallow dish or plate of water.
Option two. get one of the electric plug in oil heaters the scent the air but are not an open flame.
“Beware of the Cog”