Where do I stand - damage caused by candle?

neilmcl

cannyClaire wrote: »

Candles in tins are, in my opinion, really dangerous. Wax increases in temperature really quickly when it is all molten and the flashpoint of the wax is acheived much quicker in a tin as the metal container keeps heating the wax on the outside of the candle, hence spontaneous combustion.

Is that a professional opinion? The flashpoint of normal paraffin wax is around 390F, I very much doubt that is achievable by a candle in a tin on its own, you'd have to be heating the wax from an external source to achieve this.

wik

I nearly got caught out a few years ago, a friend bought me a pressie from a craft fair - it was drift wood decorated with shells and had 3 tealights on it... I lit it and luckily was in the room, when the wood started to smoulder!!! it went in the bin straight away!!!

A while after that I remember reading about a fireservice that was trying to get tealights banned, there had been several instances of them causing fires, due to the metal cup bit getting very very hot once the wax had burnt down and if they were on wood, plastic etc they could catch light.

cannyClaire

neilmcl wrote: »

Is that a professional opinion? The flashpoint of normal paraffin wax is around 390F, I very much doubt that is achievable by a candle in a tin on its own, you'd have to be heating the wax from an external source to achieve this.

No, if I was involved in candles in a professional capacity I wouldn't be saying they were unsafe. I have seen several candles in tins and other metal containers (I had some candles in foil cases which were made to look like cakes) with a surface 'smoke' on them just before they combust, and the containers are, at that point, too hot to touch. Obviously they are much more likely to combust when the have burnt down and there is less wax and more hot container, but this does happen.

You state the flashpoint of paraffin wax, but is that with perfumed additives and a naked flame in the middle?

Mystic_79

OlliesDad wrote: »

Have you tested more? or are you assuming that they are all the same?

It may be that you had a "dodgy one". If JL get enough returns and this is a common fault, they will withdraw them from sale.

One dodgy candle is what it takes for tragedy to happen . I had 2 small children sleeping next door. I have reconsidered my use of candles in the home as a result of this. What concerns me the most though is the company's non challant attitude in not acknowledging my complaint. I offered to post them the candle so they can do their tests and learn from what went wrong. Obviously they do not take quality control and incident reporting seriously. If they continue to have this sort of attitude, another accident is bound to happen sooner or later and perhaps result in tragedy?

Freddie_Snowbits

Before this goes for a load of bull, here is some advice for those daft enough to have naked flames in thier homes.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/InYourHome/FireSafety/DG_180798

For those who cannot read and still think it is safe, remember how to dial 999.

(Oh and just in case you do not know, the 5 button on the dial has a raised lip, the 9 button is down one and across to the right)

Now, did I leave me chip pan on?

OlliesDad

Mystic_79 wrote: »

One dodgy candle is what it takes for tragedy to happen .

I read a story about how a water boiler in a loft developed a fault and flooded the loft which subsequently meant the roof fell in on two young sleeping children. Very sad, but that doesn;t mean that water boilers should be outlawed.

You haven't had a response. That does not mean that they did not take the complaint seriously, just that they didn;t report any findings to you. Did you report the problem to the shop? or just the manufacturers?

Hintza

Mystic_79 wrote: »

I had 2 small children sleeping next door.

Don't forget the children!!!!

cybergibbons

I dislike candles, mainly due to the risk of having an open flame in my house. But I especially dislike any of them that result in a large, molten pool of wax in a metal tin. The flashpoint of pure paraffin wax is about 205C, add perfumes etc. and it can drop lower. If the perfume flashes over, then the wax will too. It's like a mini chip pan fire.

The massive church candles are better, although there is a pool of wax, you know that the boundary of the solid/liquid can't be higher than the melting point of wax, and it's very unlikely the whole pool is near to flash point.

Oopsadaisy

pinkshoes wrote: »

Well, this is the photo from their own webpage:



LIT candles in tins placed on MATERIAL!!!

No where does it say that the candles need to be placed on a flame proof surface...

Fireproof material????

Candles are now the number 1 cause of house fires [and presumably fire deaths]....usually involving pi55ed up students or loved-up middle age hippies.

charlieb101

OMG! I've just had the same thing happen to a Lily Flame candle in a tin. It was Festive Cheer scent and burst into a fireball within the tin. Luckily it was burning on a fire hearth so I could put it out by throwing a wet cloth over it- but the tin is completely blackened and the paper around it burst into flames also. This could have been so much worse. I have just emailed the company and sent photos of the damage. I await their reply with interest.