Choosing the Right Wax Melt Burner: Why Size and Design Matter
High Scented Wax Melts: Why size matters, the ideal height and flame to dish gap for better fragrance throw, and the safest setup to stop overheating, spills, and wasted melts.
UK guide to tealight wax melt burners and burner size: explains why small burners overheat wax, how burner height affects fragrance throw and longevity, and safer setup tips to avoid overheating, spills, and wasted wax melts. Last updated: .
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Glossary
- Fragrance throw
- How far the scent travels from your wax melt burner while warming.
- Tealight burner
- A wax melt burner heated by a single tealight candle beneath the dish.
- Burner height
- The overall height of the burner, affecting the heat distance to the dish.
- Flame-to-dish gap
- The space between the tealight flame and the wax dish, influencing melt temperature.
- Overheating
- When wax gets too hot too quickly, shortening longevity and risking bubbling or spills.
- Drafts
- Small air movements (often near windows) that can disrupt warm airflow and fragrance distribution.
Tealight Wax Melt Burners: Why Size Matters
So, you’ve got a tealight burner, eh? Let’s spill the tea on what makes a good one and why size really does matter in this case.
Let's be honest, some of those teeny tiny burners are cute, but they're not exactly the best for your wax melts. It's like trying to cram a family of six into a Mini Cooper, it might work for a short trip, but it's not going to be comfortable or sustainable in the long run.
Small Wax Melt Burners: Why They Overheat
See, those small burners don't leave much room between the flame and the dish. This means your wax heats up super fast, almost scorching. And while that might give you an initial burst of fragrance, it burns through your melts at an alarming rate.
It's like a one hit wonder, a brief moment of glory, then... nothing. Not exactly ideal, right? I'm sure you can agree with me, this is very costly with frequent wax melt replacements.
But that's not all. That intense heat could also cause the wax to bubble, spit, and potentially even spill over, which is a major fire hazard. Plus, those tiny burners are usually designed for essential oils, not wax melts.
Tall Wax Melt Burners: Best Height for Throw
Now, let’s talk about the heroes of the wax melt world, tall burners. These tall wax melt burners are designed to keep your wax at a happy temperature, so it releases fragrance slowly and evenly, making your melts last longer.
Think of it like a marathon runner versus a sprinter – slow and steady wins the race!
So, how tall should your burner be? A good rule of thumb is at least 10cm tall with a minimum 6.5cm between the flame and the dish inside the burner. This ensures there's enough space for the heat to disperse, preventing your wax from overheating and giving you a longer lasting, more enjoyable scent experience.
These burners are for wax melts.
Safety Tip: Never Stack Tealights
If you find yourself needing to stack tealights or use multiple candles to get a good fragrance throw, it's time to upgrade your burner and try some Dayas Essence high scented wax melts! Our scents are packed with three times more fragrance oil, so you'll get an intense fragrance throw without the safety risks of overloading your burner.
Stacking tea lights or using more than one is a huge safety risk, that's like turning your burners into mini furnaces – it creates too much heat and increases the risk of accidents.
Always use a single tealight per burner and place them on heat resistant surfaces, away from drafts, flammable materials, children and pets.
More Fragrance Education
If you’re in your “teach me everything” era, these are worth a nosey.
Burner Placement: Where Throw Gets Better
If your fragrance throw is a bit underwhelming, it could be due to where you've placed your burner. Avoid windowsills or enclosed spaces like bookcases and shelves. Fragrance molecules need room to breathe and spread their wings, so give them a wide berth.
So if you currently have your burner on the windowsill even if the window is closed, a windowsill is a cooler spot compared to the rest of your room. This is because the glass tends to conduct heat away, especially in colder weather.
Windows could have tiny drafts that can interfere with the warm air rising from your burner. This can disrupt the fragrance distribution and make it harder for the scent to spread throughout the room.
Similarly if you have your burner on a log burner, radiator cabinet or gas fire, the intense heat from a log burner or gas fire, or even the gentle warmth of a radiator, can make the air molecules around your burner heavier and denser. This makes it harder for the lighter fragrance molecules to diffuse effectively, as they get "stuck" in the denser air and struggle to travel throughout the room.
Fragrance molecules are tiny particles that move through the air by a process called diffusion. They naturally spread out from areas of high concentration (your burner) to areas of low concentration (the rest of the room).
So, find a nice, cosy spot for your burner that's away from drafts, excessive heat, and enclosed spaces.
This will allow those fragrance molecules to freely diffuse and fill your home with their gorgeous scent.
Wax Melt Burner Safety: Final Reminder
You want your home to smell amazing, not go up in flames. So, choose your burner wisely, follow these simple safety tips, and enjoy the wonderful world of wax melts!
