The Much-Desired Full Melt Pool

When a candle’s wax has been burning long enough to completely extend to the edge of its jar, it has reached full melt pool status! Does having a full melt pool matter? Well, yes and no.

In candle-loving circles, it’s all about reaching a full melt pool after some very specific burn times. It can be a key component to a candle that burns evenly, all the way down to the end of the jar. Also, it ensures that the fragrance can be released better throughout the room. With these things in mind, noting how a candle burns the first few times can be critical to the remainder of its useful life.

Before burning a candle for the first time, always make sure the wick is trimmed to a ¼ inch. Depending on the diameter of the jar, most candle makers will estimate that a full melt pool should be reached within certain time frames (most commonly, one hour per inch, where a 3-inch candle should take approximately three hours to reach a full melt pool). In addition, the melt pool should never get larger than ¼-½ inch while burning it within the candle’s recommended burn times.

If your candle doesn’t reach a full melt pool within the recommended burn time (which is typically four hours), you run the risk of it tunneling with future burns or possibly drowning out your wick, which will end its life altogether. But that’s only true of some candles.

Though reaching a full melt pool is important to an evenly burning candle, there are other factors to consider if your candle doesn’t quite achieve this status within the first few burns. If your candle jar is deep, for example, it will most likely have a full melt pool after you burn through the first half of the jar. This means the small amount of wax that gets left on the sides after the first few burns will eventually “catch up” and begin to extend all the way to the edge later.

In cases like these, if a full melt pool is reached too soon, a lot of soot may start to build up or the flame can overheat the jar each time you burn it. Also, a candle that reaches a full melt pool too fast means it’s burning at a very fast rate. Not only is this potentially unsafe, but it can cause the bulk of its scent to be released too soon, thus it will wane significantly toward the end. 

All in all, each candle is different, but the goal is to have a safe, clean- and even-burning candle with a consistent fragrance throw from beginning to end.