Melt Your Heart

If you're thinking about trying wax melts there are a few things to consider. The most obvious being which scent to try, I keep catching myself calling them flavours but please, for the love of cheese, don't try and eat them!

One question that we get asked a lot is whether our burners are suitable for use with wax melts - which is why I've written this guide to help.

All of the burners that we sell are suitable for use with wax melts, but there are some minor exceptions to this that I'll cover below.

The only reason we can see that some manufacturers are on the fence as to whether or not the burners are suitable for wax melts is purely down to size. 

You can sometimes find little paper advice slips inside the packaging of oil burners which have statements such as 'it is not recommended to use wax melt products with this item'. The only reason, as far as we are aware, comes down to the size of the bowl or dish and whether or not it has the capacity for a melted wax melt / tart.

Size Matters

The burners that we sell vary in size and the size and depth of the bowls therefore also vary in size. When filling a bowl with oil it's plain to see when enough oil has been added and therefore easy avoid overflow. Because wax melts are not in a liquid state when added to the bowl it is not immediately clear how much space they will take up as they melt.

Some manufacturers won't recommend the use of wax melts because only once the wax has melted can you see if you've added too much. If the bowl/dish is small (as with a fair few of the burners we sell), then a medium or large wax melt, once melted, may overfill the bowl with wax, and cause the wax to overspill.

Now, and I cannot stress this enough, overfilling your burner with wax is dangerous, and is a serious safety concern. Overflowing wax can cause fire.

However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no reason why any burner cannot be used with wax melts, so long as the wax is added gradually, and with caution.

Our mini wax melts are perfect for this as there's no risk of them overflowing with any of our burners, even the small ones, if you just use one or two mini melt at a time.

If using a large wax melt / wax tart, you can break it down using a butter knife and add small chunks of wax gradually, monitoring the fill level in the bowl once each piece has melted.

As far as we are aware, there are no other reasons why any of our burners cannot be used with wax melt products.

Using Tealights

It is essential that an appropriate size tealight is used when operating any of our non-electric burners, particularly smaller ones.

A larger tealight in a small burner can mean that the naked flame is too close to the bottom of the bowl / dish, and this must be avoided, as it could potentially cause the bowl or dish to overheat and crack or even to catch fire.

Provided that small tealights are used in small burners, there is no safety issue that we are aware of concerning overheating.

General Advice

It is important to note that we consider the following points to denote 'proper and appropriate usage':

• Ensure that whilst heat is being applied from below, there is sufficient oil or wax in the glass dish at ALL times
• Heating the bowl from below whilst there is no oil/wax in it could cause the bowl or dish to crack, as there is nothing absorbing the heat
• Ensure that you use a good quality tealight. Poorer quality tealights with high soot content can impair the heat exchange of your burner
• Ensure that the wick on the tealight is kept trimmed and that the flame does not come into direct contact with the bottom of the bowl or dish
• You MUST always use an appropriate size tealight for the size of the burner as mentioned above
• Never move the burner whilst the tealight is lit or while the contents is hot
• Always place your burner on a heatproof and fireproof surface
• Never use sharp or metallic objects (such as knives) to remove used wax, as this could scratch or damage the bowl, and potentially weaken its structure, risking breakage when next used
• To remove wax, we recommend applying a small amount of heat to loosen any solidified wax and then popping the wax block out of the bowl using gentle pressure and a soft cloth or tissue 

Please note: the above text is intended to be general guidance for using our burner products, and is true to the best of our knowledge at the time of writing.

Thank you for your reading this little guide, we hope you found it useful in ensuring the safe use of your burner!