Burn behaviour
Wick drowns in the melt pool
A drowned wick means the melt pool grew faster than the wick could consume the wax. The flame starves, weakens, and snuffs itself out.
Written by Maya Holloway
Likely causes
- Wick is under-sized for the vessel.
- Wax has very low melting point (some coconut blends).
- Burn session went longer than 4 hours, building an excessive pool.
How to diagnose
- Re-light, let the pool cool, and observe whether the wick stays upright.
- Compare wick output rating against vessel diameter.
What to change next batch
- 01
Size up the wick.
- 02
Limit burns to 3–4 hour sessions.
- 03
If the candle is rescuable, pour off a few mm of pooled wax and re-trim the wick to 5 mm.
Related symptoms
- Candle tunnels down the centre
Wax left on the wall, narrow burn pool.