A good reason to hate gel candles

[Drayla]

So late last night, my wife and I were watching a movie together. We had paused the movie for the moment in order to make some snacks. We had also lit a gel candle that we had gotten as a gift so we could go ahead and let the very last bit of it burn off. Well, my wife noticed that suddenly the candle, which barely had anything left in it, was on fire. I don't mean the wick was burning either; the entire jar was filled with a flame. It scared my wife, but I wasn't too worried about it, since it was perfectly contained in the jar, and nothing flamable was around it. We tried sinmply blowing it out, but of course that wouldn't work. I would have simply let it burn itself out, except that it was beginning to smell none too pleasant, and I feared the smoke detector might be triggered, even though there really was no smoke. So, lacking a fire extinguisher, which would have seemed a bit like overkill at the time, I settled for the next best thing: water. So I got a little water, and my wife took it from me to pour on the flame. Now, they teach you about gas fires, oil fires, electrical fires, and all that stuff. What they don't teach is wax fires. It turns out that when you add water to a small amount of hot wax and whatever the gel in those candles is made of, it acts almost exactly like oil in a frying pan, just not as hot. So when my wife added the water, wax and flame shot out of the top of the jar a good three feet into the air. It wasn't very hot, thank goodness, so it didn't manage to catch anything on fire. It did startle us quite a bit though. After about two seconds, the candle had calmed down, but was still popping and shooting wax everywhere. Out of a crazy thought that it might actually work, I walked over to it and gave it a quick blow of air, and it immediately went out. The wax was a pain to clean up, but other than that, no harm was done. We do not plan on getting anymore gel candles, as we have had dozens that we have let burn themselves down, and it was the only one to catch fire. So be warned that if you ever have a candle catch on fire in your home, find something to cover the jar with to smother the flame; do not ever add water. We were fortunate.

[TwistedAkai]

I put out candles with the candle jar lid by holding it close to, but not directly on, the jar, so that air can escape while not letting the flame get enough oxygen to continue burning. It's slow, but effective. Just don't take the lid away until the flame is completely gone. I also sometimes play with the fire by smothering it until it's almost gone and then taking the lid away so the flame rises again. But that's just because I'm moderately disturbed ^_^

[Rias]

We need a "Drayla Says" weekly where Drayla gives us general safety tips.

Glad nobody was hurt and nothing outside the jar caught fire.

[qinweiqi]

I think it's sad that I read this and think, "that'd make a cool elemancy attack."