gel candles safety tip
[email protected]
I thought you might find this something to look out for, I recieved this and
want
to pass it on FYI.
want
to pass it on FYI.
> My former secretary had a terrible thing happen to her and her family last[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> week, and I wanted to share it with all of you so that you could be warned
> and warn your friends and family as well. She had a gel candle burning in
> her bathroom ...it exploded and caught her house on fire. The house burned
> down and they lost everything. The fire marshal told her that this is not
> the first incident where a gel candle has exploded and caused a fire. He
> said that the gel builds up a gas and often times it explodes and sets fire
> to the room it is in, which is what happened to her. The fire was so hot it
> melted the smoke alarm, and they didn't discover the fire until there was
> an explosion, which was her toilet blowing up, and by then it was too
> late...the entire upstairs was engulfed in flames. Smoke damage and water
> damage have destroyed what wasn't destroyed by fire. Please pass this
> along to anyone you care about. I wouldn't want this to happen to anyone
> else. Her family is devastated. All their mementos and everything of value
> and meaning are gone
rumpleteasermom
Yes Gel Candles can pose a greater fire risk than wax candles
but . . . they do not explode.
Claim: Gel candles can explode, posing a greater-than-usual fire
and injury hazard.
http://www.snopes.com/toxins/gel.htm
Origins: Yes, gel candles do pose fire and injury hazards beyond
those presented by ordinary wax candles, so they should be accorded
an extra bit of caution if you're thinking of bringing them into your
home. However, as with so many e-mailed warnings, the explanation
provided about what goes on is sadly in error and leaves those who
are "educated" by it in the dark about what they should really be
paying attention to as they are instead misled into worrying about
the mysterious (and non-existent) explosive properties of the gel.
Contrary to what this e-mailed warning would have you believe, gel
candles do not "build up a gas" that causes them to explode.
The "gel" in gel candles is composed of substances that burn slowly
and non-combustively. Akin to the wax of traditional candles, the
mysterious substance's purpose is to slowly feed the wick an
continuous supply of fuel, thus keeping the candle burning bright for
a long time. Even if it were safe to use, a combustive substance
would expend itself far too quickly for any candle manufacturer to
put it to this use.
There is a special danger inherent to gel candles, but it has to do
with the effect of heat on the containers that house them, not with
the gel itself. If the material used to contain the goo is not
sufficiently resilient, it can shatter (i.e., "explode") as the
concentrated heat of the candle's flame compromises it. The glass
containers used to hold these popular fragrance candles are sometimes
not made strong enough to withstand the heat they are called upon to
contain. Heat makes things expand, and in this case it can cause the
glass that houses the gel candles to shatter. There's no mysterious
gas that builds up, no strange chemical reaction brought on by
dangerous unnamed substances reacting to God-knows-what, just
ordinary expansion due to heat. Leave a coffee mug sitting on a hot
burner long enough, and you'll see the same thing.
In this manner, a gel candle can explode in someone's hands,
resulting in dire burns as the hot gel flows out to coat the victim's
extremities. For this reason, it's important not to move either a lit
gel candle or one that has recently been extinguished. Extinguish the
candle and let it cool, then move it.
Additionally, some lit gel candles have been observed to flare up,
producing flames shooting a few inches into the air, but these
candles were quickly recalled by their manufacturers (e.g., the 1998
recall of 1.7 million Glade gel candles that produced flames 3 inches
above the top of 2.5 inch containers). Should you encounter a gel
candle that flares like this, extinguish it promptly, don't use it
again, and contact the manufacturer for a refund.
As for a fire started by a gel candle being "so hot it melted the
smoke alarm," such a result wouldn't have anything to do with
whatever the candle was made from, but rather with the contents of
the home that became fuel for the growing conflagration. Also, that a
fire can (and often does) become hot enough to melt a smoke detector
does not, as the e-mail states, mean the melting occurs seconds after
the blaze starts, and therefore no warning is issued. Smoke detectors
are routinely found melted into blobs the aftermath of house fires,
but these are the same smoke detectors that went off as soon as smoke
was sensed, alerting residents to the fire.
That gel candles will explode due to heat expansion shattering their
glass containers outward is fact; that they're made of a mysterious
chemical that touches off for no reason, with the uncontrolled
burning of this substance resulting in immediate flash fires that
melt everything in their path in a scant matter of seconds, is pure
invention.
Because the heat expansion effect on the glass housings of gel
candles poses a real danger, this form of romantic lighting should
not be left lit for more than an hour or two. In common with all
candles, they should not be allowed to burn unattended (which
includes not leaving them lit while you drift off to sleep) or left
in reach of a child, even for half a moment. Unattended candles of
all stripes have started fires in which lives have been lost, so
don't take that caution lightly. As for kids and lit candles, it only
takes half a second to cause a lifetime's worth of scars.
If there's a power outage, be careful with the candles you use. Don't
use a lit candle to check inside a cupboard or closet (this is a
light source that also sets things on fire, remember, such as items
hanging in a closet), and certainly never take a lit candle with you
to check on what you think might be a fuel leak.
Candles: Use them responsibly, be they gel or wax.
Barbara "waxing poetic" Mikkelson
but . . . they do not explode.
Claim: Gel candles can explode, posing a greater-than-usual fire
and injury hazard.
http://www.snopes.com/toxins/gel.htm
Origins: Yes, gel candles do pose fire and injury hazards beyond
those presented by ordinary wax candles, so they should be accorded
an extra bit of caution if you're thinking of bringing them into your
home. However, as with so many e-mailed warnings, the explanation
provided about what goes on is sadly in error and leaves those who
are "educated" by it in the dark about what they should really be
paying attention to as they are instead misled into worrying about
the mysterious (and non-existent) explosive properties of the gel.
Contrary to what this e-mailed warning would have you believe, gel
candles do not "build up a gas" that causes them to explode.
The "gel" in gel candles is composed of substances that burn slowly
and non-combustively. Akin to the wax of traditional candles, the
mysterious substance's purpose is to slowly feed the wick an
continuous supply of fuel, thus keeping the candle burning bright for
a long time. Even if it were safe to use, a combustive substance
would expend itself far too quickly for any candle manufacturer to
put it to this use.
There is a special danger inherent to gel candles, but it has to do
with the effect of heat on the containers that house them, not with
the gel itself. If the material used to contain the goo is not
sufficiently resilient, it can shatter (i.e., "explode") as the
concentrated heat of the candle's flame compromises it. The glass
containers used to hold these popular fragrance candles are sometimes
not made strong enough to withstand the heat they are called upon to
contain. Heat makes things expand, and in this case it can cause the
glass that houses the gel candles to shatter. There's no mysterious
gas that builds up, no strange chemical reaction brought on by
dangerous unnamed substances reacting to God-knows-what, just
ordinary expansion due to heat. Leave a coffee mug sitting on a hot
burner long enough, and you'll see the same thing.
In this manner, a gel candle can explode in someone's hands,
resulting in dire burns as the hot gel flows out to coat the victim's
extremities. For this reason, it's important not to move either a lit
gel candle or one that has recently been extinguished. Extinguish the
candle and let it cool, then move it.
Additionally, some lit gel candles have been observed to flare up,
producing flames shooting a few inches into the air, but these
candles were quickly recalled by their manufacturers (e.g., the 1998
recall of 1.7 million Glade gel candles that produced flames 3 inches
above the top of 2.5 inch containers). Should you encounter a gel
candle that flares like this, extinguish it promptly, don't use it
again, and contact the manufacturer for a refund.
As for a fire started by a gel candle being "so hot it melted the
smoke alarm," such a result wouldn't have anything to do with
whatever the candle was made from, but rather with the contents of
the home that became fuel for the growing conflagration. Also, that a
fire can (and often does) become hot enough to melt a smoke detector
does not, as the e-mail states, mean the melting occurs seconds after
the blaze starts, and therefore no warning is issued. Smoke detectors
are routinely found melted into blobs the aftermath of house fires,
but these are the same smoke detectors that went off as soon as smoke
was sensed, alerting residents to the fire.
That gel candles will explode due to heat expansion shattering their
glass containers outward is fact; that they're made of a mysterious
chemical that touches off for no reason, with the uncontrolled
burning of this substance resulting in immediate flash fires that
melt everything in their path in a scant matter of seconds, is pure
invention.
Because the heat expansion effect on the glass housings of gel
candles poses a real danger, this form of romantic lighting should
not be left lit for more than an hour or two. In common with all
candles, they should not be allowed to burn unattended (which
includes not leaving them lit while you drift off to sleep) or left
in reach of a child, even for half a moment. Unattended candles of
all stripes have started fires in which lives have been lost, so
don't take that caution lightly. As for kids and lit candles, it only
takes half a second to cause a lifetime's worth of scars.
If there's a power outage, be careful with the candles you use. Don't
use a lit candle to check inside a cupboard or closet (this is a
light source that also sets things on fire, remember, such as items
hanging in a closet), and certainly never take a lit candle with you
to check on what you think might be a fuel leak.
Candles: Use them responsibly, be they gel or wax.
Barbara "waxing poetic" Mikkelson