Tried Parrafin oil - YIKES!!!

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Forum -> Yom Tov / Holidays -> Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh, Fast Days, and other Days of Note

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amother

Tue, Jul 28 2020, 10:05 pm

So I'm a neronim user usually, then was using candles for a while, but was looking for something that wouldn't drip. I saw parrafin and wicks in my Judaica store and figured it was worth a try.
Last week I filled the glass cups with parrafin oil halfway and stuck in wicks. The flames were enormous! They were jumping up out of the glasses and I was terrified they would start a fire! Sad

What am I doing wrong?

miri36

Tue, Jul 28 2020, 10:32 pm

You need to trim the wicks to just above the glass. I did that too my first week lighting candles.

zaq

Wed, Jul 29 2020, 8:12 am

miri36 wrote:

You need to trim the wicks to just above the glass. I did that too my first week lighting candles.

This. The same thing will happen with any candle, solid or liquid, if the wicks are too long. I wouldn't let the wicks go above the glass but would trim them to just a bit above the level of the oil. You can briefly scorch the wicks in advance to make them easier to light, and use long matches if the glass is deep and you don't want to fill it very far.

syrima

Wed, Jul 29 2020, 10:32 am

Thanks! Does anyone fill with water halfway and then put parrafin on top so easier to light?

amother

Ecru

Wed, Jul 29 2020, 10:58 am

Hi OP!

My mother lite with paraffin for about 18 years and always thought it looked so much nicer than candles.

Then my 2 year old brother drank it by mistake and ended up in the picu for 4 days. He had issues from it for years after.

The doctor asked her why she used it with kids in the house if it's so dangerous (apparently many, many kids in the community drank it when it was new - like 30 years ago and the doctors offices had signs warning people about it) she said she never knew and didn't realize that it was such an issue.

Just putting this out there as a PSA, no hard feelings. If ingested, it can be really dangerous.

amother

Red

Wed, Jul 29 2020, 11:14 am

My co-worker's kid drank paraffin just a few years ago and spent a number of days in the picu.

zaq

Wed, Jul 29 2020, 11:47 am

syrima wrote:

Thanks! Does anyone fill with water halfway and then put parrafin on top so easier to light?

''

I do this for Chanuka licht but using olive oil.

momsrus

Wed, Jul 29 2020, 1:05 pm

amother [ Ecru ] wrote:

Yes, I was going to say this. Not worth having it in the house if you have young kids imo

amother

Plum

Wed, Jul 29 2020, 1:16 pm

syrima wrote:

Thanks! Does anyone fill with water halfway and then put parrafin on top so easier to light?

I used to fill with a bit of wine or wine-water mix and food grade olive oil on top - nice red-green contrast and meant as a hiddur and a reminder of the Beit Hamikdash.
But it would sometimes spark towards the end when the flame ran out of oil and met the wine. Being a bit paranoid about fire risks, and having small kids who tended to pull the whole set down, I stopped it and went over to candles.

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