Is it dangerous to leave a candle burning?
There’s a lot of talk about whether or not you can get enough heat generated from burning candles.
And of course if you have enough candles, you can eventually get enough flames lit that it will heat up a room.
But aside from the obvious fire danger of having a huge amount of candles all burning at the same time inside of a room,
There is also the problem of whether or not it is actually dangerous to leave a candle burning for that amount of time.
Is it dangerous to leave a candle burning? Yes it is, candles are not made to burn more than an hour. Doing so causes carbon to build up on the wick.
Once carbon is built up on the wick, you have an issue of the smoke coming from the candle being black and sooty.
Leaving a candle burning too long can also cause the wax to become too pliable leading to the wick falling sideways.
Which not only reduces the life of the candle, also causes sooty smoke to burn from the candle.
And what’s more, letting a candle burn too long can make it much too hard on the outside to handle.
And the scariest thing is that even though most household candles are poured in jars and have little chance of spreading outside of the container, that is not always the case.
The candle that is left to burn too long and become sooty also has the chance of the flame becoming abnormally large because of the carbon on the wick.
Once this happens, the chance of the fire spreading outside of the candle becomes much larger.
People have a tendency to generally feel safe with candles burning throughout the house.
But the truth is, fire can be unpredictable and you should never leave a candle unattended or sleep with a candle burning.
And never allow a candle to be too close to anything that might catch fire. Some materials can catch fire much easier than others.
The humidity in your home may be extra low without you knowing it. Meaning you may have furniture that is extra dried out, without knowing it.
And a little flame on a candle can cause a big accident if it gets too near to something that is dry and combustible.
Summary
Leaving a candle burning too long can be dangerous. Candles are not made to burn for more than an hour.
After an hour the wax can become too pliable, allowing the wick to lean.
When the flame begins to melt the wax because of the leaning wick, the result can be a black sooty smoke.
Candles that are allowed to burn too long also form Carbon on the wick which is also a source of black sooty smoke.
And though that black smoke is hard to breathe, that’s not the worst of it.
At that point, the flame on the candle can become large and the risk of the fire coming out of the candle and causing a house fire goes up substantially.
