Being in the candle industry since 1997, I like to browse the Internet for questions or ideas that people have related to candles. One issue that comes up repeatedly is whether storing candles in the freezer before lighting will cause them to burn more slowly. Anyway, why is a slower burning candle important? The idea is to make it last longer to save money on buying candles. We decided to put together our own experiment and see if frozen candles really make them burn longer.

Thought behind freezing a candle

Before we get into how we did our experiment, maybe you should go over the basic thought process on why freezing a candle might cause it to burn more slowly. Candle wax is the fuel for the candle flame. The fuel must be in liquid form for the flame to use it. If the wax freezes, it will go from solid to liquid more slowly, so it doesn’t run out as quickly as room temperature wax. So freezing the candle should be a good idea, right?

Experiment setup

We set up the experiment using a few different types of candles. We used 2 sizes of pillar candles, one was 2 “x3” and the other was 4 “x6”. We also use votive and conical candles. One candle of each size and style was placed in the freezer and a matching size and style was left at room temperature. We drilled a small hole in the side of the cone in freezing to be able to measure the core temperature throughout the test. Both tapers were weighed and each weighed 68.6 grams. We also had 2 “instant read” digital thermometers and a stopwatch on hand.

Before continuing, I need to start the next part of the experiment with a little explanation. At the beginning of the article I mentioned that I have been working with candles since 1997. My job is actually in a candle factory that makes candles. Many times when a pillar candle would not come loose from a mold, we would put it in a freezer, which helped. However, there was also the possibility of a negative result. So, before doing the test, I already knew what the result would be for the pillar and the votive in the freezer.

Ok, let’s go back to the experiment. Based on my knowledge of how the pillar and votive would react to being in the freezer, I planned to check the candles every 15 minutes.

The experiment

At the first 15 minute mark I went to check a candle in the freezer. What I found was not a surprise. We broke both the 2 “x3” and the 4 “x6” pillars, or rather, we smashed them. I squeezed the 2 “x3” and it fell apart completely. If any of these pillar candles had been lit, the liquid wax would have seeped out of the cracks and all over the place. In reality, this would have made them burn much faster than those at room temperature.

The tapered candles did not break and ended up being left in the freezer overnight. The next day we took and wrote our from the freezer and noticed that it was not broken. This gave us the opportunity to do the burn time test. Before lighting the cone candles, we did a quick reading of their core temperatures. The one in the freezer was 33 degrees Fahrenheit, the other at room temperature, which was 69 degrees Fahrenheit. We read each conical candle and left them lit for 1 hour.

After 1 hour we returned to check the candles and take a reading. Initial observations were that the flames from each candle were identical in height and the amount each candle had burned appeared uniform. We took another core temperature reading and noticed that the freeze candle had reached 65 degrees. The candle at room temperature was still 69 degrees. We also take a temperature reading of the liquid wax under the flame. Both candles had a liquid wax temperature of 162 degrees. We left the candles burning for another hour.

After the 2nd hour we repeat the measurements taken after the first hour. Once again, the two candle flames appeared identical in height and each candle had burned equally. The core temperature of the frozen candle was now 69 degrees, which matched the temperature of the candle in the room. The liquid wax under the candle flame in both candles was still 162 degrees. Since both candles were reading 69 degrees at their core, there was no further benefit to continuing the burn test. Both candles would burn at the same rate from now on. We put out the flames, let the liquid wax harden, and reweighed both candles. Each of the candles weighed 26.2 grams.

The conclusion

Putting the pillar and votive candle in the freezer did not make them burn any longer, in fact it had the opposite effect, damaging them so that they could not be used. The taper candle from the freeze showed no signs of burning more than the room temperature candle, either visually or by weight. Why didn’t freeze the cone work? I’m glad you asked.

The heat at the base of a candle flame is about 1000 degrees Fahrenheit and about 2000 degrees at the top. When you light a candle, the wax around the wick is instantly affected by that high heat. The 40 degree gap between a room temperature candle and a frozen candle is almost instantly erased when presented to the 1000 degree candle flame. The heat from the flame affects the closest wax creating the liquid fuel you need in both candles. Meanwhile, the rest of the frozen candle is slowly warmed up to room temperature until needed by the flame.

In short, freezing a candle does not increase the burning time, it could damage the candles, and it takes up valuable freezer space that is needed for important items like ice cream.