Tunnel, soot, a jumpy flame, a wick that drowns
Melt PoolFix the cause, not the candle's symptom
Put your jar candles on the mantel. See how long each needs for a full melt pool, how many evenings are left and which to fix, keep or retire.
1 Your candles free
Up to 5 jar candles. Measure across the top of the wax and down to the bottom of the wax, in cm (1 inch = 2.54 cm).
2 The mantel free
Never leave a burning candle alone, keep it 30 cm from anything that can catch, and stop at 1.3 cm of wax.
3 Ask for the root causes
One run names the root cause of every symptom in a fixed order, the fix at that root, the tempting patch to skip and what to do on the next burn. The page re-checks the reply.
The reading - none yet
-The page's check
4 Saved shelves
How the numbers and verdicts are decided
A full melt pool - wax melted right to the glass - takes about 1 hour per 2.5 cm of width, per wick, rounded to the half hour, at least 1 hour and at most 4. More than 10 cm of width per wick is too wide to melt to the edge in 4 hours. Burns shorter than the full-pool time are short burns; burns over 4 hours are long burns. Hours left are an estimate: the wax above the 1.3 cm stop line as a cylinder, at 0.9 g per cm³, burning 5 g an hour per wick; evenings are those hours at the full-pool time.
Then a fixed rule per candle, in order: wax at or below 1.3 cm - retire it; anything seen, too wide, short burns or long burns - fix first; otherwise - keep burning. When the numbers alone decide it, the page also gives the next step for free. For each symptom the run walks a fixed list of causes and takes the first that holds; the page checks it kept that order.
For fun and for everyday candle care. The reading knows only your numbers and notes. Never leave a flame alone, keep candles away from curtains, children and pets, never move or pour hot wax, and follow the maker's label. Not professional or safety advice.