How to choose the right Wax Melt Warmer

Welcome to the first of our guest blogs and I'm delighted that a good friend of Jo Hannah Home Fragrance, the lovely Marina Eltringham of Candles Sniffs and Gifts agreed to give her expert view on how to choose the right wax melt warmer for your home.

Marina's company, Candles Sniffs & Gifts has been established since 2015 and has been involved in the manufacturing and retailing of wax warmers right from the start.  With her background and incredible knowledge, we couldn't think of anyone better qualified to share her views.

Wax warmers are what we love the most

We often get asked what is the difference between the types of wax melt warmers and which a customer should buy.

First let’s address the fact that lots of people call them wax burners, we aren’t burning any wax we are simply melting it to release the fragrance, so we are now trying to call them warmers, but even we still forget.

The main types of wax warmers are tea light, electric, hot plate and plug in.

These are the most traditional. Years ago people used to use an oil burner and some people still do. A tea light warmer is a larger version made specifically for wax melts and is not the same as an oil burner, but looks similar. A tea light warmer does what it says on the tin, it uses a tea light to melt the wax. These are great for places where you don’t have a plug socket or not much room for a warmer. The fragrance throw from tea light warmers is usually stronger than an electric warmer because more heat is produced from the open flame, however this will also mean that the fragrance will disappear more quickly and you have to keep changing the tea lights. With a tea light warmer there are also obvious safety measures to adhere to; it needs to be on a heat proof surface and should never be left unattended. Tea light burners are also usually cheaper to purchase than other warmers.

Electric wax warmers are becoming more and more popular in homes and indeed businesses across the world. They use the heat of a halogen bulb to melt the wax. These come in a variety of different wattages with a variety of different dishes and bulbs. The most popular bulbs are the G9 and GU10 due to their inexpensiveness and the heat that they can produce quickly. Bulbs can blow at any time, but are usually easy to replace. Dishes are usually removable for easy cleaning and made of glass or ceramic and vary in thickness. A thicker dish is better for safety, but may need more heat to penetrate the wax. Electric wax warmers have the benefit of no open flame and therefore the risk of accidental fire is minimised. They also offer a more consistent heat and don’t get as hot as tea light warmers so the fragrance is released over a longer period of time. The only issue is that it isn’t possible to make a battery powered one so these need to be plugged in to a socket.

Wattage is a massive talking point when it comes to an electric warmer. Too low and the wax wont melt fully to release the fragrance, too high and they can become dangerous, get very hot and the fragrance will give a good throw to start with but then won’t last very long. Usually the optimum wattage is around 35w, but the size of the warmer has a massive impact of the wattage. The type of wax you use also has an impact. Some waxes are very hard and some much softer, they all have different melting points, if unsure it’s always best to ask a retailer what sort of softness their wax has and how it behaves in certain warmers. Any good retailer will be able to answer this question. Something we see a lot especially on social media is people saying that their warmer isn’t melting their wax properly and other people telling them they should change the bulb to a higher wattage. This is a massive no! Did you know that the wiring in a warmer is designed for that specific wattage? If you change the bulb and it’s too hot it will burn the wiring and this is very dangerous. You should always check the maximum wattage of your warmer, this should be on the packaging or the label underneath. When you purchase a warmer always look for a CE mark too (although this is likely to change after the transition period from leaving the EU, it should be replaced by another safety standard). This means that the warmer conforms to European safety standards.

These are still electric, but instead of using a bulb to melt the wax they have a heated pad or plate where the dish sits meaning you never have to worry about changing a bulb again. They are usually low wattage in comparison to the bulb warmers and can provide a great balance of heat and fragrance throw. The only draw back is that many people like the light emitted from bulb electric warmers, with some of these you don’t get that, just the heat. There also aren’t as many varieties available, but recently manufacturers have been adding LEDs to enable colour changing light effects as well as heat.

Plug in warmers are still electric, but they go straight in to the socket and have no cable. These much smaller than a normal electric warmer as the weight has to be held by the plug. In the UK there aren’t many of these yet, but they are becoming more and more popular. The reason they aren’t as widely used is that the wattage is limited to 15w at the moment so they  don’t melt as quickly as some warmers and they are only really suitable for softer waxes. The use of plug ins is also limited to low traffic areas, they must not be used in low down plug sockets where people could knock them or where children or pets could touch them. They are great in terms of price usually though and only need a small amount of wax, they also look great from a decorative point of view.

In Summary when choosing your wax warmer you should consider all the above factors when making your decision. Where are you going to put it? Do you have a plug socket nearby? Is it a high traffic area and what type of wax are you going to be melting? Also who is using it? Are there children and pets nearby and do you prefer something which lights up or are you happy just with function? If in any doubt ask your retailer for their advice.