[momuvtwo]

I just moved last weekend and was SHOCKED at the amount of dust built up all over the house. It was kind of embarrassing as the guys who were helping us move would seriously coughing, sneezing and wheezing. Once we got to the new house, they were fine. I have burned candles a lot less over the past year or so (just busy and no time to be home with one) but do lots of tarts. Both paraffin and soy (was all-soy for a long time, lately both - more paraffin).

So, wondering 2 things: I used to use the Yankee jars with Illuma-Lids and am contemplating returning to those, since I am wondering if there really is something to those lids in terms of keeping the candle burning soot to a minimum. I always love how still the wick is using this method and I wonder if that translates to less dust. Second, I'm re-visiting the whole paraffin vs. soy debate in terms of limiting the dust/soot. I know soy can have 'white soot' too I guess. Anyway, thoughts?

[Juletones]

Is your home drafty? If you get a lot of air circulation, I think the illumilids are a great way to keep a flame still. I burn both soy and paraffin and I do get soot turning up in the strangest places, like inside cabinets and on the T.V. screens. The best way I've found to keep the soot to a minimum is by keeping the wicks trimmed down really low.

Something else that was a happy accident is that one of the main spots that I burn candles is very near a smoke detector. So if I neglect the wick and a candle gets out of control, the smoke detector goes off and lets me know soot is getting in the air.

[candlefan]

It usually gets on my nerves if my candle flames are wobbling wildly, so I do often use those illumalids anyway. Anyway, my understanding is that the "white smoke" (if that is what you are talking about) released by some candles is just a long chain of hydrocarbons and is supposedly perfectly harmless. In fact, I think I remember reading that it is mostly composed of water.

I could be remembering all this wrong, but I do definitely remember that the sort of paraffin used in candles (at least the sort we candle fanatics would be interested in burning) is food grade quality and just wouldn't put out toxins and pollutants the way some people promoting soy products claim.

I would say that any black smoke released from untrimmed wicks could be a genuine indoor pollution problem, but I'm wondering if your dust might be something other than candle related? I know where I live we are having incredible drought, and therefore lots of dust. It doesn't help that we have pets, too. Are you in a drought area or part of the country affected by forest fires?

We ended up getting our central heating and airconditioning lines cleaned out by Coit, and have hardly had any dust floating around since. (And I know it's not cause I haven't been burning lots of candles!) If you do have central air, it might be a good idea to check/replace your filter or get your system cleaned. Good luck, and happy candle burning!

[Aria]

I agree with candlefan. The dust was not likely candle related. Moving furniture to dust, clean, vacuum areas hidden from view and replacing your furnace filter will help a lot. JMHO.

[mpfand]

I, too, agree with Candlefan and Aria. We live in the desert and there's alot of dust. When we moved into our new house in Dec. we had the ducts cleaned and put new filters on and it's made a huge difference in the amount of dust. At our other house (just a mile away) I had to dust at least every week, but here I can easily go two weeks or longer. Both houses are about 6 years old.