My Double-Wick Candle Leaves Wax Around the Outer Edge but the Centre Is Already Very Hot — How Do I Decide Whether Spacing or Wick Size Is the Problem?

Why edge wax plus a hot centre points to spacing first

The worked example: your jar measures 10.0 cm across the inside, about 10.7 cm outside on a 0.35 cm wall. CSI lists no jar at that size; its nearest round listing, the Apothecary Glass Candle Jar with Dome Lid, is "Approx. 10 cm" across the outer rim on its page, which is about 9.3 cm inside on our assumption: a different jar, and its spacings would need recomputing. Yours holds 400 g at 8% British Rose in CSI 464 (32 g + 368 g) on two C2 set 4.0 cm apart. The pool runs deep and hot between the wicks, and a ring of wax stays on the glass.

The geometry says why spacing comes first. A 10 cm pool is 78.54 cm²; two wicks share it at 39.27 cm² each, but only if they are spread across it. At 4.0 cm apart each wick is 3.0 cm from the glass along its own line and 5.39 cm from the wall point on the perpendicular axis. Put the pair closer and two flames feed one hot centre while the far wall waits. A size change alters how much heat each flame makes; spacing alters where it goes. When the symptom is "hot here, cold there", the where is the cheaper question.

How to read the ring before you test (heaviest on the wick line, or on the axis across it) is the 10 cm perimeter-wax post; the full spacing-versus-size diagnosis is the outer-edge diagnosis post. This page owns what the test costs and what each answer lets you buy. One check first: are both wicks straight in the set wax, at the spacing you meant? If they lean together, the fix is a fixture, and the count you need is in the leaning-wicks fixture post.

The spacing-ladder bill

New items: ₹437.80 with Large stickers, ₹288.80 with the 10 mm sheet. From nothing but your jars: ₹3,494.00. Each candle is ₹109.50 of oil, ₹186.72 of wax, ₹18.88 of wicks and ₹12.45 of stickers: ₹327.56 excluding the jar, labour, freight, packaging and GST, so nine come to ₹2,948.01.

Compare that with buying a size ladder instead: a C1 20-pack and a Cotton Braided 10-pack (₹238.00), two new SKUs, and six more candles (₹1,959.46 in materials) that leave the placement question unanswered. Same bench time, more stock, a weaker answer. Testing spacing and size together in one 2 × 2 order has its place when time is short; that design and its bill are the 10 cm two-wick 2 × 2 post.

Setting three spacings without a new fixture

CSI's Steel Wick Holder is the obvious fixture, but not for this test. Its page says it fits jars "up to 9 cm wide", and a 10 cm inside jar is about 10.7 cm across the outside. Its three holes are in a line and the text we captured states no hole spacing, so even in a narrower jar it would give you one spacing, not three. For a test, a paper template and two sticks are better.

The method of reading a spacing ladder, including when spacing alone has done enough, is the spacing-alone post. Here the point is the bill: nine candles and one sticker pack buy that answer.

What each result tells you to buy

Notice what the second and third rows buy: three candles of one rung, from the smallest in-stock pack. The ladder told you which direction to go, so a full size ladder is no longer needed. And the third row has an honest limit. Above two Cotton Braided, CSI has no larger tabbed wick; a three-wick layout or another construction is the next step, and both are questions worth sending us before you spend.

When a new size is finally justified

"Fails" needs a definition, or the rule leaks. Ours, labelled judgement: spacing has failed when all three candles at the widest spacing you are prepared to use, wicks verified straight at the set surface, still show the same fault through burn 3 under standard sessions. How wide is "prepared to use" depends on how close you will let a flame sit to the glass; at 6.0 cm apart the pair here is 2.0 cm from it along the line. Heat at the wall is a burn observation, judged by eye or with a non-contact thermometer (CSI lists none), never by touch.

When it has failed, buy one rung, three candles, at the best spacing the ladder found. The per-candle wick money is small either way: down to two C1 saves ₹7.08 a candle; up to two Cotton Braided adds ₹5.12. Neither difference should drive the choice; the ladder already has. If one step is too far in both directions (two C1 too cold, two C2 too hot), CSI has no sized wick in between, and the honest options are in the gap-filling post or a message to us.

From the winning spacing to production

Write the spacing into the approved configuration (jar, wax, oil, load, wick, spacing) and treat it like any other variable: a candle poured at 4.0 cm is not the approved product if 5.0 cm is. Then size the wick order with the series formula, wicks = candles × wicks per candle × (1 + allowance). At 200 candles a month and a 5% allowance: 420 C2, ₹3,964.80 at the flat ₹9.44, covered by four 100-packs and one 20-pack (₹3,964.80). No pack is cheaper per wick, so stop at the number.

Fixing costs move to production too. Two stickers a candle is ₹5.00 with the 10 mm sheet (₹1,000.00 a month at 200 candles) or ₹12.45 with Large stickers (₹2,490.00); over a month that gap is ₹1,490.00, worth testing the cheaper sheet on your tabs. Holding a custom spacing on a production line, and which fixture does it best, is the spacing-to-purchase-spec post.

Reorder point, worked example: about 14 C2 a day; with a 10-day order-to-bench time and a week of safety stock, reorder at about 238. CSI dispatches from Pune and publishes no lead times or stock depth, so confirm dispatch on WhatsApp before a festive run; Diwali is 8 November 2026.

What to buy, and what to skip

Four items, chosen on page statements, price and stock on 1 October 2026. CSI publishes no wick-performance or spacing data, so nothing here is ranked on burn results. Oil candle counts use 32 g per 400 g candle and the standard 12 g per 150 g candle.

Skip for this ladder: Cotton Braided Wicks (₹120.00 for 10) and the C1 packs, until spacing fails. The Steel Wick Holder: its page stops at jars "up to 9 cm wide" and states no hole spacing. Performance Wooden Wicks: a different construction adds a variable a spacing test cannot read.

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