I'm Producing 200 Candles a Day — What Size Wax Melter Should I Consider Based on My Candle Fill Weight and Number of Production Batches?

Two hundred candles is not one number

Makers often describe their output in candles because that is what they sell. A melter does not care how many candles you make. It cares how many kilograms of wax pass through it, in how many separate batches. So before you choose between CSI's 10 kg and 20 kg melters, translate 200 candles a day into two figures: daily scented wax, which comes from your fill weight, and batches per day, which comes mostly from how many fragrances you pour.

The formula is simple. Candles × fill weight gives the scented wax the candles contain. Divide by 0.95 to allow 5% for losses in pitchers, spills and rejects. The result is what you actually need to melt.

Fills are rounded up, because a batch that is 0.1 kg short still means a small extra melt. At 200 g, the day needs 42.1 kg of scented wax: 40 kg in the candles, at 8% fragrance load on total weight that is 36.8 kg of wax and 3.2 kg of oil, plus the allowance. That is five fills of the 10 kg unit or three of the 20 kg.

When you pour two sizes in one day

Many workshops sell a large and a small candle in the same fragrance. Calculate each size separately and add them. Suppose your 200 candles are 120 at 200 g and 80 at 100 g. That is 24 kg plus 8 kg, 32 kg of scented wax in the candles, and about 33.7 kg to prepare after the allowance (32 ÷ 0.95). In one fragrance, that is four fills of the 10 kg unit or two of the 20 kg. The mixed day needs noticeably less melting than 200 of the larger size, which is why a melter sized to a headline candle count can be too big or too small by a wide margin.

Pour both sizes from the same batch where you can. The fragrance percentage is identical in every gram of a properly mixed batch, so a 100 g candle and a 200 g candle poured from one tank carry the same load. Splitting sizes across separate batches only adds weighing steps and chances for the two to differ.

Batches are set by fragrances, not by the tank

Here is where most sizing advice goes wrong. It assumes every fill of the melter is the same product. In practice each fragrance change means emptying, cleaning and starting a new batch — you cannot top up a lavender tank with sandalwood. So the number of fragrances you pour in a day sets a floor on your batches, and the size of each fragrance run decides whether a large tank is used well or left half-empty.

The pattern is clear. When 200 candles are one or two fragrances, the 20 kg unit saves two or more batches a day. When the day is split four or five ways, each run fits the 10 kg tank, and a 20 kg tank would spend its day less than half full — more wax surface to clean, more time for a large mass to cool to your scenting temperature, and no extra candles.

Note the four-fragrance row. Fifty 200 g candles are exactly 10 kg of scented wax; after a 5% allowance one full 10 kg batch gives 48 sellable candles, not 50. Either plan on 48 per fragrance or melt a small top-up in a separate vessel. Deciding this in advance is better than discovering it at candle 47.

What to buy at 200 a day

The Electric Wax Melter (Imported) is listed at ₹21,240.00 for 10 kg and ₹25,960.00 for 20 kg. For 200 × 200 g, a reasonable starting recommendation is:

Check the tank before trusting the numbers

The product page states the 10 kg unit melts 10 kg of soy wax in approximately 30 minutes at 100°C and melts 9.5 litres of wax at a time. Melt time is not published for the 20 kg unit, so do not assume double. Time your first full melt of each size and write it down, because it sets how many batches you can realistically fit into a working day.

The same page says the melter can create 80 candles at a time without stating a size. For your planning, only your fill weight matters: 10 kg of scented wax is 50 candles at 200 g, 40 at 250 g, 100 at 100 g. At roughly 0.9 g per ml — an approximate figure for melted soy wax — the stated 9.5 litres is closer to 8.6 kg of liquid than 10 kg, so weigh how much your own unit comfortably holds and adjust the fills column in the table above if needed.

Larger batches change the pouring window

A 20 kg batch holds heat longer than a 10 kg one, which is generally helpful when you are pouring 100 candles from it. It also means the batch takes longer to come down from melting temperature to the wax maker's stated addition temperature. Build that wait into your day rather than scenting early. If you pour from pitchers, a Large 600 ml Steel Pouring Pitcher at ₹708.00 carries roughly two 200 g candles per trip, so 200 candles is around 100 pitcher trips. That number, more than the melter size, may decide whether you need a second person at the pouring table.

Once you have run a week at 200 a day, compare the timing sheet against this page. If the melter is always ready before the jars are, you have enough capacity. If jars wait on wax, add capacity — and let the fragrance split tell you whether that means a larger tank or a second one. Keep the melter on its own suitable circuit and a stable surface; a full 20 kg tank of hot wax is not something to move once it is running.

Recalculate whenever something in the inputs changes: a new jar size, a heavier gift candle, a higher fragrance load for a stronger scent. Each changes the kilograms, and the kilograms change the fills. Keep the table from this page on the wall next to the melter with your own numbers written in.

Where this page fits

CSI already has guides that cover parts of this question. This page takes the production-floor angle; these go deeper on the rest:

Three things to buy for this job

Frequently asked questions