Car trunks & melting candles

I bought a "Storm & Survival Kit For Overnight Emergency," made by the Tacoma Mountain Rescue Unit, from Restoration Hardware sometime last year. I threw it into my trunk kit.

I was just going through my trunk kit and found most of my candles had melted into unrecognizable messes.

The candle from the Storm & Survival Kit melted and leaked out of its plastic wrapping and all over the inside of the tin container. Yuck. This sealed the container shut. Had to pry it open. The wax also "glued" all items to the inside of the container. Nothing slid out easily. I had to pry everything out individually, which was a hassle.

The trick birthday candles I had in the trunk kit also melted into mounds of mess. Useless.

The three special candles I bought from REI held up the best. They were deformed, but are still useable and recognizable.

The Doug Ritter PSP was fine because I keep that with me, not in my car trunk. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

-- Craig

I have the same REI candles, and so far they are holding up pretty well. I noticed that some on this board remove the wicks out of the trick birthday candles and just put the wicks in the kit -- that would probably solve that melting problem

I can't keep anything like that in my vehicles. It routinely get to or above 155*F at this time of year inside the cabs. I probably shouldn't even keep OTC meds in my car FAK but I do.

To quote Nelson on THE SIMPSONS, " AH-HAH !" You've just earned the ETS badge of the melted candle. Sew it next to the hollow handle survival knife, magnesium bar and get water with a shovel and plastic sheeting badges <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

That's something I don't do. My meds are on my person or in my shoulder bag at all times.

-- Craig

Brian, be careful. Some meds decompose or change chemical structure when heated that much.
Carry them on your person to be safe, or get a small insulated bag or cooler to keep them in.

Chris: What about the so-called '120 hour' candles and the 'polycrystaline' stuff?

I've had good luck with the nuwick candles. I live in the North-East my candle has sat in my BOB in my truck for several years now and no problems.



Adam

I have no experience with these, but it seems that for any candle in a can, you can at least wrap the seam in tape so that none of your gear gets ruined. And the wax will also be in one place, which makes salvaging much easier should it melt.

Badk in my working days, and before those fancy paint-upsidedown cans of spray paint, we used to carry lumber crayons in our bags to mark things on the pavement. We discovered that one crayon would melt into a blob, but if you took three or four and rubber banded them together they would not melt. Go figure. I don't know if this would work with candles or not, might just make a bigger mess, but it might be worth a try...

I bought it originally on that premise that if it melted it would be contained. It hasn't melted yet!

Adam

I'm GOOD at making bigger messes. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

My dad cleaned up many of which I made while growing up. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

-- Craig

That's what dad's are for...

Different candles are made of different waxes, or blends of waxes. Paraffin is very soft, and has a low melting temp. Try finding candles made from Palm wax. Here, take a look at this:

http://demo.interaksi.co.id/wax/faq.html

Also synthetic beeswax has a very high melting temp.

Petrochem makes some more exotic very hard waxes that melt at or above the boiling point of water. If candles are your thing, there's lots you can do.

I dip my candles in elmers glue and stow. The glue keeps them from flowing if they get too hot.