# Liquid base for EO burners?



## walkinwounded (Sep 1, 2011)

What can I use as a base for diluting my EO's in to burn on an oil burner?

I've heard of water but I do not like this as I find the water evaporates first, then you get the oil burning and a super strong scent. 

Ideas are:

-Mixing EO in with FO so I burn them
-using DPG

Whaty does everyone else do?


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## soapbuddy (Sep 1, 2011)

DPG works well.


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## walkinwounded (Sep 1, 2011)

I just used some DPG and Put a little Ethenol in it as well, worked fantastic, but the bottle has a label stating that (Caution: do not eat, do not inhale fumes, use in well fentalated area, etc) so thats why I was asking, but I guess I will not be the only enhaling them!

Thanx


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## Fragola (Sep 14, 2011)

EO were engineered by nature to work at "room temperature".

Personally, I try to avoid/limit heating, especially since it's not really needed.

Several things I do:
- spray them from a bottle containing EO optionally mixed with alcohol (make sure you don't spray on furniture)
- add several drops to  a bowl of warm water
- simply get few drops spaced out onto a larger flat surface (i.e. tray) 
- I also have a gadget which is using a fan to disperse the scent into the room, but I don't use it that often


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## Catmehndi (Sep 16, 2011)

I stay away from DPG and other such chemicals - we use EOs because they're natural and have wonderful therapeutic properties so using DPG seems to be a little bit of a contradiction.

(I know I will be put down / contradicted by others who have different beliefs and ideas but there you have it - for each opinion, you'll have someone saying something different...)


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## carebear (Sep 16, 2011)

Fragola said:
			
		

> EO were engineered by nature to work at "room temperature".



Come again?

Um, that makes no sense.  EO's were not "engineered" to work.  At any particular temp either, even if they were.

EOs are extracts of plants.  They are not present in isolation buy are part of systems.  They are from all sorts of environments.


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## Lindy (Sep 18, 2011)

Fragola said:
			
		

> EO were engineered by nature to work at "room temperature".
> 
> Personally, I try to avoid/limit heating, especially since it's not really needed.
> 
> ...



Actually I also use them at room temperature for scenting a room.  Not really sure what you mean by engineered, but do agree with your methods of using them.

Cat I agree about DPG - totally counter-intuitive IMO....


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## carebear (Sep 18, 2011)

Catmehndi said:
			
		

> I stay away from DPG and other such chemicals - we use EOs because they're natural and have wonderful therapeutic properties so using DPG seems to be a little bit of a contradiction.
> 
> (I know I will be put down / contradicted by others who have different beliefs and ideas but there you have it - for each opinion, you'll have someone saying something different...)



I believe the aroma can be therapeutic in a way.  And I agree that if you are going for the "all natural" approach that DPG probably isn't your thing.  Mineral oil might not be either, but I like MO because it doesn't degrade with heat as other oils do.  I've read about using jojoba oil as a diffuser diluent but don't know how it holds up.


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## Fragola (Sep 18, 2011)

> Not really sure what you mean by engineered.



By engineered I mean disigned expertly to meet a specific purpose. Maybe not the best choice of words. 

I didn't mean it literally, I was just anthrapomorphizing nature. Of course, nature doesn't work by blueprints,  formulas or business schedules, but it does create many substances which have a specific impact in the ecosystem. 

To put it differently, since EOs work in "systems" at "room temperature" for millions of years, I am happy not heating them. 

The practical reason for which I actively avoid heating is that I have no clue what chemical substances are formed on my burner during processing EOs at higher temperatures, for more hours or days after another. But that is just me, I am sure others think it differently.


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## carebear (Sep 18, 2011)

what is room temperature.  things get pretty darned hot in many places in the world.  chilly in others.


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## Fragola (Sep 18, 2011)

If I would follow my reasoning word by word, I would aim below the higher temperatures encountered in whatever part of the word those plants are living from which the EOs were extracted. But I don't 

As a matter of fact, I just try to limit heat exposure as much as possible, which usually means my room temperature. And in all cases staying below 100 degrees Celsius.

I am aware that many EO are extracted through boiling the plant parts and distillation, but my uneducated belief is that additional heat applied to an oil which has already been in storage for few months or more might be helping whatever spoiling or oxidation processes or whatever which are already happening inside the bottle.

Probably certain EOs are very stable while others are less stable, but since I don't know which is which, I prefer to err on low temp side.


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## Araseth (Sep 18, 2011)

Fragola said:
			
		

> If I would follow my reasoning word by word, I would aim below the higher temperatures encountered in whatever part of the word those plants are living from which the EOs were extracted. But I don't
> 
> As a matter of fact, I just try to limit heat exposure as much as possible, which usually means my room temperature. And in all cases staying below 100 degrees Celsius.
> 
> ...



Sorry to be silly but I don't think I understand. This discussion is about the tealight thingy that you put water in and some drops of EO and it smells nice right? Then why would oxidation of the few drops of EO matter? Unless you're scooping the drops back in the bottle to re-use? I thought the drops were a one use thing; that after you finish with the burner 'session' you tip out the water and EO and clean the burner. I'm probably completely wrong, I don't know very much about EOs  :?


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## Fragola (Sep 18, 2011)

Maybe it doesn't matter to other people 

It matters to me personally, because I give the same care to products I eat or inhale in my lungs. And after few uses, the EO burner looks eeky and not yummy !

I wouldn't sleep well thinking that I am inhaling oxidized EO. I don't know this for sure, it was just a guess that the extra heat might speed up any oxidation or whatever word is better to describe spoiling EOs. 

Also, I don't like to clean the tealight thingy after each use, which means that I would also be inhaling oil reused many times during the past week or whenever I cleaned it last time. 

Maybe I am slightly paranoid. But I am not completely insane. Am I ?


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## Araseth (Sep 18, 2011)

Oh I see, well I live in London so inhaling a teeny tiny amount of essential oil wouldn't worry me seeing as I inhale a lot worse just by crossing the street to get to the cornershop. I wouldn't think you're insane, I was just worried that I wasn't getting it  but now i do thank you.


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## carebear (Sep 19, 2011)

Fragola said:
			
		

> I wouldn't sleep well thinking that I am inhaling oxidized EO.


uh oh then.  they oxidize on contact with... oxygen.  faster with heat, but not only with heat.


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## dieSpinne (Sep 19, 2011)

DPG???


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## soapbuddy (Sep 19, 2011)

dieSpinne said:
			
		

> DPG???


It's Dipropylene Glycol http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipropylene_glycol


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## walkinwounded (Sep 21, 2011)

*Carebear wrote:*_I believe the aroma can be therapeutic in a way. And I agree that if you are going for the "all natural" approach that DPG probably isn't your thing. Mineral oil might not be either, but I like MO because it doesn't degrade with heat as other oils do. I've read about using jojoba oil as a diffuser diluent but don't know how it holds up._


What is MO?


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## Lindy (Sep 21, 2011)

Mineral Oil I believe....


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## Sunny (Sep 22, 2011)

umm. it may be off topic at this point but there are aromatherapy diffusers too... which don't use heat and just blow air and water and teeny bit of eo into the air so you can smell it.


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## carebear (Sep 22, 2011)

Yea - nebulizers.

Which is funny to me since our allergy/asthma doctor says NO FRAGRANCE in the air, and then gave us a nebulizer.  I kept thinking... I don't get it!  But then I found out nebulizer is just something that breaks up the material into itty bitty droplets that can be air borne.


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