Buffalo Soup Kettle?

[Kayaayak]

Hi guys, I am fairly new to candle making and I was finding it a hassle to melt my wax over a double boiler every day and my housemates were getting annoyed with me always using the kitchen for this purpose.

I have seen a lot of people using a buffalo soup kettle to melt their wax and it is supposed to have a max temp of around 200°F/ 95°C. I have put my wax in and turned it on and I kid you not it has taken around 12 hours to get to temperature. This cannot be normal or functional for people who make candles.

Can anyone who uses one please give me some trouble shooting tips as to how you get it to work effectively for you?

Many thanks,

Kaya

 

[DeeAnna]

I had to look this up -- never heard of a "Buffalo soup kettle" before today, although now that I understand, I sometimes see kettles like this used in restaurants.

I'm not a candle maker and I've never used one of these kettles, but I'm familiar with heat transfer equipment having worked as an engineer. I realize this is a super simple question, so my apologies in advance for asking it, but ...

Did you add water to the outer reservoir? If you didn't add water or if the water evaporates away and you don't keep the reservoir topped up, the rate of heat transfer will be terrible.

My guess is for safety the kettle will turn off if the reservoir is dry and the kettle starts to overheat. That will make the problem even worse.

 

[amd]

Presto Pot. Suggested to me by another member on the forum who makes candles.

 

[DeeAnna]

A Presto pot is pretty much the same except the heating element is in direct contact with the wax rather than having a water jacket/reservoir like the Buffalo pot has. You can make arguments for either one being good choices, and I'd think they should both work well for melting wax.

Someone asked a similar question some years ago about a large water-jacketed melter that wasn't working right. That OP didn't realize they needed to keep the water jacket filled with sufficient water to get proper heating. I am thinking maybe something like this is the problem in this thread.

 

[Kayaayak]

I had to look this up -- never heard of a "Buffalo soup kettle" before today, although now that I understand, I sometimes see kettles like this used in restaurants.

I'm not a candle maker and I've never used one of these kettles, but I'm familiar with heat transfer equipment having worked as an engineer. I realize this is a super simple question, so my apologies in advance for asking it, but ...

Did you add water to the outer reservoir? If you didn't add water or if the water evaporates away and you don't keep the reservoir topped up, the rate of heat transfer will be terrible.

My guess is for safety the kettle will turn off if the reservoir is dry and the kettle starts to overheat. That will make the problem even worse.

Oh my goodness, I am so silly, I didnt read anywhere in the instructions that I should add water but this has got to be it, I must have missed it as I was too excited to fill it with wax and get going! Thank you so much I will be trying this immedietly I am feeling very silly right about now!

Thank you again

 

[DeeAnna]

The instructions for use do say to add water to the reservoir. About 600 mL, IIRC.