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I originally thought this was pashut, but as I discovered over shabbos that it is still a chiddush to many people, I am posting this leto’eles harabbim.
Floating wicks are a wick pushed through a doughnut-shaped base of cork covered by thin foil. The premise is that the cork base floats the wick on top of the oil, ensuring a clean burn all the way through. The cups stay clean, the oil gets burnt, and shoin.
The problem is that eventually, the cork starts absorbing the oil and gets heavy and heavier, eventually sinking into the oil and smothering the wick.
The solution- leave the old wick in! the tip of it will push the new wick up long enough to burn a significant time.
As for the first night, they usually give you an extra few wicks and bases. Just pre-soak a wick and base to make it old, and transfer it to the new glass every night.
Leave the whole old one in, you are saying?
The problem is that eventually, the cork starts absorbing the oil and gets heavy and heavier, eventually sinking into the oil and smothering the wick.
Cork has a SG of about .16 and olive oil has a SG of about .91. No matter how much oil is absorbed by the cork it will never get to a SG of higher than .91.
The solution- leave the old wick in! the tip of it will push the new wick up long enough to burn a significant time.
I have no idea what that will accomplish. (Maybe the problem is that I’m not even sure what you are suggesting.)
brilliant! i’ll tell my husband…
I will try this. Shkoyach.
Try using the aluminum sleeve that a long wick goes through. The wick will not move around and the flame stays erect and clean till the end.
I use 2 bases instead of one. It makes it sturdier so it doesn’t tip over and drown. I guess using the old ones as the 2nd base can save from having to buy more.
I don’t like floating wicks because as the oil level goes down it burns the inside of the glass. Also, they sometimes float to the side and get knocked over. The kind that stand straight with a holder don’t have these issue.
Mod-42 it’s 4.45am in NY, I guess you got up early to daven Vassikin.
Either I was up all night watching my miraculous candles until they went out or I’m in Belgium.
The flower shaped floaters work for me. Also, narrower cups that don’t allow the floaters much room on either side seem to work well. I have had the misfortune of having many sinking floaters that had lots of space to move around in the cup, one jump in the room and oil goes over a side and tips it over.
There is another problem.
Heat resistant glass is a recent innovation and wasn’t around historically.
A flame covered by a glass may not be considered a “Halachically Visible” flame. See sugya of “Erva BeAshashith”.
So as the flame sinks into the glass and can only be seen through the glass it may not be considered even “visible”.
I had the same problem last year, and here is the solution. Either buy larger floaters that do not get fully immersed in the oil or if those are not available,take the smaller ones and cut strips of foil and mold it around the smaller one to a size that it it is sitting on top of the oil and not fully immersed. The lights will last for hours with out any sinking.
Bump. Oops, knocked over the wick 🙂
I’ve stopped using the floaters. I get those little metal tubes tat have a base. Shoin, no more problem.
My issue with the floaters stems from the fact that I up-converted an heirloom candle based menorah to oil. But, the branches were too close. So I was forced to get very narrow glass cups. When I used the floaters two things happened. 1) the narrow mouth of the cup did not allow sufficient oxygen for the wicks to burn past a certain level. And 2)I use a candle to light the wicks and if a drip of wax came off it would secure the bit of cork to the side of the glass resulting in it tipping over. So, I got those brass colored wick holders and poof no more problem. The flame is always above the the glass’s lip, and even if wax drips in it doesn’t matter. Kudos to the inventor of those wick holders!
Mod-42, if it took your candles 11 hours to go out (presuming you lit them at the required time), you must have used a few gallons of oil over Chanuka, what a waste…
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