Candles in Your Car: Brilliant Idea or Safety Hazard?

Car fresheners have been around for a long time, and they come in many forms. You have likely seen some of these air fresheners as little trees, a clip for your car's air vent, a spray, or even a bottle of oil. However, you may be wondering if you can take your favorite candle scent and use it in your car. 

Is it possible to use a candle as a car air freshener?

Technically, yes, when you take the lid off of any candle, you will smell the "cold throw," the candle's fragrance when the wax is solid and cold. If you were to have a candle with the lid off in your car, you would be able to smell the candle throughout your car. Yet, a candle's best fragrance comes from the wax being warmed and releasing the fragrance molecules with what is known as the "hot throw." Therefore, you may wonder if you can heat your candle in your car to get that incredible scent release.

Can I light a candle in my car?

A quick google search will show you how many candle companies have had to answer the question, "can I light a candle in my car?" Generally, the answer to this question is a resounding no, except for the few survivalist bloggers (but in this blog today, we are talking about candle use in a car on a normal day, not when surviving a blizzard). We are going to echo the answer that many have given to this question. Do not light a candle in your car.

We consider ourselves to be major candle enthusiasts, but some people really want to enjoy the ambiance of a lit candle in every area of their lives. However, your daily commute does not need the soft glowing flicker of a candle flame. The fire safety risks are so high if you have a real flame in a moving vehicle traveling at 60 mph or going around the winding turns of back roads. Not only are the seats, the flooring, your seatbelt, the ceiling, and your own clothing flammable, but there is an actual tank of gasoline and other fluids involved in keeping your car running that should not interact with fire. 

Now, you may be thinking, "But what about if I am just going to sit in my car and not go anywhere? Can't I have a lit candle then?" Still, the answer is no. If you really want to enjoy a lit candle and just sit somewhere stationary, go inside, set your candle on a table, and light it there. Sitting in an unmoving car with a candle lit is not really any better than being in a moving car with a real flame. Yes, the risks of the candle being knocked over or spilled are less likely in a vehicle sitting still in a parking lot or driveway. Nevertheless, the tight spacing of a car means you are much closer to that candle's flame, and your flammable clothing or hair could come into contact with fire.

Therefore, lighting a candle in your car is a safety hazard regardless of your car's speed or lack thereof.

So, since lighting a candle in a car is out of the question, what about leaving a candle in a warm car on a summer day so that the car acts like a candle warmer?

Can I leave a candle in my car on a summer day as an air freshener?

As mentioned above, your candle will have a cold throw when the wax is solid, meaning leaving the lid off will still give you some fragrance. However, the hot throw of a candle and thus the amount of fragrance that gets released when the wax is melted is much greater. This is why your candle has a wick: to provide the necessary heat to melt the wax. This need for getting a greater scent throw via melted wax is also why candle warmers were created. Wax warmers, specifically ones created for jar candles, heat the wax from the bottom with a hot plate or from the top with a lamp and do not require a flame. The idea of leaving a candle in a hot car during the summer is essentially utilizing the same concept.

In the summer, when the temperatures get high, the internal temperature of a parked vehicle can reach triple digits. This is why news stations, fire departments, police, and weather services talk so much about not leaving children or pets in cars over the summer. However, you are not reading this blog for reminders about heat stroke (though it never hurts to be reminded). Let's talk about the effect a hot car has on your favorite candles.

At Keystone Candle, we always recommend storing your candles in a cool but not freezing place to keep them from warping or even melting in high temperatures. Essentially, if you want your decorative taper candles to still look straight, you cannot keep them in a warm car because they will look wonky when you eventually use them. 

For jar candles, this is a bit of a different discussion. Since the jar keeps the candle contained, the wax will not warp or be misshapen. However, if the wax becomes fully liquified, your wick will drift off-center. When using a jar candle warmer, a drifting wick is of no issue since you are using the warmer rather than a flame to melt the wax. The same general concept applies in a hot car, but a liquid candle in a vehicle has some problems that do not exist if you are simply using a warmer.

Similar to the aforementioned idea of lighting a candle in a car, there are potentially dangerous possibilities involved in treating your car like a candle warmer. Our paraffin wax jar candles, scented votive candles, and tea lights melt at a temperature of 135 degrees Fahrenheit. In the summer, when your car's temperature reaches triple digits quickly, your entire candle could turn to liquid wax in a relatively short amount of time. Molten candle wax is not something you want to have spilling in your car, on yourself, or onto any of your passengers. Not only would it be difficult to clean the wax out of every nook and cranny of your car, but it would also be hot on your skin. Therefore, driving a car with liquid wax and the potential to spill is a recipe for disaster.

If you're wondering, "what if I only keep a candle in my car when the temps are lower, or if I only leave it in there for an hour?", then yes. If the wax is only a little soft rather than a liquid, it's not going to spill out of the jar. However, the issue then becomes if you forget about it or it is hotter than you think. Then, you would have to get it out of your car when it's hot and melted, which could result in spills. Realistically, during the summer, leaving a candle in your car where it can melt is a safety hazard, but that does not prohibit you from ever keeping a candle in your car.

During the times of year when the weather is cooler and your candle is not at risk of melting inside your car, leaving an open candle jar there is not going to create a waxy mess. This will give you a good cold throw scent similar to what your average car fresheners can do. This is actually a brilliant idea, both for scent purposes and apparently surviving a blizzard (at least according to those survivalist bloggers we mentioned earlier).

Candles in your car: brilliant idea or safety hazard?

Leaving a candle in your car to use it as an air freshener is not the way candles are intended to be used. Yet, the idea is understandable. Some candles are just too good to keep in the house.

Regarding the question of lighting a candle in your car, that is most definitely a safety hazard. The amount of flammable materials that are all cramped together in a vehicle and the reality of high speeds and winding roads create an unstable environment that could result in disaster. Additionally, the idea of leaving a candle in a hot car during the summer to essentially warm the wax without a flame is also a safety hazard. The internal temperature of a vehicle in the summer can reach triple digits and fully melt the wax of your candle, which could spill all over you, your passengers, and your upholstery. If you really want to keep a candle in your car for an air freshener, the best time to do so is during cooler months when your car's internal temperature cannot get to a degree that would liquify the wax.

So, in summary, using candles in your car seems like a brilliant idea at first, but in reality, it is a safety hazard.