Oil chanukiah - need advice

Active Poster Joined: Oct 05 2010 Posts: 86

We're using the little glass cups that you fill with olive oil for the first time this year, and we must be doing something wrong. We put in the wicks and filled the cups almost to the top - one candle burned for about an hour and the other two burned for about 2 hrs. All burnt out well before the oil was anywhere near gone (left about half full). Does anyone know why this happened (they were nowhere near a breeze)? I'm worried about them not burning long enough into Shabbos tomorrow night. Is there a trick to keeping them burning that I don't know? What am I doing wrong? Thanks in advance for any advice!

Posted: Fri, Dec 03 2010, 3:43 am Post subject: re: oil chanukiah - need advice

This is the first year we're doing oil too with the little glass cups... my MIL told my husband to first put a layer of water at the bottom of the cup, then pour the oil, then use the wicks. Our flames have been lasting 4+ hours the last two nights. I wouldn't know, but maybe using water on the bottom is what makes the difference??

Posted: Fri, Dec 03 2010, 4:15 am Post subject:

What kind of wicks are you using? Usually wicks with floats are too big for the little cups.
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Posted: Fri, Dec 03 2010, 5:04 am Post subject: re: oil chanukiah - need advice

We use a cup full of oil, and metal wick holders in the middle of each cup .....

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Active Poster Joined: Oct 05 2010 Posts: 86

Thanks for your replies. I tried to relight the wicks this morning to see if they'd stay lit (with 1/2 cup of oil left), but they burned out really quickly again Sad

We're using the plain wicks (no metal cover) with a small metal disk at the bottom, and size 9 cups. The store didn't have metal wicks in the small size. I'll try the water method - will the base of the wick still sink to the bottom and stay there safely?

I'm wondering if maybe we should just use candles tonight to be safe...

Platinum Member Joined: Aug 12 2007 Posts: 20503

What we found is that you need to balance those annoying floating disc/wicks, otherwise they tip over and the flame is smothered. Play around to get them balanced in the little cups. The water should not make any difference besides saving you $$$ on oil.
Fill the cups to the top, whether with oil or oil/water combo and put the balanced disc/wick on top. Do this a bit before lighting so the wicks can soften and absorb some oil. Maybe a half hour or so before. It should solve your problem.
Sadly, I still have a few years!!!! left of disc/wicks to use up. In the past, I bought year after year and never consolidated the leftovers, so I have a ton. When we are done with them (we light up to six chanukiyot but not all with olive oil) we will transfer as many as possible to Hila's type, which we also have. These are large so they won't fit every menorah. The cups are plastic, with a removable metal tube going from stem to stern. Into this tube you insert a wick, and we've never had trouble with them. I clean them out after Chanuka and get wicks for them. They don't get as dirty as the glass ones, and are easier to clean.
I also have lamp olive oil which expired in 2009. I think we'll finish it this year.
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Active Poster Joined: Oct 05 2010 Posts: 86

Thanks all. I realized that I had bought the wrong wicks for my cups (serves me right for not reading the label carefully). I picked up the ones with the metal tube this morning. Hope this works!