When to put the wick out?

How do you guys know when its the wicks burning and not the Kero. The kero burns well but i have no idea when its run out. My stints last for about 40 seconds before i put out the wick and the wick gets more chared each time. By the way im using a cotton wick wrapped really tightly and it seems to work well. any suggestions?

err...sorry, did you say you get a 40 second burn before putting them out?

I would suggest invisting in some good ole kevlar wicks. I've only just started on the fire but I can get a good 5 - 8 minutes per burn!

As for putting them out, many people say you should put them out when the flame is only rising 2" above the wicks (they should be a lot higher when first lit and stationary). When you do put them out, dip them immediately back into the kero to prevent any smouldering eating away at your wicks - don't worry the kero won't go up unless it's pretty hot.

hmmmm...all this talk of fire makes me wanna go out and spin - can't wait to get home

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"The tincture of night began to suffuse the soup of the afternoon. He considered the sentence, and found it good. He liked 'tincture' particularly. Tincture. Tincture. It was a distinguished word, and pleasantly countered by the flatness of 'soup'. The soup of the afternoon. Yes. In which may be found the croutons of teatime."

Hey thanks for the reply, my flames arent going out its just that my wicks seem to be burning and not the kero, maybe they need to be soaked longer? when i put the wicks out i still had a huge flame, like 6 - 8 inches but decided to put them out because the previous runs the wick would have chared markes which led me to the conclusion that my wick was burning, any ideas plz reply thanks,

Vukie....

Yea, it's likey that if you're using cotton wicks they will begin to burn earlier than if you were using kevlar. This would explain why you're getting charring even though the flame is still quite high. I would seriously recommend getting a set of kevlar wicks - they give a more onsistent flame, burn longer, last longer and probably cost less in the long run.

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"The tincture of night began to suffuse the soup of the afternoon. He considered the sentence, and found it good. He liked 'tincture' particularly. Tincture. Tincture. It was a distinguished word, and pleasantly countered by the flatness of 'soup'. The soup of the afternoon. Yes. In which may be found the croutons of teatime."

mine spin out after a few mintues (like 3-5) but usually only 1 at a time. i sock them always at the same time in same container etc etc, so technically they are identical. the flame on the still lit one is usually still like atleast 6 inches above the wick.i am using the kevlar wicks with lamp oil

Am i doing something wrong or this normal?

wulff

Wulff--
It's perfectly normal for one wick to go out before the other. On those rare occasions when I've had two wicks go out within a few seconds of each other, everyone was slightly surprised.

A 3-minute burn is kind of short, though--you should be getting closer to 5 minutes. Can't explain why it's so short.