Exposition and candles

[sr.christinaosf]

I am wondering if anyone here is in a parish that has Eucharistic Adoration for several hours a day. Specifically, I am looking at the candle issue.
We have Eucharistic adoration/exposition for about 18 hours a day. The people who leave at midnight are commissioned to repose the Blessed Sacrament back in the tabernacle.
They also blow out the candles on the altar, which can be problematic with soot issues.
I am considering the possibility of using smaller candles (currently they are the same as the 8-day sanctuary lights). If this were done, they would not need to blow out the candles; we would start fresh each day.
Any input from others who have adoration would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Nihil Obstat]

Why not just use a candle snuffer? You probably have one hanging around already.

[sr.christinaosf]

Candle snuffers tend to cause wax dripping.  

It touches the hot wax.  Then when it is moved, it drips.  

[Nihil Obstat]

Do you not have candlestick holders?

We have the usual set of candles for our high altar, and being rather difficult to reach we light and extinguish them with a good long taper/snuffer. Our normal set of six for high Masses are oil burning candles, but we use wax candles for benediction and for low Mass, Rorate Masses, requiems, etc. Dripping wax is probably preferable to soot anyway, but from what I've seen dripping wax isn't a significant issue to begin with.

[sr.christinaosf]

I don't understand your question.  Holders is not the issue.

[Nihil Obstat]

Why would dripping wax be an issue if there are candlestick holders to catch dripping wax?

[sr.christinaosf]

When they would move the snuffer, hot wax could drip off.  We have an idea now on how to handle this.  We are thinking of using candles that will burn out within 18 hours so they will not need to be extinguished.

[Nihil Obstat]

45 minutes ago, sr.christinaosf said:

When they would move the snuffer, hot wax could drip off.  We have an idea now on how to handle this.  We are thinking of using candles that will burn out within 18 hours so they will not need to be extinguished.

In my experience this really does not happen.

[LittleDiana]

There's the possibility of switching to liquid paraffin candles. We have these in my parish. No dripping whatsoever.

They look like this:

 

The mechanism is this:

 

 

Once the paraffin is consumed, you just refill the glass.

[Charbel]

3 hours ago, LittleDiana said:

There's the possibility of switching to liquid paraffin candles. We have these in my parish. No dripping whatsoever.

They look like this:

 

The mechanism is this:

 

 

Once the paraffin is consumed, you just refill the glass.

My current parish has these too. I never knew how they worked though, thanks for sharing!

[Maggyie]

I'm curious, is there some rule about wax candles? I thought the Church required 100% beeswax? maybe that's just the Mass candles?

[LittleDiana]

17 minutes ago, Maggyie said:

I'm curious, is there some rule about wax candles? I thought the Church required 100% beeswax? maybe that's just the Mass candles?

As far as I know, the tabernacle lamp should be fuelled with beeswax or vegetal oil. Electricity is allowed only in extenuating circumstances. 

As for the rest of the candles, I don't remember if there are any restrictions.