Candles and exposition

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St_Annes

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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 (name removed by moderator)ut from others who have adoration would be appreciated. Thank you.
 
Tough choice.

I did some checking. The smallest of the big candles will burn for 3 days. We use them for 40 hours devotion (once a year). Those will present some issues, such as what to do with them once lit, and they can get expensive. They cannot be reliably extinguished and re-lit.

The non-disposables are high-maintenance. Cleaning the glass globes is quite a chore.

The ones that come in the disposable plastic cups are nice, but they can get expensive after a while. Unfortunately, they don’t come in a range that seems suitable (4 or 6 hours at most for the small ones) or 3-day for the larger. That means that each day, you’ll either waste 2 days worth of candle, or have 2 days worth still burning. If you have the money and the space that might not matter.

What do you mean by “soot issues”? Are they causing problems above the candles (smoke collecting on the ceiling), or do you mean that when people blow-out the candles they make a mess? If it’s a mess caused by extinguishing, have you considered a simple candle snuffer? It’s hard to get people to use them, and even harder to get them to use them properly.

If you do want to use the 8-day style lights, I would recommend using the 3-day ones that come in the plastic cups instead. The glass globes are still needed, but the plastic makes cleanup much easier. I’ve been using them for decades and have always had very good luck. As long as they’re used properly they’re very easy and reliable. They must be level, so be sure that when you get the glass you choose the ones with a flat bottom, not a curved bottom. If placed in the curved glass, they will lean to one side and this causes very serious problems (pronounced “fire hazard”).

Good luck!
 
We use the seven day plastic insert candles both in a candle stand in the Chapel, and in the Sanctuary lamp. They work just fine, 7 days nearly to the minute. Our custodian changes the Sanctuary lamp candle every Friday morning.
We suggest a $5 donation to light one of the 7 day candles in the candle stand. On a non-flammable mat, we’ve never had a problem. You could easily use one of those single candles. You can get the single small stand for a seven day candle that sits on an altar or a nearby pillar table as pictured.
 
Soot gets on the altar cloth from time to time when they are extinguished.
I have found some that are supposed to last for at least 15 hours, which would be ideal. We would want to buy new holders, but I found some that are not expensive. This way, there would be no one having to blow out candles at night. It would be cleaner and nicer.
I want to figure out some sort of lid, though, for on top.
 
We use the 7 day plastic insert candles in the Adoration Chapel. For our Samctuary lamp we use a beeswax candle.
 
St_Annes said:
Soot gets on the altar cloth from time to time when they are extinguished.
I have found some that are supposed to last for at least 15 hours, which would be ideal. We would want to buy new holders, but I found some that are not expensive. This way, there would be no one having to blow out candles at night. It would be cleaner and nicer.
I want to figure out some sort of lid, though, for on top.
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That part is relatively easy.

The metalware companies that make these things make custom lids for the globes.

They might not be “in the catalog” but if you contact one of the companies that makes the iron candle racks (there are just a few of them scattered throughout the US) they will either have them ready-made or they can custom make them to match your particular globes.

As for the 15 hour candles, though. Check if they come in the plastic cups (those I could not find). Plain candles leave quite a mess inside the globes. Some candle companies take them back and refill them (like we used to do with milk bottles), but only if you’re within driving distance of their factory. Cleaning 8 glass globes every day would be a huge chore—not kidding.
 
pianistclare said:
We use the seven day plastic insert candles both in a candle stand in the Chapel, and in the Sanctuary lamp. They work just fine, 7 days nearly to the minute. …
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tawny said:
We use the 7 day plastic insert candles in the Adoration Chapel. For our Samctuary lamp we use a beeswax candle.
Click to expand...
Those are great, but for the OPs situation, they get extinguished every day. Those candles can’t be extinguished and re-lit. They sometimes work just once more, but they’re specifically designed to be lit only once and then burn until they’re gone.
 
I guess I didn’t catch the part about needing to be blown out.
I guess I was thinking it was round the clock Adoration, Never mind.
 
We use the same 7-day candles for our adoration chapel that we use for the tabernacle light in our church. To extinguish the candles each evening at 10 PM we place ceramic tiles on the top of each of the four glass holders. The lack of oxygen kills the flame and we wait until the smoke has settled before removing the tiles. Waiting isn’t a problem as we place the tiles as soon as the Blessed Sacrament is reposed and remove them after the monstrance and its taboret are taken care of.

We don’t have any problems re-lighting the candles using a long lighter (such as used for fireplaces) at 8 AM the next morning.
 
Mary_Ellen said:
We use the same 7-day candles for our adoration chapel that we use for the tabernacle light in our church. To extinguish the candles each evening at 10 PM we place ceramic tiles on the top of each of the four glass holders. The lack of oxygen kills the flame and we wait until the smoke has settled before removing the tiles. Waiting isn’t a problem as we place the tiles as soon as the Blessed Sacrament is reposed and remove them after the monstrance and its taboret are taken care of.

We don’t have any problems re-lighting the candles using a long lighter (such as used for fireplaces) at 8 AM the next morning.
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Yes, we use the 7 day candles in front of the statues in our parish. They are only lit for Mass. No problem relighting until they get to about 1/4 height.
 
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