Product Safety Bureau Reference Manual
Book 5 - Laboratory Policies and Procedures |
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Part B: Test Methods Section, Method F-21 |
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1 Scope
1.1 This method describes the test procedure to determine whether a sample of candles constitutes relight candles i.e. candles that relight spontaneously, and is applicable to item 29 of Part I of Schedule I to the Hazardous Products Act (HPA).
1.2 This method is applicable to birthday and "joke" candles (including sparklers) but is not applicable to regular household candles or potpourri candles.
1.3 This method is provided to facilitate laboratory procedures only. It is the trader's responsibility to ensure that the product is tested according to, and meets the requirements of the HPA.
2 Applicable Documents
2.1 Product Safety Reference Manual: Book 4 - Flammable Products
2.2 D. Lévesque, "Method Update: F-21 Test Method for Relight Candles", Product Safety Laboratory Project Report No. 99-0528, March 2000
3 Apparatus
3.1 A candle holder made of metal or other fire-resistant material that can hold a candle upright.
3.2 A stopwatch or a similar timing device capable of measuring time with a maximum error of 1 second.
4 Procedure
4.1 Randomly select 10 candles from the sample.
4.2 Condition the candles at 23±2°C and 40±10% relative humidity for at least 24 hours prior to testing. These same conditions apply for testing.
4.3 Position a candle in the candle holder.
4.4 Light the candle and allow it to burn for one minute.
4.5 Extinguish the candle by blowing and start the stopwatch.
4.6 Wait until the candle re-ignites spontaneously or the wick stops smoldering.
4.7 If the candle re-ignites spontaneously, record time to re-ignition and discontinue testing for that candle.
4.8 If the wick has stopped smoldering, repeat steps 4.4 to 4.8 until the candle has been tested a maximum of 10 times.
4.9 Repeat steps 4.3 to 4.8 for each candle selected in 4.1.
5 Quality Assurance/Quality Control Procedures
5.1 Temperature and humidity conditions should be controlled and recorded (see F-00).
5.2 Testing must be conducted in a draft-free area (see F-00).
5.3 The Quality Control section of the method has not been developed and will be added when completed.
6 Test Report
6.1 The test report should contain the following information:
6.1.1 A description of the sample.
6.1.2 The time to re-ignition after the candle was extinguished by blowing.
7 Precision and Bias
This section of the test method has not been developed and will be added when completed.
8 Sampling
A minimum of 50 candles should be submitted for testing.
Appendix
STANDARD REPORT FORMAT
Product Description
The product was a wax candle 62 mm long and 5 mm in diameter and came in three different colours: red, yellow and blue.
Results
This table contains the time to re-ignition of the candles after they were allowed to burn for one minute and then blown out. Candles from each package were chosen for a total of ten candles. Each candle was tested ten times or until it re-ignited.
table contains the time to re-ignition of the candles after they were allowed to burn
Candle
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Time to Re-ignition (s)
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Trial 9 |
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Note: - (hyphen) designates no re-ignition of the candle. |
