EN 15493 Candles - Fire Safety Specification

EUROLAB laboratory provides testing and compliance services within the scope of EN 15493 standard. This standard specifies requirements and test methods for the fire safety of candles intended to be lit indoors. EN 15493 is for single wick waxes up to 250 g net weight.

EN 15493 was updated to the 2019 version in October. EN 15493:2019 includes the following important technical changes compared to EN 15493:2007:

Terms and definitions have been improved, the following terms have been added:

• Post-smoke time
• floating candle
• indoor candle
• not independent
• residual height

A test method for self-extinguishing candles is introduced, the requirements are detailed below:

• Freestanding candles marketed as self-extinguishing candles will self-extinguish at the end of the burning period. Candles must not burn or cause any burn marks on a paper placed underneath during the entire burn test.
• Non-independent candles marketed as self-extinguishing are self-extinguishing at a residual height of ≥12 mm in the case of candles with a diameter ≤ 14 mm and in the case of other candles at a residual height of ≥ 18 mm.

The post-smoke time requirement has changed as follows:

• The wick will not continue to glow or smoke for more than an average of 30 seconds (2007 seconds in the 20 version) after extinguishing. The mean after smoke time is now netted to be measured as the average of all single measurements of after smoke time for each candle and each burning period.

The test procedure of the combustion test has been defined in more detail and the combustion test cycles have been modified;

• There are now some limitations and exceptions to follow the usage instructions;
• The requirements of the chamber to be used in the experiment are defined, the chamber should be made of heat-resistant material and filled with water up to 1 cm below the circle;
• The standard white cheat sheet used for testing self-extinguishing standalone candles is described;
• In the burning test, the distance between the candles was specified;
• Regarding the burn test cycles, the uncapped wax mass was changed from 40g to 25g.

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