🌡️ Wax Melt & Pour Temperature Reference

General starting-point melt point and pour temperature ranges for common candle wax types. Always follow your specific wax manufacturer's data sheet, since exact figures vary by blend.

Two different temperatures

The melt point is where the wax turns liquid; the pour temperature is the window you fill jars in, and for every wax on the chart it sits above the melt point rather than at it. Soy melts at 115-125°F and pours at 125-135°F; paraffin melts by 150°F but wants 160-180°F in the jug. Coconut wax is the outlier, liquid from 90°F.

If your thermometer reads Celsius:

°C = (°F - 32) × 5 / 9
135°F = (135 - 32) × 5 / 9 = 57°C

Working through a pour

Heat past the pour temperature. Soy goes to about 170-185°F (77-85°C) so the fragrance oil dissolves properly, then cools back to 125-135°F to pour.
Add fragrance hot and stir for two minutes. Stirring is what binds the oil to the wax; a quick swirl leaves it to separate later.
Warm the containers to roughly 100°F. Wax hitting cold glass cools instantly against the wall and leaves the pale patches known as wet spots.
Pour too hot and soy frosts and sinks around the wick; too cool and you get a lumpy top with poor adhesion.

These are starting points for a blend you have not used before. Every manufacturer publishes its own figures, and a single soy blend can sit 10°F away from the numbers here. Keep wax under 200°F, never leave it heating unattended, and smother a wax fire rather than dousing it.

Frequently asked questions

What temperature should I pour soy wax at?

125-135°F, which is 52-57°C. Below that the wax thickens and the top sets rough; well above it, frosting and sinkholes around the wick become likely.

When should fragrance oil go in?

Around 185°F (85°C) for soy, once the wax is fully melted, and stirred gently for two minutes. Added at pour temperature the oil never binds, and it sweats out of the finished candle.

Why is the top of my candle rough?

Usually a cold jar or a pour that had cooled too far. Warm the containers first, pour in the stated range, and level a set top with a heat gun rather than remelting the whole candle.