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How Our Innovation is Redefining Fire

While fire has historically played a central role in human development, it continues to be an abhorrent houseguest.

Wood fires emit soot, ash, carbon monoxide and all sorts of other unpleasantries we would rather not have invade our nasal canals. Ethanol fires avoid the ash, but are still prone to flare-ups and spontaneous ignition — potentially resulting in serious injury or even death. Even scented candles negatively impact indoor air quality.

In an unexpected twist, a rocket scientist has figured out how to all but eliminate the correlation between indoor fires and health risks, without sacrificing the warm, soothing atmosphere that fire creates. After fiddling with fire’s intrinsic mechanisms for nearly a decade, he finally landed on an exciting new way to create flames — and he partnered with Lovinflame to make his innovative fire technology available to everyone.

Lovinflame fire is different from all other fires because it keeps everything we love about fire — the warmth, the red-orange glow, the dancing flames — while offering a few key improvements.

NO TOXIC FUMES

Why is the fire under your gas stove blue, but the fire at a bonfire more of a reddish-orange? A gas stove is an example of near* ‘complete combustion’, whereby enough oxygen is fed into the flame to allow for a clean burn, with minimal carbon monoxide emissions. A bonfire, on the other hand, is an example of ‘incomplete combustion’.  (*We say ‘near’ complete combustion, because 100% ‘complete combustion’ is a scientific impossibility.)

Since our atmosphere is only 21% oxygen, wood-burning fires aren’t able to suck in enough oxygen to completely combust, and therefore emit a fair amount of carbon monoxide, fine particle pollution, volatile organic compounds, black carbon, and air toxins as a result. Even though snuggling up next to a roaring fire sounds like an ideal way to spend a cold winter’s day, wood-burning fireplaces are known to negatively impact indoor air quality and should only be burned with proper ventilation.

In the past, near complete and incomplete combustion have been clearly cut along these lines: near complete combustion is clean-burning, but produces blue flames; incomplete combustion emits more toxic fumes, but produces classic, warm-colored flames.

Lovinflame’s patented burning system has completely redefined this clear-cut definition by figuring out a way to enable near complete combustion while also producing the elegant, orange flames to which humans are so partial. Emissions become clean — water vapor and carbon dioxide — and fills any space with a rosy glow.

As an added bonus, this clean-burning fire is virtually odorless — adding just the right touch of ambience to any dinner party, without an alcoholic stench interfering with your palate.

FUEL THAT’S WATER-SOLUBLE

Unlike ethanol fuel — classified as a ‘hazardous waste’ and can only be disposed of with the utmost precaution — Lovinflame Fuel can be safely discarded alongside standard household waste, since the fuel is completely water-soluble and degradable. While we strongly discourage anyone from drinking the fuel, accidentally ingesting small amounts won’t impact your health, though it certainly won’t be doing your taste buds any favors.

MOBILE FIRE

A natural gas fireplace can only function if it is hooked up to the gas line, acutely limiting homeowners’ decorating options. Once a natural gas fireplace has been installed, its location is all but set in stone. Because a Lovinflame portable fire pits operates independently from a gas line, it follows the party wherever it goes.

On a particularly crisp evening that is practically inviting you to sit outdoors, you can easily pick up the fireplace and place it artfully on your patio. As soon as the ground is covered with 10 inches of snow and you’d prefer not to face the sub-zero temperatures, the portable fireplace can easily be set up indoors — making any space that much cozier.

WIND-RESISTANT FIRE

If the wind is in a somewhat gusty mood, your romantic candlelit evening may turn into a “relight-the-candle-every-five-minutes” evening, until you give up and just use the flashlight on your phone instead.

Lucky for your inner romantic, the wind is no match for our patented burning system — even when the breeze snuffs out all other candles in its path, Lovinflame candles continue to light up your table with a soft glow (unless you blow really, really hard). 

2,000+ HOURS OF BURN TIME

A single patented wick can burn for at least 2,000 hours — long enough to watch Titanic 615 times — and every wick is covered by a lifetime warranty. That means less time buying new equipment and a smaller impact on the environment.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Our Lovinflame patented burning system is all about the way the stainless steel wick and water-soluble fuel interact with another. With a 104 ºC (220 ºC) flash point — compared to a flash point as low as 13 ºC (55.4 ºF) for ethanol — Lovinflame Fuel is considered the least flammable classification as a Class IIIB Combustible Liquid under the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA 30: Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code).

If the fuel has such a high flash point, how can it ignite? It’s because the stainless steel wick is specially designed to quickly reach temperatures up to 900 ºC (nearing 1200 ºF), which is hot enough to swiftly vaporize the fuel to become flammable — while the rest of the fuel in the tank remains relatively cool. This adds an extra element of safety to the design, making it highly resistant to flare-ups.

As for the wind-resistant aspect, that boils down to a simple matter of surface area: where is the combustion reaction happening and how wide is the burning point? A generic candle, for example, burns due to a reaction between the wick and wax. To snuff out a candle, all you have to do is blow the flames away from the wick.

The combustion reaction for Lovinflame-powered candles, on the other hand, occurs across a much wider range. This is because the high-temperature wick rapidly vaporizes Lovinflame fuel, forming a flammable mixture with the air (fun fact: the shape of the flame corresponds to the shape of evaporated fuel). Because the flame is burning across a much larger surface area, it’s much harder to blow all the vaporized fuel away (although if you blow hard enough, you can certainly manage it).

A NEW ERA OF FIRE

Historically, enjoying the comfort of a flickering fire has meant inhaling soot, ash, and a host of other toxic emissions — but no longer. We have carved out a completely new category of fire that all but defies the presupposed nature of fire itself.

Now that we’ve figured out a way to achieve near complete combustion without sacrificing fire’s familiar, orangey glow, we’re finally ready to share this innovation with the world.

Want to experience the comforting glow of fire, without the harmful side effects? Explore our candle and fireplace collection and find the perfect flame for you.

To learn more, read our article, “Why Our Decorative Flames are Safer”, to see how our patented burning system offers a safer alternative to other decorative flame products.