So I started to investigate making my own. I already use Essential Oil to make my own soap, fabric softener, shampoo, body butter, and candles. And I use oils for oil burners (no genius there). Why not glade warmers? Same concept right?
So here we go.
Materials:
Essential Oil of your choice (I used Jasmine).
Carrier Oil, such as Jojoba, Almond, or Olive Oil.
Itty Bitty Screwdriver, flathead (I used my Stanley Precision set.)
Butter Knife
Step One : Open the old Glade Oil Carrier
I've found that if you go about this wrong, the old container will crack and will be unusable. So, do NOT be in a hurry when doing this. Use your flat head Stanley or small screwdriver and carefully slip it inbetween the lip of the top of the carrier and body.
DO NOT twist like you're trying to open a container of paint. That will break it. Just give it a little wiggle and move on. You may not feel like you're getting anywhere, but you'll see when you're done that there's a the smallest space between the two.
Now use your butter knife, blunt, non-serrated end, and ease it around with the same gentle nudging motion. Go around the few times. The break gets wider and wider. Now, take your hands and gently but firmly twist them apart. If it won't give, repeat with the butter knife until it does. This whole process only took me a couple minutes.
Step Two : CLEAN
Take of whiff of your carrier. WHEW! Still smells just like the original oil, doesn't it? Not all too pleasant, that phoney smell. You'll need to wash it and the wick out. A few times. I put mine in the dishwasher but ONLY because it has a silverware tray on the door that is away from the bottom of the machine. It would have melted otherwise. You can also use a little tray on the top and low heat cycle. If you have concerns, just soak them by hand. Then make sure they are dried out completely, especially the wick! If not, you'll have water running out of your wick into your oil holder and diluting your scented oil.
Step Three: Add essential oil
When using Essential Oil on the skin, you need a high dilution rate (more carrier, less essential oil). However, when burning oils, the rate decreases dramatically because it's not coming in contact with your skin. HOWEVER. I strongly suggest testing out a small patch of oil on the inside of your wrist and waiting a few minutes to make sure you don't have an allergy. Otherwise, the rest of your day may be extremely unpleasant.
I've seen numerous suggestions to add water at this point. BAD IDEA. The answer why is obvious. What normally happens when you add water and oil? The oil will float on the top and your wick will suck it up and you'll burn it all off in the first few minutes. Not productive for all this work.
When I make fabric softener, I add only 15 drops of essential oil to an entire gallon of softener. The results are a light scent I can smell on my clothes out of the dryer. However, this is going to burn over the course of 30 days at a very slow rate. I added 40 drops of essential oil to the container. You may add more or less depending on the oils and your desired smell.
Step Four: Add carrier oil
Fill the rest of the bottle up with your carrier oil til just about a quarter inch from the top. The wick will take up some space.
Step Five: Shake
Now, go ahead and recap the container firmly with the wick. Push until you hear and feel a definite click. Now shake that baby. Like crazy. Like it's an unmixed paint container. Plug in and enjoy. I'd love to hear feedback and suggestions. Remember, BE SAFE. A good place to research essential oils and their warnings is http://www.essentialoils.co.za/essential-oils/index.htm. Particularly if you're pregnant or have a serious medical condition, look at that site first!!! Thanks and have a great holiday season!
Thanks for this tutorial. I was about to buy a refill, when I saw your post and decided to take a stab at making my own. It took only a few minutes and smells much better than the store bought kind. Loved the tutorial!
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear it helped you out! I love them too.
ReplyDeleteVery thorough! Can't wait to give it a try myself. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteEasier way to get that cap off.. put some water in a microwavable cup for about 3-4 mins. ( Careful: HOT) put the top of the glade diffuser down in the water( to the plastic lip) for a few seconds then use a rag to pull the top right off. once cooled, the top will go back tight the way it was...... also works for swifter wet jet tops!!!
ReplyDeleteThe easiest way to get the cap off is have someone else do it.
DeleteWhere can I purchase them wicks?
ReplyDeleteTIA
I got mine on Amazon.
DeleteSunflower oil is odourless and has a higher flash-point and auto-ignition point. Olive is prob not so good a choice
ReplyDeleteThank you for your detail advise.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your detail advise.
ReplyDeleteCould I possibly use glycerin oil? Is that what a carrier oil is?
ReplyDeleteI tried using avocado oil that I had on hand a a carrier oil & followed the directions, but have NOT been able to smell mine at all! I'm using emptied Air Wick containers & I bought new wicks. Help! What did I do wrong?
ReplyDeleteIt could be that your scented oil is less concentrated or is already with another carrier oil. Or maybe it just isn't as distinctive as some. I have several different oils, and some are just naturally more noticeable than others. Try using more scented oil or try another scent.
ReplyDeleteThis is great! I love giving my rooms aroma but I find a lot of the scent plugins too perfume-y for someone who loves earthy scents (cypress, sandalwood, etc) like me. Definitely going to try
ReplyDeleteIt's so funny to find a 7yo posting about something I've just discovered myself because my new landlord is loco for AirWicks and has them all over the damn house in every room. All plugged in and ALL EMPTY! I love numerous fire hazards as much as the next guy living on the top floor whose only escape is to jump through a screen window and break both legs, but thought it perhaps even MORE fun to find a way to refill these things.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking at the unbelievably exorbitant cost of refills, I found a replacement at a Dollar shop. My husband brain kicked in (the one that fixed all the things my wife would somehow break all over the flat, as if she were on some "Oopsies, I did it AGAIN, honey!" reality tv show) and I started prying both versions apart. The dollar version uses a plastic wick. Seems to work just as well as far as scent and the beauty is NO WICK CLEANING NOR REPLACEMENT! Well, no heavy wick cleaning if you continue with the same scent. Even if not, cleaning a plastic wick is so much easier, even dishwasher ready. I prefer the GLASS bulb of the original though (the dollar version is plastic, of course), so I've convinced the dollar plastic wick with the glass bulb.
As far as trying the whole thing out with a carrier/essential oil combo, I just wanted to find evidence of people having done so and NOT burned down their homes. Since this thread is 7yo, I'm thoroughly convinced to try a veg oil/citrus essential oil combo or whatever I happen to have lying round.
I know the original ingredients are far more chemical than natural, so I was curious whether this really acted as a simple warmer, in which case I could use any ingredients I would use with any other warmer, or it would burn differently and react poorly, at best doing nothing to diffuse the essential oil and at worst reaching combustible temps for the carrier oil. This age-old post has assuaged my fears, so thanks a ton!
I'll still use grapeseed oil or some other high smoke point deep-frying type oil (vs olive oil, for example, which burns at very low temps which anybody who's tried to fry with it knows... tons of smoke and spittling all over the pop pop place.
Thanks again! Timeless post!
You're correct as well as incorrect in you're when it comes to youre theory of why water should avoided. You're absolutely correct in saying that the 2 will undoubtedly separate leaving the oil floating atop the water..however, the wick wont be sucking up the oil first, it's actually the complete &total opposite..it would be the very last thing for the wick to absorb. The wicks,&the basic functioning is extremely universal &exactly the same across all brands/styles/scents/etc..if you take a look at the wick you'll notice that they're all lined with what appears to be a plastic like substance along the entire length of the wick leaving only the flat bottom side of the wick uncovered. This is for a couple reasons..to limit the amount of oil the wick can uptake-making the product last for a significantly higher amount of time but the most important reason is actually to make it to where everything is absorbed from the bottom of the container making it so that all product can be utilized..if it were the other way around&the wick absorbed from the top like you said, well once the product got below that point it would no longer be able to absorb any product. It just wouldn't be very wise to design this product to function in that manner. My sole reason for choosing to not use water, (other than the obvious repellent properties if oil&water)however, this is an issue than can be easily remedied if you're insistent upon using water(perhaps due to lack of having a carrier oil on hand) by simply adding the smallest amount of soap as an emulsifier..I highly suggest making a larger size diy refill that you can use to refill several of these cartridges if you decide to go this route as itll be extremely difficult to get the soap to water ratio correct on such a tiny amount of liquid. If you're unsure how you'll feel about the scent &therefore would rather not make a larger batch,I've read somewhere that you can also use a small drop of [70%] rubbing alcohol as an emulsifier but I've never actually done this myself to be able to verify of its results but I can't imagine it not working HOWEVER I do believe it would just be "fuel to the fire",so to speak, highly exacerbating my main reason for choosing to not use water which is the rate at which the product "burns" off.. it will use up the whole thing in no time,at an almost unbelievable fast rate that'll have you scratching your head wandering if maybe your time perception is even worse off than you believed it to be and it was just a few days ago that you had made it or that perhaps it spilled or maybe even over flowed due to heat..until you refill it,only this time being mindful to keep a keen eye on it,when you realize holy crap its slurping it up so fast you'd believe it was a parched person who'd been stranded out in the desert with no water. Which is super irritating in my opinion considering the amount of EO required to make these.. that part is the only reason why I feel it might not be feasible to always DIY this sort of thing but it sure is fun every once in awhile..I always keep an eye out for coupons and good sales on these things but when I'm out and having bo luck,I'll DIY it cuz I'm the type of person who struggles to pay full price for an item that I've already purchased before for a significantly lower cost lol.. basically I'm cheap.
ReplyDeleteVisit for: Fragrance Diffuser Machine
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