The New Glade® Plugin Oil Warmer

The Glade® Plugin® scented oil warmer has been completely redesigned for 2019. We first noticed the new design arriving at Target and Walmart stores in Mid-January 2019. The new design is similar to the Air Wick® scented oil warmer introduced in 2017 with a dial top for fragrance level adjustments. The packaging claims “up to 50% longer lasting fragrance” using lower setting using Glade® plugin® refills.

Changes to the new Glade® oil warmer

The key changes compared to the previous version of the Glade® scented oil warmer are the cylinder shape warmer vs. rectangular shape, removing the front plastic cover from the older Glade® design, and greater control over fragrance strength using a new rotating dial feature on the top of the unit, similar to the Air Wick® design.  In the older design, the plastic “cover” was for both cosmetic purposes and securing the refill bottle in the warmer. The plastic cover inconveniently concealed most of your refill bottle, making it more difficult to know how much perfume is remaining. We have seen issues in the older design where the plastic cover stretched outward over time with usage, possibly causing a refill bottle to fall out. With the previous Glade® warmer, we observed variance with new warmers new out of the packaging, where some new refills bottles snap in firmly in the warmer units and other refill bottles were not held securely. The new design adds plastic retaining clips (see image below) that secures the bottle by the neck which avoids only the plastic cover securing your refill.

Does fragrance last longers in the new Glade warmer?

Before we explain if your fragrance refill will last longer in the new Glade warmers, we will show you how the warmer heats your scented oil causing vaporization and scent “throw” or strength.  All plugin® type scented oil warmers use a ceramic heating element to heat oil near the wick of your refill causing the oil to vaporize, thus emitting fragrance. Scented oil warmer heating elements are typically heated to around 150 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal vaporization and will ideally have slow, consistent evaporation of your fragrance oil. Typically, the faster the evaporation and vaporizing, the more fragrance in the room and vice versa. The vaporization that causes fragrance to emit from your scented oil refill also causes weight loss and evaporation of the fragrance oil itself. There is a direct correlation between evaporation rates (life of refill) and scent throw or strength. The faster the evaporation the stronger the scent, the stronger scent the shorter the life of your refill.

Adjusting fragrance level on your Glade® oil warmer

How to use the new Glade plugin warmer

By turning the dial to more and less fragrance on the gold top of the Glade® oil warmer, you increase (clockwise) and decrease (counter clockwise) the amount of fragrance by bringing the heating element closer to and farther away from the wick increasing and decreasing vaporization and evaporation. This allows for greater control of fragrance levels with the new glade design.  With the previous Glade® design, you would adjust fragrance using the “wheel” on the plastic cover exposing more and less heating element to the refill wick. We observed less control on the older version, especially with limited low fragrance.

We tested evaporation rates side-by-side with Air Wick and found greater control with the Air Wick® warmer and improved fit for Scent Fill® refills. The Air Wick® has noticeably more scent throw and evaporation.  Scent Fill refills have more throw in an Air Wick® due to the wick location being closer to the heating element.  

Glade® rotating 110-Volt plug feature

Glade® continues to use the rotating 110-volt plug feature in their new design, allowing you to rotate warmer to keep your refill bottle upright. If your warmer is tilted to the side or upside down your scented oil will slowly spill or drain through the wick. Bathrooms often have horizontal and vertical outlets making the rotation feature particularly useful.

There are needed improvements to the new Glade® design allowing the user greater control of the fragrance level which will result in longer lasting plugin® refills. The trade-off with longer life is less scent throw of strength due to reduced evaporation and weight loss.  While the design is improved we continue to recommend Air Wick ® scented oil warmers for Scent Fill® customers for a better fit and maximum scent throw.