How Long Does a 9 oz Soy Candle Burn?
A 9 oz soy candle burns for roughly 40 to 50 hours. That is the rated burn time of our own 9 oz candle, and it is a fair figure for most candles of that size. How many of those hours you actually get depends on how you burn it.
Why it is a range and not one number
Burn time is measured under good conditions: a trimmed wick, a still room, and burns of a few hours at a time. Your living room has a heating vent and a door that opens every ten minutes. The wick size, how long you leave it lit each time and how warm the room is all move the number. A candle that is looked after lands near the top of the range. One that is lit for twenty minutes at a time and never trimmed can lose a quarter of its life to wax that never melts.
What 40 to 50 hours looks like in real life
If you light it for two hours most evenings, a 9 oz candle lasts three to four weeks. If it only comes out at the weekend, expect a couple of months. If it sits on the shelf because the label is too good to burn, it lasts forever, which is also a valid use.
How to get every hour out of it
Make the first burn a long one
The first time you light it, leave it burning until the melted wax reaches the edge of the jar all the way round. For a jar about 3 inches across, that usually takes two to three hours. A common rule is about an hour for every inch of jar width. Soy wax remembers how far it melted the first time, so a short first burn sets a narrow pool that every later burn follows down the middle. That is tunneling, and the wax left on the sides is burn time you paid for and never get.
Trim the wick before every burn
Cut the wick to about a quarter of an inch while the wax is cold. A long wick makes a tall flame that burns faster, smokes and leaves soot on the glass. Nail scissors work. So does a wick trimmer, if you like owning tools for one job.
Keep burns between two and four hours
Short burns cause tunneling. Burns longer than four hours let carbon build up on the wick, which grows a mushroom-shaped tip and a bigger flame. Blow it out, let it cool, trim, and relight another day.
Keep it out of drafts
A flame that leans or flickers burns unevenly and faster. Keep the candle away from open windows, fans, air vents and doorways.
Stop with half an inch left
When about half an inch of wax is left in the bottom, stop, as the National Candle Association advises. The glass gets too hot below that point. This is also the end of the 40 to 50 hours, so nothing is lost.
What shortens a candle's life
The usual causes are a long wick, drafts, very short burns and very long ones. A warm room speeds things up a little too. If your candle burns noticeably faster than its rated time, check the wick length first. It is the cause more often than anything else.
Frequently asked questions
Does soy wax burn longer than paraffin?
Soy is often said to burn slower than paraffin. In practice the wick, the jar width and how you burn the candle matter more than the wax type, so compare the rated burn time on the label rather than the name of the wax.
Can I burn a candle all the way down in one go?
No. Burn it for no more than four hours at a time, and never leave it unattended. See our candle care page for the full safety list.
Is burn time the same in a clear jar and an amber jar?
Yes. The glass color changes how it looks, not how it burns. Our candles come in both, with the same wax, wick and 40 to 50 hours.
Why did my candle stop staying lit halfway down?
The wick has usually drowned in melted wax. Put it out, let it cool, soak up a little of the wax around the wick with a paper towel, and relight.
Every candle in the shop is the same 9 oz soy candle with a cotton wick and a different label. Browse them all, or start with the Christmas and holiday labels.