Why Didn’t My Candle Burn for the Advertised Time

"Burn time" is determined by us through careful testing and can be impacted by all sorts of factors including wick selection, or candle size. If your candle didn't burn for the advertised time it can be due to a variety of reasons. At BeeswaxCandle we take pride in measuring candle burn times accurately and base them on a “light it and leave it for few hours” scenario involving as little maintenance care as possible – this doesn’t mean that candles don’t need some attention while burning! 

If your candle didn’t burn for the advertised amount of time, chances are something went sideways. You can troubleshoot this by asking three quick questions:
1. Did the majority of the wax get consumed ?
2. If not, why not ?
3. Did I follow candle care rules ?

To maximize your burn time you want to make sure you are achieving full wax consumption, or as close to this as possible. Remember that the wax is the candle’s fuel.Two common things that lead to incomplete wax consumption are drips or spills and burn sessions that are too short / too long.

Drips and spills
Dripping or spilling candles can be caused by a few different factors including drafts, carbon build up, heat build-up (often caused by enclosed hurricane style holders or burning candles near other candles or heat sources), and wicks that end up too long or have been broken off or trimmed too short. Any wax that pours out the side of your candle is no longer available as fuel and will decrease the overall burn time of the candle. 

Burn sessions that are too short
For larger diameter candles like Pillars  you want to make sure you’re allowing your candle enough time to melt a wax pool that reaches close to the edge of the candle each time you light it. If you are burning it for shorter periods of time the wax pool doesn’t get big enough to consume the wax near the edges of the candle and you end up with tunneling.  Candlesticks are a better choice for short burn sessions.

To achieve full wax consumption, you’ll need to make sure the burn sessions are long enough and look after your candle while it burns. Don't forget to hug the candle. Keep an eye on it and if it drips extinguish it, fix the problem, and re-light. Please follow candle care rules.