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Burn Times of Tea Lites & Votives

We have had questions about burn times of Tea Lites & Votives.

We test all of our candles for length of burn, quality of flame, smokiness and other factors. We do it the simple way by burning them and keeping a lot of notes. The picture shows some tests we recently did on our kitchen table.

We saw some sites that had extremely long burn times on tealite and votives that we did not think was factual.

Usually the burn time is based on two things, the amount of wax and the wick.

There are many different wicks used for candles. We try to find the best ones for a consistent, clean, nice looking flame. If we wanted real long burn times we could use a smaller wick that would have a puny flame - it would burn longer but not be a nice, useful candle. We use pre-made wicks purchased from a major candle making supply warehouse.

Our metal cup tea lites are 5/8 x 1 1/2 inch, weigh .6 oz and usually burn about 3+ hours.

Our clear plastic cup tea lites are 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch, weigh .75 oz and usually burn about 4+ hours.

Our votives are 1 3/4 inch tall x 1 3/4 inch at top & 1 1/2 inch at base, weigh 1.9 oz and usually burn 13 to 15 hours.

Votives must be burned in proper votive holder similar to size of votive. All beeswax should burn the same - the difference being in the wick that is used. We want our votives & tea lites to burn with a nice nice flame. Some sites claim to have a much longer burn time - A very puny flame from a smaller wick will cause longer burn times - but why are you purchasing the candle - for a nice consistent flame or a marathon burn with a weaker flame.

Every candle will burn different - depending on slight variances on the amount of wax that is in it, how the wick is positioned (sometimes a wick at a slight angle may burn stronger and not last quite as long) , the container it is in, drafts when burning, etc.