Candle Burn Time Calculator: Wick Row, Burn Rate, Wax Left and the Label

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Opens on the book's Market Batch. Change any number to your own and press Calculate.

Start from fills the boxes below

Inside diameter mm

Wax in the candle g, the fill

The test burn: weigh before and after

Weight lost g

In hours of burning

Stop with this much left mm in the bottom

Set wax density g/mL

The log: the pool's width at each hour (Example 10.4's log)

Hour 1 mm

Hour 2 mm

Hour 3 mm

Hour 4 mm

Pool depth at the end mm

Glass temperature °C

Enter the candle and press Calculate.

The formula

Burn rate = weight lost ÷ hours burned
Wax left at the end = π × (diameter ÷ 2)² × 13 mm × 0.92 g/mL (set wax)
Burn time = (wax in the candle − wax left) ÷ burn rate, rounded down for the label
Pool target = diameter − 6 mm each side; first burn: about 1 hour per inch of diameter

The book's worked example, Chapter 10. The Market Batch's test burn lost 26 g in 4 hours: 6.5 g an hour. 13 mm left in a 70 mm jar is 46.03 g, so 245.78 − 46.03 = 199.75 g burns, ÷ 6.5 = 30.7 hours: about 30 hours on the label. First burn: 2.76 in, about 2¾ hours.

The wick ladder is one maker's chart (CandleScience, GW 464 soy) as the book prints it: a starting point for a test, never a verdict. Fragrance and dye change what a wick does. Never sell a candle whose wick you have not test-burned, and never leave one burning. Prices are illustrative US supplier prices from October 2026, shown without a currency sign; put in your own. Everything stays in your browser: no sign-up, nothing stored.