How long will my tiki torch fuel last?

We get this question all the time, and the truth is… it depends. Below are some factors to help you determine how long your tiki torch fuel will last.

• Quality of your fuel

• Diameter of your wick and wick exposure

• Weather Conditions

The quality of your tiki torch fuel is by far the most important factor in determining how long tiki torch fuel will last. For our purposes, let’s assume you’ve bought a bottle labeled “tiki torch fuel”, and aren’t burning a homemade fuel. A low-quality fuel with more contaminants will smoke a lot, and burn more quickly. A high-quality fuel will have greater purity and will burn cleaner and longer.

We tested a number of fuels on the market, and were surprised at how different they all burned. We chose the cleanest burning, longest lasting base fuel for our Firefly tiki torch oil, and it REALLY does make a difference. Here are the results of our tiki torch fuel burn test.

Common Tiki Torch Fuel Firefly Tiki Torch Fuel Firefly Safe & Green
Burn Time 6:05 hours
(365 minutes)
9:35 hours
(575 minutes)
Product No Longer Available

Firefly Tiki Torch Fuel burned over 50% longer than the Common Tiki Torch Fuel.

We used 2 oz. of fuel in our test under completely calm conditions.

The diameter of your wick and the height will make a big difference. A larger wick pulls more fuel, so it’ll burn faster. A good comparison is that a car with a big souped-up engine will burn more gas than a SmartCar. How much of your wick sticks out of the top of the torch also makes a difference. If you’re using a fiberglass tiki torch wick, 1/4″ to 1/2″ is plenty. More than that, and you’ll have excessive smoke and waste a lot of fuel.