OFF! Backyard Citronella Outdoor Candle (2-Pack)

Product overview

Ingredients, Burn Time, and What the Repellent Research Actually Shows

OFF! Backyard Citronella Outdoor Candle is sold as an 8 oz tabletop candle, two per pack, intended for patios, decks, and backyard use only (not indoors). Per the product's stated ingredient breakdown, it contains 3.0% citronella oil as the active ingredient, with the remaining approximately 97% listed as inert ingredients including hydrogenated soybean oil and paraffin wax. The manufacturer states a burn time of roughly 25-30 hours per candle depending on the specific SKU/size referenced in different listings.

On effectiveness: this is where honesty matters most. Peer-reviewed mosquito-repellent research on citronella candles specifically (not citronella oil in general) has found limited protection. A controlled field study published in a mosquito-control journal found subjects near a lit citronella candle received about 6.2 bites per 5 minutes versus 10.8 bites with no candle - a modest reduction, not elimination. Other published lab work has found indoor citronella candle repellency as low as 14%, and one more recent study found citronella candles had no statistically significant effect on mosquito approach behavior at a 1-meter distance, with roughly 91% of mosquitoes still flying toward a test subject despite the candle burning nearby. The consistent theme across the research is that citronella is more effective as a continuous-release diffuser or topical repellent than as a candle, because the volatile oil disperses quickly and unevenly around an open flame.

To be fair to the product, the EPA does recognize citronella oil as a registered, low-toxicity insect repellent ingredient, and OFF! doesn't market this candle as a replacement for a topical repellent like DEET - it's positioned as backyard ambiance with a citronella-scented bonus. Amazon customer ratings for this listing are strong (commonly cited around 4.3 out of 5 stars from several thousand ratings), but customer star ratings reflect satisfaction with scent, burn quality, and ambiance rather than measured mosquito-repellent efficacy, and we did not find any independent lab test of this specific OFF! SKU's bite-reduction rate.

Practically, this product works as advertised for what it verifiably does well: it's a scented outdoor candle with a real glow and a multi-hour burn time. Where buyers should recalibrate expectations is treating it as a serious mosquito deterrent for an evening gathering - published research suggests it will provide, at best, a modest and localized reduction in bites near the candle itself, not broad backyard protection.

We found no independent, product-specific side-by-side test comparing this OFF! candle's actual bite-reduction performance against competing citronella candles (e.g., Repel or generic citronella bucket candles), so any claim that it outperforms competitors on repellency would not be supported by available evidence.

Key Listed Features