Oozing Goo - The Lava Lamp Syndicate

Fed up with the cloudiness in my Midnight, what are my options?

What can I do about the Midnight?  The Century is nearly 40 years old and clear as can be.  Even my cheapie Classic is clear.  The Midnight clears somewhat when it has been off for a while but clouds up when running. Is there anything I can do short of opening the bottle and filtering it?  I've been cycling it for a while now and it isn't improving.  Can I expect filtering to fix the problem permanently?  It flows well, I just hate the cloudiness.

My little collection in different light

Views: 451

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

I don't think he wants to filter anymore, but a re-do with the wax he already has may work just as well (or better, depending on which way the wind blows at the goo kit factory)

But anyway Rich-after you pour your wax out, YES it's IMPERATIVE that you thoroughly clean your globe.  What Crash is talking about is a replacement kit you can buy for your lamp, called a goo kit.  The steps you'll need to take for re-vamping with the wax you already have are identical to the steps taken when using a goo kit.  Which is why at this point, I'm gonna refer you to the instructions Dr. What has posted on this site.  The main difference is you are using your wax, not goo kit wax.  It's all spelled out, and if you follow the steps it should work great.  So, study this a bit, then holler if you have questions-many here are experienced and can walk you through this. There's a  tool which you likely don't have (the giant straw which fits on the end of the funnel), but we'll figure that out after you read the steps. But wax, you have.  Surfactant, you can get at any dollar store-simple kid's bubble solution.  Here is the link for the instructions Dr. What posted:  http://oozinggoo.ning.com/page/goo-kits

Holler when needed! LOL We'll be watchin...we'll figure out colors later too, k? Good luck!

lol jus, that just looks nasty!

Hehe Brad, I used great restraint by not giving the description of how that stuff looked, and posting the pic instead.  But now that you're wondering, that corroded stuff from the coil, which was all throughout the wax, looked just like....ready?...scabs...or, corn flakes! Yeah, it looked like scabby corn flakes...lol

Well, I forgot to adjust my dimmer on the last 6 hour run and it ran on a full 40w and got super hot.  I couldn't keep my hand on the bottle after it had been off for about 20 minutes so it must have been super hot when still on.  When it shut down the whole globe was full of huge bubble of wax.  This morning everything had smoothed out, and guess what?  The fluid looks a lot more clear.  We'll see how clear it looks after the lamp fully warms up again.  I have to admit, cycling DOES seem to be helping, albeit, very slowly.

Kick arse!

Well, it is clear again.  Not perfect, but 95% better than it was.  I'll continue to cycle it.  I've decided to run a 25w bulb in it.  It is somewhat sluggish and typically only makes columns, but it flows nice and is much more clear.  I think the overheating from the night before really sealed the deal on clearing it up.

Midnight is clear again

Now, and it has been this way since I picked it up, the fluid isn't exactly clear, it is slightly yellow.  The cap code indicates clear/cranberry but perhaps the fluid just has aged into a slightly yellow color.  I'd prefer it to be clear clear, but I don't know of any way to get it that way short of swapping out the fluid so I might just color the fluid and be done with it.  What would go well with cranberry?  I already have a yellow/red so yellow is out.  Suggestions welcome, if you have some examples feel free to post photos too.

You may have discovered a new treatment for cloudy lamps-super heating!..

What if you heated it one more time...and it turned even more clear!

Or

What if it ruined everything?  Welcome to my world...lol

I swear, if that was my lamp, I'd get a drop of that fluid out, I'd dip a toothpick in bleach and stir around in that drop, and see if it went clear...

When I got this lamp: it was almost dark as this one: and bleach lightened it up!

My wife suggested bleach, but I'd be concerned it would mess with the chemical balance the allows it to flow or might also bleach the wax.  For now I'm just going to let it cycle for a while longer.  I wonder if setting it out in the sun a few days might do the bleaching for me?  I'd hate it if bleached the wax though.  I might try "sunning" it during a few off cycles.  I'd be willing to attempt bleach in a glitter, not so sure about a lava.

U know, I'm pretty sure I've tried, and I think I remember bleach had no impact at all toward lightening lava lamp fluid...I think! lol

Reply to Discussion

RSS

About

Autumn created this Ning Network.

GooHeads

Groups

© 2024   Created by Autumn.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service