Oozing Goo - The Lava Lamp Syndicate

It's been three weeks since I made this lamp, and now the wax is sticking to the sides. Why is this happening? I meticulously cleaned the bottle and coated it with surfactant before adding the wax, and this is the result. Is there a way to solve this issue without having to start over again?

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I was going to suggest you do a refill

The flow will be worth it

Make sure your surf is as pure as possible with no additives

Only Glycol is a acceptable additive

This is the flow you're looking for.

To "wash" the goo from excess surf I need boil it with water or only the goo without water?

Thanks

I just replace the master fluid and only leave enough for a coating on the bottle to refill it

About three months after my last post, my orange lamp, as well as the purple, started to cloud. My green lamp is hazy too, but clears up when running. I did use the Palmolive Clear detergent as surf so either I put too much or I ran my lamps too hot. Any guess?

I'm bumping your post just to see if anyone sees it and responds, as I'm also experimenting with making lamps and want to see answers on the clouding.

So I bought some of the polmolive clear thinking it would be great. Try this, make a salt solution. Then make a soap solution. And mix them together and let them sit. The soap will make the salt crash out of solution usually you can see the chain from to to bottom. This is why it clouds up. I personally think the formulation has changed in most if these soaps. The polmolive is supposed to be scent free too and you can certainly smell something in it. I've tried various amounts, before wax, after wax, I can't make it work. You need a pure surfactant. It also helps increase the density of the liquid. Even still, the salt is what falls out and clouds the lamp.

You should NEVER use salt

It is a corrosive

It will eat away sat the coil and destroy the wax

Use propylene glycol to adjust the specific gravity

A mix of 60 Distilled water /40% PG is a good start unless your using MT goo


Need SURF?

Go to my eBay store

https://www.ebay.com/itm/283879743490

Agreed on the salt, but keep in mind the cloud point of PG. and yes people can buy your surf, or buy SLS or SLES.

I've yet to have PG go cloudy on me, even when I had to use 50%PG and 50% DW

Cloudiness is a factor of the chem makeup of the lava

IMG_20200519_164606.jpg

PG was clear when in, ran well, cooled down and clouded. Run it again and it clears up. Factory lava 1997.

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