Lamp ID / bulb help / stuck lava!

Posted by Chris on February 24, 2008 at 1:48pm in Problems & Questions

I've searched around a bunch but haven't found anything that directly applies to my case, although I did see some tips that I'm probably going to try ... but here's my problem:

I inherited my first lamp from an ex-roommate who was going to give it to goodwill because the bulb had broken/blown out. Unfortunately he threw the bulb away and didn't remember what kind to replace it with, but I figured "how hard can it be?" and took the lamp off his hands. I know there's usually a warning label inside the base under the globe telling you what sort of bulb to use, but this one has none... whether it ever did have one I don't know, but it isn't there now.

About the lamp itself: it's not like any I've seen on the site so far or in any pictures anywhere else, the base and top piece are silver, fluid is yellow and the lava is red-orange. The globe itself isn't a normal straight one like most I see here, but instead is concave which creates a sort of bottleneck in the middle. It's bigger at the bottom than at the top, but skinniest in between. The only distinguishing marks I've found is the label on the A/C cord which says "Egg Molten Lamp, Model EH-EM" and then a bunch of "conforms to UL STD 153" nonsense. Searching extensively for the above info has proven fruitless.

Now, here's the problem: I tried a bulb from Spencer's (which are apparently no more than typical refrigerator bulbs) but it was too tall, and the globe wouldn't sit in the base properly. I did a bunch of web hunting and saw that a lot of lamps use 40 watt bulbs, and after some more hunting I found a GE Appliance 40 watt bulb which did fit inside the base and allowed the globe to sit properly. I tried running it for about an hour or two yesterday, enough for the lava to start softening and raise from the bottom a little, then had to go out so I turned the lamp back off. After I came back home I turned it back on, and the lava all rose to the top... and stayed there. I figured that the bulb must be too hot, so I turned it off, but now all the lava's cooled and remains at the top.

Today I exchanged the Appliance 40 watt for an Indicator 25 watt, the only smallish 25 watt bulb they had in the store which is marked for use in microwave ovens. I've had the lamp running with that bulb in almost an hour now, and there are various small bits that were stuck around the coil which are now circulating around like normal but the lava's still hanging pretty solidly around the top. I read elsewhere on the forum that I can try opening the cap and fixing it, but the cap has a sticker that says "DO NOT REMOVE" and doesn't appear to be a normal screw-off cap, so I don't think I'd be able to get it back on if I were to uncap it.

Question a- has ANYONE heard of a lamp like this, and can possibly give me some info on it? It seems to be fairly unique so I'd like to try and salvage it if I can. I'll try to get a picture on here soon as well.

Question 2- should I expect the lava to ever settle back down? I'm worried that it's stuck up there because of the curved glass, and not sure what I can do about that if anything... I'm considering trying the bathtub trick I read about elsewhere as well.

Question tres- every so often there's a slight ticking sound that comes from the lamp while turned on. It's not regular, and I suspect happens more while the lamp is warming up. Is this normal, or a cause for alarm?

I appreciate any help the folks here can provide.

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Permalink Reply by Chris on March 3, 2008 at 6:10pm: interesting technique! last night after the 40W bulb made all the lava at the top liquid again I started trying to cool it down, and shook it gently enough while cooling that some of the lava started to collect at the bottom again, and left it on its side all night to re-solidify in that position. I guess it wasn't properly settled though as turning it back on with the 25W bulb tonight just sent a few solid chunks of lava skyward, never to return.

I'm beginning to think this thing's unrecoverable, but maybe your technique will work... crossing my fingers.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jenny on April 26, 2008 at 2:29pm

I have this lamp! And the same problem.

The lava sits up there both with the lamp on and with the lamp off. This has been going on for a few months now, as well. I just tried some vigorous shaking with hot pads after it had been on for about half an hour and now half is at the bottom. I'm going to let it stay on for a while and see what happens.

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