Cloudy LL - Suppose to be Clear/Purple

[Kris]

Ok, I bought this guy on eBay and it looked pretty clear in the pics. However, it is cloudy. Not a whole bunch but enough to be annoying and NOT clear. Lol. Is it going to get any better or should I ditch it and just get a new clear/purple? Also seems like it's just a tad low on fluid. It barely comes up to the cap when heated up.

Suggestions?

[medicated goo]

Keep running it and it will clear in time but you need to be real patient. Try cycling it by running for 20-30 minutes till it just starts to release wax -shut it down and let it totally cool - then start the cycle all over again. Some folks use timers. Another trick is to put it in the sun for a few hours daily to clear the column. My understanding is to do it this way only with clear liquid and the wax won't change color. Check with Bohdan he does the sun thing in the summer months. One other method involves using a filter pump which you would need to buy. I use a backpack filter pump and it is not big bucks and works great and instantly. But you've got to re-seal the lamp bottle cap after filtering.

[Bohdan]

Hi Kris is this a USA or china lamp in 32z or 20z. I assume it is a USA globe if so the clear/purple will
get cloudy in shipping run it for at least 3 to 4 weeks like you normally would any other lamp. I find out
that Clear/purple-blue or black do get cloudy as it sits in the back of the delivery truck more then other
colors do even if it is only 70 degrees out side inside the truck about 90 . The worst time for a lava lamp
to be sent to a home is summer time when 85 or 90 degrees out side inside the truck the lava lamp wax
is getting soft and cloudy unless i really need that lamp i will wait for a cooler month. I have had a lamp like that one it will be fine after a while give it time. If you want run it for 6 to 8 hours and then let it sit for
2 days before you run it again . By letting it sit for a few days the cloudy wax will settle to the bottom.

[Kris]

Thank for all the info. The person I bought it from said they have not used it for a long while. So I am sure this has something to do with it. I will run it and let it sit and keep doing that and hopefully it will clear itself up.

[John]

Thanks for the info MG and Bohdan. I just got a clear/blue 32 oz. globe that's been in a box for a long time and it looks like Kris's. I got a green and a yellow and that 'orange' (really golden yellow) Century that was on ebay and they're all crystal clear... so I'm with you Kris, when you see a really clear one, the others look like crap next to them.

[Woodvetch, I am The Queen of France]

Kris,
I got 3 lamps that look like yours. 2 are very slowly clearing after 3 months, 1 ran for a month then one day when I cut it on it was perfectly clear. Patience is the key.

I keep the hazy lamps I'm cycling on and off separate from my water clears. I agree with John, the hazy lamps look like crap next to the clear lamps.

K

[Kris]

I may swap it out with another clearer purple if I find one. If it does clear up great - the next problem is the fluid does not clear the black cap. So, there is this very fine line that you can see just below the cap because their is not enough fluid. It annoys me to no end.

[StarDust]

I bought two 52oz Lavas the other day at Spencer's, and both the globes are slightly cloudy, the red more so than the green. Even so, the Lava Blobs are seen clearly, but the primary noticeable difference is that my old USA lamps are crystal clear - even when turned on in a dimly lit room, I can see distorted background objects through the globe, but the ambient color of my new Lavaworld globes is white. Yours appears to be slightly worse than my red one. My friend gave me a knockoff red lava/ pale (faded perhaps?) blue liquid, that is so hazy that some of the red blobs look fuzzy when not pressed against the edge, and it is impossible to see through to the other side. Compared to my red/blue knockoff, your slightly foggy lava lamp looks pristine. It is all relative - the knockoff is still cool to look at by itself with nothing to compare it to, It has run almost constantly for two months with intermittent cool-downs and is still cloudy.

[Woodvetch, I am The Queen of France]

email from Pam at www.endoftherainbow-gifts.com telling how they clear cloudy Grandes they get in from Lava World.

HI
I have found that the cloudy grandes clear up best when just left in a cool spot unused for a few weeks. I think the cloudy problem comes more from the shipping then anything, but I do find that they clear up. I think heat and temperature combined with shaking make the lamps cloudy. I haven't done the cycling method. I normally just leave the lamps sit in a cool spot for a few weeks and then find they are crystal clear. Another reason lamps get cloudy is if they are not allowed to come completely to room temperature before turning them on. A lot of people get a lamp shipped in and after it's been sitting outside for a few hours or on a UPS truck for days, they open it up and plug it in right away. If the outside temperature is cold or hot, the lamps need to completely reach room temperature before being used. Grandes generally need to sit for 12 hours or more to reach room temperature.
We do inspect every lamp twice--once when we get it from Lava World and then again when we ship it to our customers. We order the lamps from Lava World and stock them. The biggest problem we have with the grandes is dented bases. Right now I am waiting for replacement bases on all the grandes that I have in stock. The grandes take a lot of back and forth with Lava World so we need extra time for shipping because of the dented bases. My last shipment of 5 had 4 with dented bases and that's the way they usually are--more dented bases then not.
You might want to try unplugging your lamp, and when it cools completely down, store it in a cool spot (about 68 degrees or less) for a couple of weeks and see if there is any improvement.
Pam
End of the Rainbow

[Bohdan]

How true but also remember a lot of grandes that are clear become cloudy after they warm up.
If you look on the bottom of the grande globe before you buy on many of them you will see
a white dye sitting on the bottom now when you heat it up even if the globe is crystal clear you
will see the dye start to rise up. To many of the grandes i have seen have that white dye just
sitting on the bottom. I also look for the same when i get a 52z i have found a few of them that
have that dye sitting on the bottom. Now during shipping this dye may be shaken loose and
just sit on the bottom inner edge so look for this when you buy a new LW lamp.The new red/clear and yellow/clear do not have this problem even the new 52z rainbow works very
well but for some season not the 20z rainbow which may start to climb up the side of the globe.

[Woodvetch, I am The Queen of France]

Thanks for the white dye prob info Bohdan. No white in my new cloudy Grande thank goodness. I've got it sitting in a cool room. After 2 weeks if I'm not seeing improvement like Pam gets I'll return it and buy one from Pam. She'll be glad to check for the dreaded white dye before ship, they check them anyway.

It's is cause for whinning to have that big lamp and not be able to use it!

I"m gonna paste a really good post on clearing cloudy lamps from the old site archives into this forum for those that haven't read it.

K

[Woodvetch, I am The Queen of France]

My o so cloudy purple/yellow Grande has now been sitting since 5/30/08 as Pam from End of the Rainbow suggested. It has cleared considerably. I'm going to continue to not use it, patience is a virtue patience is a virtue, for at least another week or longer if need be. I'm thinking I will have a perfectly clear Grande by July 4th if not sooner! Patience is a virtue, patience is a virtue, patience is a virtue, patience is a virtue, patience is a virtue. Mine has none of the dreaded white dye Bohdan has warned us about.

A 32z clear/black Lava Lite that came in o so cloudy from hot shipping has been keeping the Grande company and is also clearing up nicely by just leaving it alone.
A 32z clear/green Lava Lite also came in o so cloudy from hot shipping has not cleared at all so far but is a week behind the Grande and clear/black so not giving up yet on leavealoneicus.

As The Lava Master Bohdan told us shipping lavas during hot weather is not a good thing.

K

[Kris]

Yeah. I have not received any new lamps since the start of the hot summer. My purple has cleared up as well. Now I am hoping my cranberry will too. Not sure tho. It has been sitting for a while itself.