Oozing Goo - The Lava Lamp Syndicate

Lava Lite's New Website & The NEW Heritage Collection

http://www.lavalamp.com/

The new Heritage Collection will be available to buy 10/28

**Updated the Heritage Collection will be released today on LavaLite Website at 10am CST. Heres a sneak peak!

*** http://lavalamp.com/heritage-collection ***

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No worries, Brad.  I'll make it clear that is is "not" an isolated problem.
 
Brad said:

that would be great, thanks!  i would just make sure they know that many of your lava lamp buds are also having this problem and it's not isolated.

Marley's Ghost said:

Brad, I agree, that's what I've been saying all along.   That's why I used the higher wattage bulb.  But it's still not flowing correctly.   I'm going to order a Pink Grande tomorrow and see what I can find out.  I also have the two pictures of this problem which I posted, that I could send to them.   I don't want to annoy anyone either, but this problem is too prevalent to be a fluke with a couple of lamps.
 
Brad said:

same here - a large amount of wax sticks to the top of both of my centuries.  i've cycled them twice now and just turned them on for the 3rd run.  

i think the globe isn't getting hot enough.  my reasoning is this: a globe that is overheating will have wax at the top, but it's in a liquid state.  the wax at the top of my centuries is cooler because i can see a film develop around the outside of the wax, so it's definitely not overheating.  when the liquid wax hits the cooled wax at the top, it conforms and then eventually drips down toward the coil.  this process repeats.  i think a warmer bulb like libby suggested may help, or perhaps these lamps need to be cycled multiple times before they will work properly.  i'm not sure.  

it would be nice to hear something from LL.  i want to contact them but don't want to be annoying.  maybe one of us that is having problems could contact them with some photos and an explanation and see if this is normal, then report back.  the issue seems to be widespread since many of us report the exact same problem.

Egnix said:

The yellow/red Century has most of the lava stuck at the top with no movement at all.  Dimming it hasn't helped.  Sounds like others are seeing the same.  Anyone found anything that helps?

awesome, thanks!

rodrigo - that's a good point.  i put my b/w globe on a neon base (which works great with the green neon globe) to see if the base and/or bulb is the issue.  will report back in a few hours.

It just woke up!   At least a little bit...  Nothing exciting, but it went from a large mass at the top and a small mass at the bottom to about four blobs at the top and some minor blob exchanges between top and bottom. 

Sigh.  Hope it gets better...

Egnix said:

I'm sure hoping my Century wakes up.  I bought it assuming it would have better-than-average (average being  poor) flow, but as of right now, it's the worst flowing lamp I have as it is not flowing at all.  :(

What's the point of keeping the formula secret if they're never going to use it? Is it really worth paying someone to come up with an inferior formula to make inferior lamps just to avoid the risk that the exact formula leaks specifically through their Chinese manufacturer? That all seems a fit far fetched. More likely is that regulations changed, forcing LL to stop using one or more of the ingredients in the original / older formula.

I also guarantee you that more than one person knows the Dr. Pepper (or Coke) formula. It's simply not possible to manufacture something (even just the syrup) on that scale without the possibility of the information leaking. The thing is, any large brand (e.g. Pepsi) doesn't want to be an exact copy of another, so they're going to change things around a little. Small, "value" brands aren't really a concern, since they're always going to be perceived as a cheap attempt to copy the real thing, even if they get the formula exactly right.


Metallica Fluidium man Trevor said:

This is the newest formula. But if u open them they smell nothing like USA. They smell like oil almost. I just don't see LL giving out the secret. Its like Mathmos sharing theirs. Or like soda company's. There is only one person in the world that knows the Dr. Pepper formula. Even tho they use out side bottling company's, they send the finished syrup to them.
 

It is not really the wax that has changed, it is the liquid. At least, from my experiments with the lamps. When I "fix" my china lamps, I dump out the old liquid an replace with water, lots of bubble soap, and Epsom salt until the lava flow. This seems to make the china wax become very stretchy and a lot less blobby and look almost identical to a US made lamp. I don't know what it is about the liquid but that is what I have discovered so far. Maybe I am wrong, but yea. I'm going to try "fixing" a few more china lamps to see if that really is the case or not. I've also "fixed" USA lamps, and when I flow them next to the china ones I've "fixed", it is almost impossible to tell the difference. Bottom line, I think it is the liquid that is the most different, not so much the wax.

This could be. But I have also noticed it takes the wax longer to melt in china's.. And it seems harder. I wonder if this affect could be from the liquid as well.
 
Ian said:

It is not really the wax that has changed, it is the liquid. At least, from my experiments with the lamps. When I "fix" my china lamps, I dump out the old liquid an replace with water, lots of bubble soap, and Epsom salt until the lava flow. This seems to make the china wax become very stretchy and a lot less blobby and look almost identical to a US made lamp. I don't know what it is about the liquid but that is what I have discovered so far. Maybe I am wrong, but yea. I'm going to try "fixing" a few more china lamps to see if that really is the case or not. I've also "fixed" USA lamps, and when I flow them next to the china ones I've "fixed", it is almost impossible to tell the difference. Bottom line, I think it is the liquid that is the most different, not so much the wax.
Hey guys im wondering If youre experiencing the same thing I am with my grande. It seems like it never gets hot enough, after both cycles now when I turn it off it hardens half domed, like the wax is just barely hot enough so when I turn it off it quickly cools and hardens domed. Happened at the end of both cycles now, I can't get it to melt completely, maybe it's in too cold of a corner?? This time or hardened as a clean dome but yesterday of was a dome with little hardened blobs all around it.. also after 15 hours it still had some hardening when it split blobs, maybe I gotta move it to where it's warmer in the house..

I'm being a little pedantic here, but salt will increase the fluid's density. That means that either the fluid is less dense to start with (perhaps they stopped adding salt) or the was is more dense.

Yup, and it's been my experience that China liquid has a specific gravity of 1.010.  Vintage and 90s liquid is more dense and runs between 1.030 and 1.040 -- sweet spot is usually 1.038.

But, if you try to make the China liquid this dense, the wax will shoot straight to the top of the globe - I know, I've done it!  LOL


Alfred said:

I'm being a little pedantic here, but salt will increase the fluid's density. That means that either the fluid is less dense to start with (perhaps they stopped adding salt) or the was is more dense.

Which means the density of china wax is lower than that of USA wax, it's definitely different formula you guys. Do we really have to argue about that. Go buy all the lamps at your Spencer's, compare them with any 90s LL. Nuff said.

If the formula were the same so would the flow, the life of the wax, the look of the color, the dye not leaking into the water, sticking everywhere, clouding and never clearing. Etc etc etc. whatever they fill china lamps with IS and always will be different than USA. LL has admitted to "being able to replicate the 90s formula" Which further enforces the fact they even THEY know it's not the same formula..
Very true Rodrigo. ^^ not even a competition between USA formula and china. They are so different -.-

So, you've tested US lamps right before production moved and Chinese lamps right after it moved? No one's disputing that the formula has changed at least once (probably multiple times), but since it's close to impossible to disprove LL's claim that they didn't change the formula when they moved production, I see no reason not to assume that claim is true. Whether 90's lamps generally used a better formula than current lamps is a completely different question.

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