Oozing Goo - The Lava Lamp Syndicate

I have some clear liquid labeled "Glycerin USP 99.5% (Anhydrous)"

Is this the same as propylene glycol?

Can I use this glycerin stuff to get the wax to rise?  Do you just pour it in the operating lamp?  Is it ok to use if there is already some epsom salts in the water?  Thanks for helping me understand!

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It's not the same as propylene glycol, but I'm no chemist, so I couldn't say in what ways it differs. As far as I know, it is a naturally occurring substance, while propylene glycol is not. I've had success using it to raise the density of liquid & getting previously dead lava to rise. Any time I've used it, I've poured it into operating lamps - that's really the only way I've known how much to use. I can't say if it's okay to use with epsom salts, as I've never tried that. I've had lamps that only needed a little, while others required a whole lot more than I would have guessed. I have a photo on here somewhere of a custom purple/black 32 oz. lamp that took a lot of glycerine to get the wax moving, but it ultimately worked perfectly. Hope this helps!

Yes, thank you-that helps!

Mabie mistaken but glycerine is a suger suryp I would not use it in lamps as it could degrade over time and with heat pg is the best option

Hmmmm...ok, thanks Tim!

Glycerine is what they use in soaps and hand creams.  I do believe that some use it in place of surfactant because it is a soapy, slippery substance.

It can be naturally extracted from animal fat or from plants such as soy. I also just learned it's one of the ingredients in electronic cigarettes.

I've used it a couple of times, but I have no idea how it works with the time - the two lamps I used it on has been lately messed up by me :D
Glycerin is pretty hard to dissolve in water and You may finish with glycerin on the bottom so I suggest You to pour it into cooled lamp and shake it to make sure it's mixed well. Anyway, I think propylene glycol works better :)

I wouldn't shake it...I would stir it, but inno has a good point. Glycerin is way too thick to add to a running lamp. You would ideally want to pour a little of the lamp's liquid out, add some of the glycerin, and stir it gently until you don't see any of the glycerin remaining separate in the glass, then pour it back in while the lamp is cold...THEN run the lamp.

For what it's worth (and this is just my own experience), I never stirred, and I definitely never shook. My modifications were always done with a running lamp, and the glycerine never had a problem mixing with the stock liquid. So far, I've not had any problems with separation and/or glycerine sinking to the bottom, but my oldest modified lamp is only going on three years now, so who knows what might eventually happen. Tim's point is well-taken - maybe it will degrade over time.

Thanks for all the input.  For the record, I did go ahead and add the glycerin directly to the running lamp.  It mixed immediately, and didn't seem to cause problems.  About that time I saw Tim's entry, which caused me to worry enough such that I shut it off to cool, then poured all the liquid out, and started over with only distilled water+surfactant.  

Very sad to say the lamp is back where it was the first time, where there is a high dome in the center that spits out these small pitiful balls now and then... 

Whenever I added the glycerin straight from the bottle, it caused the wax to freak out, and actually had the wax completely detach from the coil once. After that, I always mixed first. :p But your results may vary! The glycerin I was using might have been more viscous.

I decided to steer away from glycerin!  Finally got the lamp to run nicely again, but it took an inordinate amount of epsom salts to make it happen...

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