How bad are Grande lamps ?

[Jon]

I have 6 newer lamps 17 inch. 7 70s lamps 5 are 52oz ones.  And i was thinking of buying ome of those huge Grande lamps.. but reviews of this lamp seem pretty bad.

cloudy water and so forth i imagine from shipping so ill ship it via amazon prime so i should get it in 2 days to minimize that..  But other reviews mention the dye in the water always disapears after a few months and the lava stops flowing after like 9 moths.

Seems pretty crappy for near 100$...  What are your guys experiences ? 

[Jon]

Yea it says R20 on it or 20 something i forgot ill look.   Its deff sitting too high though.. Had to bend the bulbs rod down so it wouldnt push up on the globe.. as i said it was so high the globe could wobble lol

[Jon]

Here is how high the bulb is..  Ive looked at older grandes online.. there bulbs are way lower inside.

aparentky they used shorter bulbs and the newer ones are longer.  Do you think itll be ok with it touching or nearly touching the globe ?   First pic is mine.. 2nd pic is an older grande i found online.  See the height difference ?   The reviews online of the grandes mention bulbs exploding and they switched to different bulbs but didnt change the height of the pole the bulbs go in.  I sware i remember reading on this forum you claude or someone had a grande explode from the bulb being too high

[Claude J]

Wasnt the bulb being too high, It was the 150 watt focused heating element and a heat shield that I made that was too close to the base. It was R&D experimentation that was costly. \

Too much-focused heat in one location burst the globe.

They DID change the height of the little pole that holds the socket at some point in production.

I can attest to that because I have had to take them out to install new ones from old stock bases

Two choices

1)  find shorter bulbs

2) change out the threaded rod 

Check to see if the bases they sent you are both the same bulb height?

Check your local hardware store for a shorter bulb.

The one in the top picture is too high and should not touch the globe

[Jon]

I put the bulb in my cloudy lamp missing one.  And its the same way.. it sticks above the rim slightly.

[Claude J]

get a different bulb

[Jon]

Ill try to find one the problem is no one sells bulbs like this anymore its all LED and even CFLs are in overstock and being phazed out

But ace hardware might habe one they usually have special stuff.  Odd thing is.. thr bulb looks identical to the ones lava light sells as replacements.

[Claude J]

It sounds unlikely,.. but I'm willing to bet that is an older NOS base

If you get to the hardware store and can not find a replacement bulb, buy a piece of threaded rod and a few nuts for made for lamps.

When you try to remove the one built by LL from the porcelain socket, you will notice some blue gunk around the threads

it is Locktite

Heat it with a butane torch-style lighter and it will free up
DO NOT force it and twist the frame-hold it with a needle nose pliers

replace the threaded rod with one 1/2" shorter (measure ahead of time) and use a nut on the inside because the flange holding it against the base that was on the  LL rod will no longer be there

[Keith]

You need 1/4 to 1/2 inches of space between the bulb and the globe.  Closer and you risk globe failure, and it has happened.  Farther and you increase heat up time and possible flow problems.

[Claude J]

Agreed.
His bulb height is far to close for comfort,

Keith said:

You need 1/4 to 1/2 inches of space between the bulb and the globe.  Closer and you risk globe failure, and it has happened.  Farther and you increase heat up time and possible flow problems.

[Jon]

HAHAHAHA...

HAHAHA

amazon is either really nice.. or really really dumb.. or both or... they make so much money they just dont care

Sooo get this.   The email the rep on the phone yesturday had me send my pictures too of the first lamp that was cloudy and their poor packaging job is a GENERAL email address...  Which means ALL the reps see it.    So yesturday they said i could keep the cloudy lamp and he gave me a 20$ credit on my account..  I thought it was all done and that was it.

Last night i got an email from another rep "responding" to my email.  Saying oh were so sorry the delivery guy misshandled your package and blah blah..  I replied back and im like.. no..  It was you guys who poorly packaged the product and i gave them a two paragraph long explanation how poorly it was packaged.   I also said the other rep already solved my problem and thanks.

Then i go to bed and woke up at 11AM (hey its the weekend lol)  I read my emails as i have three from amazon..  Im thinking oh darn they probably want my other lamp back now.  Instead the email says this.  i DELETED the links and order number so you guys cant click on them since its for me but yea..  Look at this email...  Amazon is retarded.. lol  So the guy sent me a 3RD THREE  l l l, lava lamp..    Why ?? I didnt ask for a 3rd..  Then the email says i can keep the other ones and use them or donate them or whatever i want.   Im like WHOAAAA

Now it gets even better.. my next email from amazon says...  We are issuing you a full refund to your credit or debit card ending in XXXX and its for the total amount of 96$ that i spent...  What the heck !! So not only did i get to keep the Cloudy and clear grande.. they are sending me a 3rd one which comes tomorrow (next day air shipping) they also gave me a 20$ credit and refunded me $96.. 

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Here is the email... ......................

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear about the condition in which your Lava the Original 27-Inch Silver Base Grande Lamp with Yellow Wax in Purple Liquid  arrived. We make every attempt to pack items securely to protect them during shipping, but sometimes damage does occur.

We always appreciate customer input on how we can improve our services; I've forwarded your comments to our shipping department.

You can use our Packaging Feedback Program (www.amazon.com/cspackaging) to let us know how we're doing. Your input will help us improve product and Amazon packaging. Visit our Help pages for more information:



Further as a apology for the inconvenience I've created a replacement for you at no additional charge. Here are the details:

Order Number:
Shipping Speed: One-Day Shipping
Estimated Delivery Date: Sunday, May 6, 2018

Here is a direct link to check on the status of your replacement order:

​
Since you are our valuable customer, so there's no need to return the item for us to create a replacement. You're welcome to keep, donate or dispose of it--whichever option is most appropriate and convenient for you.

However if you don't want the replacement and you need refund then please write us back so that we can cancel the replacement order and issue the refund for you.



I hope this helps. We look forward to see you again soon.

[Jon]

Also..  When you say failure what would the failure be ?   Last night the lamp was running for like 10 hours and it was only 126f according to my infarred therm.. And it was flowing really nicely like a snake..    Is the failure a blown up grande globe..  Or is the failure a loss of color ?  I keep reading these Grandes loose color over time, the purple fades to clear and so forth

You positive i need to lower the bulb ?

[Claude J]

I would lower the bulb

see what the third one looks like

Gess I;l order one (three)  from Amazon too