Oozing Goo - The Lava Lamp Syndicate

I have had 4 bulbs since I started my collection 4 months ago blow out and look like this.  They are all schylling lamps.  Others have blown out and look normal.

What causes them to blow and look like this?  It is not just one base.

I emailed schylling, sent them a pic of the bulbs, and asked them.  They replied and said they didn't know.  Didn't look into it.  Just "Eh, we don't know.  See ya."  What a bunch of hacks.  They suck.

Why are some of my bulbs doing this?

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Just a guess, but that looks like smoke residue.  Like maybe the vacuum seal gave way allowing the filament to actually burn?  But bulbs in general tend to be hit or miss for me.  Cheap bulbs can last a long time, or blow in a month.  But then again the same with more expensive bulbs.

These are either Lava brand bulbs, or Phillips or GE from Home Depot or Loews.  Those are the only places I have ever bought bulbs for my lava lamps.

I would think if this was even slightly common maybe schylling would have recognized it?  

schylling won't care unless is becomes a safety issue.

BaBa-Gooey said:

These are either Lava brand bulbs, or Phillips or GE from Home Depot or Loews.  Those are the only places I have ever bought bulbs for my lava lamps.

I would think if this was even slightly common maybe schylling would have recognized it?  

I've seen that happen several times before. If a bulb has been running a while so its pretty hot and moisture touches the part of the bulb the thermal shock causes a small crack and as Keith mentioned the filament then burns in the presence of air.  The crack often forms along the base for some reason where its hard to see. Plus its usually a very small crack so instead of the bulb just burning out instantly it takes a couple seconds for air to seep in allowing that residue to form. I can't imagine what else it could be.

(Once when I was like 5 or 6 I dripped water from my fingers onto a 60 watt lamp that had been on for hours, it took about two and a half seconds for the result to be pretty much like those bulbs of yours.)

Speaking of bulbs, for the lamps that take the 40 watt appliance bulb I found that the bulbs marked 40 watt appliance long life are great. The way the manufacturer makes them last longer is by making them run a tiny bit cooler (if you look they are rated a few less lumins than the plain 40 watt appliance bulbs).  So basically you get a longer life, most lamps I've seen seem to run better on them (with or without a dimmer), and you really don't notice the difference in brightness. Just sometime I've stumbled across, hopefully it can be useful to some one.

Unfortunately, this is a case of planned obsolescence. The bulbs are intentionally made very poorly so that there is a high likelihood that they will fail within some optimum time frame that results in you buying more bulbs as replacements. It works because it's cheap and easy enough to replace. This increases sales significantly. Incandescent bulbs could easily last much longer, but then you wouldn't buy replacement bulbs. It's not even a huge secret, however most people are so unaware and complacent that it works. In all fairness this isn't really Schylling's fault as they aren't in control of the entire incandescent bulb market. I buy a lot of R-type bulbs. Thousands at a time. The more shipping they endure the higher the failure rate. All you can really do is try to find a brand bulb of higher quality, but it will have to be replaced one day either way. 

It isn't Schylling's fault but Schylling certainly sucks.  I had 2 lamps so defective they had to be returned (in a month's time) and about 75% of the 10 lamps or so I have bought since Thanksgiving run very, very hot.  Most of the 17" lamps flow very well on 25 watt bulbs.  They run so hot on the included 40 watt bulbs all the lava is stuck at the top within 45 minutes of the lava flowing. Many of the 14" run so hot they only flow properly on dimmers that are dimmed about 40%.  They are dimmed so low that the lamp isn't even really illuminated.  Disappointing junk.

Certainly this bulb anomaly should have been recognized by Schylling when I contacted them.  I imagine the person answering my email was just too lazy to look into it, or they are just really clueless.  I know my name was recognized, as they had very recently sent me a whole lamp replacement for a very damaged one I bought online and they had to replace another base from their metallic line; I could rub the color off with my finger!  Some of the bulb sockets on my 10 lamps are bent and not centered and a few are loose and poorly affixed to the bases.  The products are poorly made rubbish, which is a shame, because I would continue to buy them if they were decent. Schylling sent me a replacement base with a light blub screwed into the socket.  It was broken when it arrived and I had to use pliers to get the bulb out.  Are they really that stupid, or do they just not care?

Instead of ever buying another new lamp, I will get used lamps off craigslist and ebay, dump them, and make my own.  

Schylling appears to have no quality control for their poorly made Chinese junk. They deserve no sympathy.

What have they done in the year since they took over the brand?  Not much of anything, from what I can tell.  They certainly have not improved in quality.

Rant over.  :)


k-nano said:

Unfortunately, this is a case of planned obsolescence. The bulbs are intentionally made very poorly so that there is a high likelihood that they will fail within some optimum time frame that results in you buying more bulbs as replacements. It works because it's cheap and easy enough to replace. This increases sales significantly. Incandescent bulbs could easily last much longer, but then you wouldn't buy replacement bulbs. It's not even a huge secret, however most people are so unaware and complacent that it works. In all fairness this isn't really Schylling's fault as they aren't in control of the entire incandescent bulb market. I buy a lot of R-type bulbs. Thousands at a time. The more shipping they endure the higher the failure rate. All you can really do is try to find a brand bulb of higher quality, but it will have to be replaced one day either way. 

But if they continue to source the same bulbs knowing they are sub par quality then it is their fault.

BaBa-Gooey said:

It isn't Schylling's fault but Schylling certainly sucks.  

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