Filtering a Grande = what a bad China made goo mess

[Woodvetch]

Let Grande sit for 3 days before pumping = no problem
Getting cap off = no problem
pumping to filter = no problem

Goo is like a bar of soap sitting in water, (outside gooey/slimy inside hard) = PROBLEM! yuk
The last pint of fluid is so full of sediment I've left it sit to settle somewhat before filtering. = PROBLEMS, fluid will be lost and the filter may clog.

It's as though the fluid partially degrades the goo.
Swirling distilled water in the bottle to remove residual sediment from the bottle and the goo turd got alot out but lots of sediment on the glass and still around the lava turd the water can't rinse out.

The filtered fluid is now clear but once I re-fill the bottle and re-run I will have to filter the fluid at least once more before re-sealing as it's certain there will be more sediment from the goo turd to filter out and will have to supplement the fluid from another Grande.
I have 4 cloudy Grandes and will have to sacrifice one of them to filter and properly re-fill 3. (On the up side, thanks to Bert's great idea, I'll eventually make a Beta fish tank out of the 4th Grande bottle.)

Now I really truly understand the ire other members have expressed regarding sub-standard China goo. It's a mess to deal with.

I will muddle thru and eventually get 3 decent Grandes out of the project but I will not buy another Grande, waaaaay more hassle than I'm generally willing to deal with.

Thank you Trev and Bohdan for your help and Bert for your interest and will keep you posted on progress.

K

[Woodvetch]

Pics of the yukky China made lava sediment I'm writing about. The slimy mess still in the bottle is after rinsing repeatedly with distilled water 10 hours ago and I got a lot out already. The stuff literally melts at body temp when put between my fingers. My other Grandes will be the same as I can see the loose slimy lava in them around the resting lava turds.
No wonder most of the later made Grandes are so cloudy.

K

[Woodvetch]

At the moment I have 3 large jugs of beautifully filtered fluid. I put the last pint or so of sediment filled unfiltered fluid back in the lamp and heated it just enough to melt the gooey yuk off the sides of the bottle and wax disc. Now will sit for 3 days for the wax to settle then will swirl the liquid to capture as much of the slime as possible then pour thru a metal coffee filter before I filter the final pint with the pump. Once that's done I'll refill the bottle, run the lamp, let it sit then probably have to filter again before re-filling and sealing.

It's also clear I need to pour fluid out of the bottle before filtering, (I filtered from the bottle), so more of the slimey stuff can be poured out with the fluid before filtering by swirling the fluid before pouring out.

I bought 6 Grande's from a surplus wholesaler real cheap. All were new in box but I'm betting these were return lamps. I gave 2 to friends who are delighted with a huge lava lamp even though cloudy. Now I know what I'm looking at, I have 1 out of the 4 that looks like the wax is cool. The rest clearly have that soap sitting in water gooey slime on top/around the wax disc.

On the up side I'm learning so the other Grande's shouldn't be such a problem, I hope, but this process is not one I will take on again with a China globe after I finish with the Grandes.

K

[Woodvetch]

All 4 of my Grandes are purple/yellow's.

What is puzzling is why skimp on the wax? It's cheap to begin with and provides the entire purpose of the lamp. This issue bespeaks the mission of Lava World. It was not about the product it was solely about profits. Unfortunately they discovered there aren't many profits when the product is lousy.

I definitely will let Lava Lite know about the issues I'm encountering.

Even with all the crap I am really looking forward to having clear Grandes when all is said and done!
To keep my attitude cool I'm focusing on the joys at the destination not the bumpy road to get there.

Ha!

K

[Woodvetch]

Great idea. I'll get up with you on details once the current arduous project is completed, I'm enjoying 3 clear Grandes and can think about the next project!
K

[Woodvetch]

I regularly run all 4 Grandes. The one with the decent appearing wax has cleared considerably from running and I believe will filter nicely. The other 3, (includes the one I'm working on now), I can barely see the wax when running and have that loose wax on top of the solid wax at rest.

I just bought a purple glitter Grande and shouldn't have any issues with glitter.

I do love the BIG lamps and looking forward to having clear big lamps.

K

[Woodvetch]

I have good flow but it takes over 10 hours to achieve the column and another 2 - 3 hours for blobs to start. I clearly have a bit too much wax and it's a bit too stiff.
The goo needs to be softer.
Next weekend I will take out about 1/2 -3/4 cup wax and add back about 1/4 -1/3 cup of gunk.

In the mean time I'm going to let it run 12+ hours a day to work the wax.

It will also need to be filtered again. The fluid is 90% better but not crystal clear yet. For the 2nd filtering I'll have to wait until my new ceramic replacement filter comes in. When I popped it out to clean it, it shot out of the casing landing on the floor and broke.

I've learned a lot on this project. Primarily it is expensive to refill a lamp. I had to sacrifice 2 52z globes, both fluid and 1 wax. My filter cost was $75 and the replacement filter was $48, (including shipping). To do the next one I will replace all fluid and wax with 5 - 52z lamps at a cost of $27 each delivered = $135 + $50 for the lamp = $185 + my time. (I live rural, no Spencers close by, all my lamps have to be shipped). I'll also try Lava Louie materials to refill one of the lamps for grins and giggles.

I had hoped to get all the Grandes done this month but it will be an over the winter project as disposable funds and time become available.

So far all my pics pretty much just look pink. I'll have to move the lamp into better room lighting and wait until the fluid is crystal clear to get decent pics.

K