32oz Lava Lite(Red Swirl) flow

[Casey Haldeman]

I have an American made 32oz Lava Lite. I have a clear 40 watt appliance bulb in the base. The problem is that the lava almost never gets near the top, and it doesn't want to disconnect from the main blob down in the bottom. It keeps trying to send one big blob of wax towards the top, but it doesn't disconnect and it just falls back down. It never gets two blobs moving around at once either. It's really slow and boring. Everything seems to be in order with it. The spring is submerged in the wax correctly. The water level seems like it might have fallen slightly. Maybe the bottle cap is a bad seal and it has evaporated a little or something. The surface of the water is about 1/8" bellow the metal top-cover thing. Is there anything I can do to it to make it work better? I can't figure out if it isn't hot enough or what... There are some bubbles of water in the wax if that means anything, but they don't appear harmful. I've been thinking about putting green liquid in it for a while, because I have green coloring and epsom salt. I thought about doing that, but don't know if I should. I thought maybe if I got the amount of salt right the lava would float around easier. It seems to struggle quite a bit to get that one blob just halfway up the lamp...

[wayne miller]

Not getting hot enough, wizards are bad about that try bending the tab that holds the light bulb up so the bulb is closer to the globe.

[Casey Haldeman]

Will try soon and report results, thanks on the reply good sir

[wayne miller]

No problem oozing is a great place to learn, share, trade and have fun ect. Should work i had the same problem with my first wizard too, drove me nuts lol till someone told me about the bulb not being close enough.

[WeeboTech]

>> The base and top have red and white swirls painted on.
>> The wax is white and the liquid is red. I have a clear 40 watt appliance bulb in the base.

Reads like it;s a red swirl and with some lamps/globes, it works better to use frosted bulbs.
Sylvania are the best brand (at least used to be).
These were the type of bulbs that usually came with Lava World Lamps.

[Casey Haldeman]

Actually, I don't know why I thought it was a Wizard. I looked up a picture of one and it's not one. Yeah, It's probably a red swirl. It'd be nice if they would label things.... I tried it with a frosted bulb, and it performed worse than before. It's starting to work a little better, I think, now that the bulb is raised. I'll have to keep watching it for a while. I believe Wayne is right about the heat problem, though.

[wayne miller]

http://oozinggoo.ning.com/photo/red-swirl?context=user red swirl

[Casey Haldeman]

It's definitely that one.

I'm getting multiple blobs at once now, but they still never get near the top...

[LampHead]

How long are you running it ? It may take over 2 hours to start flowing, if its below 70 in your home it will take even longer. Its not in a drafty spot is it ? The red liquid white wax globe is the toughest cookie to crack, very stubborn runners. It sounds like it wants to get going.




LampHead

[Casey Haldeman]

I usually run it from 6-12 hours at a time. It's usually 68-ish in my room... I might try a 60W bulb with a dimmer or something.

[Casey Haldeman]

Update: thanks for all the suggestions. After moving the bulb up and letting the room warm up to the lower 70s, my red swirl is flowing nicely. It's cycling nicely between bubbly and snakey. It's moving much faster and is an overall pleasure to look at. I realize now also that it takes quite a bit of time to get going. I started it in the morning, and it didn't really get to flowing nicely till early afternoon.