All the kinds of Surfactant

[Da9L]

Isn't there something that can be globally bought ?

I mean in here i read that i should get Dawns Dish Soap, but i cant get that here in Denmark.. The same goes for Tesco tea tree shampoo.. And i bet Denmark is not the only country where those products cant be bought.. So i thought that maybe there was some kind of Surfactant that can be bought all over the world, so that its easier fore people to search for the right things, when wanting to flow optimize or redo lamps ?

[Tim Gill]

You dont nessarly need to use a spefic soap as surf - I have used standerd washing up soap and that has worked fine. If you do want to use dawn dish soap or anything else which can't be found in Denmark then I can help you out - i have some dawn and tea tree shampoo wont be hard to find.

[Da9L]

Its just that i tried using normal wasking up soap too but it seems to cloud up the lamps just a little when i use it .. When filtering my lamps it looks crystal clear untill i heat them up again..

[Tim Gill]

Did you make sure that the globe was compleatly clean when empty?

Exactly what soap are you using - any pics of it which may incercate why its clouding, its quite unushal to hear that the surf could be clouding the lamp.

[Da9L]

Yep im sure it was clean when it was empty..

Its called x-tra dishwashing .. Its dark green in color .. When reading the ingredients it seems to be non-ionic soap .. Cant get a picture of it atm ..

Other than that it states that it has : Aqua, Sodium, Chloride, Sodium Cumenesulfonate, Glycerin, Propylene Glycol and Propyl Gallate

 

Could it be the Propylene glycol thats doing it then ?

 

[LampHead]

Dawn should only be used for cleaning the globes, its much too strong as surf and will break down the wax. Find some liquid glycerin soap and use that as surf, it should be available easily at drug/food stores locally.

[Da9L]

LampHead

 

Would that work ? So Propylene Glycol to get the wax to rise and Glycerin to make it break up ?

[Tim Gill]

glycerine to adds densty to the water (that will help the wax to rise), i dont know exaclty about propylene glycol and what that does exactly

liquid glycerin soap - that basickly liquid hand soap.

Da9L said:

LampHead

 

Would that work ? So Propylene Glycol to get the wax to rise and Glycerin to make it break up ?

[Da9L]

Hmm i have some Glycerin.. Not handsoap or anything.. Box says: Glycerin 85% and Destilled water..

[Tim Gill]

That should work - just add it bit by bit, i am sure you can get some hand soap cheap from the shops but i think you should stick to the clear one to be sure it dosent cloud.

[Mr MaGoo]

Propylene Glycol won't do it..if it is distilled water..have put many cc's in my original lava lamp and no clouding.

Da9L said:

Yep im sure it was clean when it was empty..

Its called x-tra dishwashing .. Its dark green in color .. When reading the ingredients it seems to be non-ionic soap .. Cant get a picture of it atm ..

Other than that it states that it has : Aqua, Sodium, Chloride, Sodium Cumenesulfonate, Glycerin, Propylene Glycol and Propyl Gallate

 

Could it be the Propylene glycol thats doing it then ?

 

[Mr MaGoo]

Now what I have read and found true is that Propylene Glycol will decrease the density of the water..letting the wax rise.  This is true..had the light bulb shape in my lamp and would not do anything else.  Once I began adding Propylene Glycol the wax started rising, added more PG and wax rose and finally started breaking loose from bottom.  At the end I had added over 25 cc's of PG to get the movement in my lamp how I liked.

Tim Gill said:

glycerine to adds densty to the water (that will help the wax to rise), i dont know exaclty about propylene glycol and what that does exactly

liquid glycerin soap - that basickly liquid hand soap.

Da9L said:

LampHead

 

Would that work ? So Propylene Glycol to get the wax to rise and Glycerin to make it break up ?

[Tim Gill]

decrease the density of the water..letting the wax rise

Its the otherway round - the water needs to be more dense then the wax so the wax is less dense then the water - therefore this diffrance will cause the wax to rise.