Aristocrat Problems

Hello All,

What a great forum to find! I have what I believe is a vintage Aristrocrat that I purchased from an auction a few weeks ago. I cannot get the lava to flow at all. Just a big blob at the bottom. On another forum I found that others were having problems with the lamp being on mdf or partical board type surfaces, sounds weird but several said it worked. I gave it a try and for the first time since trying to get this thing to work the lava moved its way to the top in that big long stream typical on warm up. But then it all settled back down and will only raise up about 2 inches or so. I have tried the slow spinning method about 20 times and still not sucess. The coil is in place where it should be. One thing I did notice was that in all of the places that recommended spinning the glass, it said to use pot holders... I can pick mine up with my bare hand....its warm but no where close to being hot enough to burn or even be uncomfortable...Not hot enough? The goo is completely melted though. Last night I tried wrapping a towel around the base to build up more heat...still nothing. Also I notice the goo has a lot of bubbles in it when its melted. It has a 30 watt reflective bulb. The decal inside says Use Only 30 R 20 Reflector Bulb. Sorry to ramble, just wanted to give a complete picture. Thanks in advance for your help.

One more thing! Is there a section on this site (or elseware) that shows how to identify a vintage lamp vs. a modern one. This one has the right "look" including the older looking cord.

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Permalink Reply by Erik on February 17, 2011 at 1:38pm

Thanks for the tip, I will try that. Following the theory concerning the base loosing heat I followed another suggestion of placing the lamp on a book. That worked for a little while, the lava actually reached about the middle of the globe. After a while it settled into the blob again. This also leads me to think it is not getting hot enough. Will keep you posted and post pics as soon as I can.

Thanks