Cloudy Mathmos Astro

[BadManDeego]

So I made a good score at the thrift store and got a lovely Mathmos Astro(looks like the heritage series) for 5 bucks. The Globe was clear when it was on the shelf but when the clerk took it down he dropped it and it took a pretty bad hit on the floor. Now the water is completely cloudy. I've been reading around a lot about ways to clear it and am just not sure how to proceed.

Should I try to cycle it for a month or so, or would you reckon it's dead and I should just jump into replacing the water? And if so, does anyone know any good recipes for the mathmos globes?

Any advice for a newbie appreciated...

[Keith]

I would give it time to clear.  You can always try replacing the water it cycling doesn't work.  See what it's like in a month and go from there.

[BadManDeego]

Keith said:

I would give it time to clear.  You can always try replacing the water it cycling doesn't work.  See what it's like in a month and go from there

Cheers, do you think 8hours on and 8 off would be good?

[Keith]

That would probably clear it up faster.  Personally I just run them when I'm relaxing in the evening for anywhere from 3 to 8 hours.

[Carol]

I don't own any Mathmos lamps but from receiving a few vintage LL's that got cloudy through shipping they cleared up nicely with cycling.  I ran them 8 hours on 8 off.  It took about 1 to 2 weeks and they were pretty clear. 

[BadManDeego]

Tis been about a week now and I think she's showing a little improvement(but not much).

Will post updates! 

[BadManDeego]

Fuuuck, the bulb just went on it. The Mathmos site only seems to sell halogen ses bulbs. Does anyone know if these even fit in the older ones?

[Aladdin 2 Lava]

The halogen bulbs do fit in the older bases. Golf ball SES are still available ! 

Looks like you have white wax, quite rare ! Your lamp should clear up ok but could take a few weeks.

I knocked a Telstar over while it was in full flow and it cleared up with regular cycling... be patient !

Was the lamp flowing when it was dropped ?

Welcome to OG.

[BadManDeego]

Yah, it's supposed to be white with clear liquid. Nah, it was cold on the shelf when it dropped. Took a really bad knock though, like 7 feet onto a hard floor, amazed the bottle survived at all.

Gonna hit the hardware store today, anyways. Anyone know which is preferable, the gold ball or the halogen? It seemed to be running a bit hot with the old bulb,

[Carol]

I don't know much about Mathmos bulbs but I would go with the golfball type like Aladdin said.  He has quite the collection of mathmos lamps (jealous), lol!!!  Also cycling does require patience but most lamps cept maybe for the newly manufactured ones clear with cycling.

[Aladdin 2 Lava]

If it was clear when cold and went cloudy when heating up I don't think it will clear. I've had three Mathmos lamps from charity/thrift stores in the past that did this. Its still worth cycling though... hopefully you will be lucky.

I tried several times to restore Mathmos globes (that's how I found this site) but was never happy with the flow... either too blobby or bubbles in the wax... still it took the inventor many many years to perfect the formula and the recipe is a jealously guarded secret !!! lol.

I haven't run an older base with Halogen (only popped one in when I read your post to check) I'll run one now and get back later.

[Aladdin 2 Lava]

The halogen bulb only just gets a flow going in the old type base. Handy to know as some of my Astro globes overheat after a while with 40w golf balls.

[BadManDeego]

Yeah, the 40w golf ball had mine running fairly hot, pretty scattered flow on it. Was it the 35w halogen? Was the flow okay once it got going?