Help with changing water

Hello Oozing Goo!

First time post, been following for a few weeks now. I've had a LL that I used off and on for 18 years. It continues to flow wonderfully. In 2008 I purchased a 14.5" lamp, and a 3rd 12" tall lamp in 2010. My LL went by the way side for a few years and recently after doing lots of remodel and clean-up, I rediscovered my old lamps. Sadly the newer lamps do not flow. I tuned into YouTube videos and found this forum along with you folks. The information has been invaluable.

So I'm pretty savvy with how-to's and decided to jump in and change water in the 2 newer lamps. The change over didn't work out quite like the how-to articles. After draining the original water, rinsing any loose particles, I then added fresh distilled water. While the lamps were heating up, I saw the wax rise up not in the center of the globe, but along the outside rim of the jar. The wax then began to stick to the outside of the globe while continuing to rise up to the top of the lamp.

I had not come across this in any of my research. However, I did read up on the information here and noticed the write-up on lava sticking to the glass. I decided to drain out the lamps completely, clean them out thoroughly, then re-add the wax.

Today I followed the steps on cleaning the globe, then heated the wax up and re-added the wax to the crystal-clear, cleaned globes. I allowed the wax to cool in both globes and then slowly added fresh distilled water. I re-lit the lamp bases and after 40 minutes, the results were nearly the same. Lava evacuating the middle of the lamp to the edges, and the lava began to stick to the globe. It was not as bad as the first water change, but still significant.

I added only a drop of soap, and a straw's worth of Epsom saltwater solution. The wax did break up a wee bit, but it never returned to the center of the lamp to mound up like it had when it stopped flowing. So, I think I'm ready to learn how to do a Goo kit from Magma Tower. I'll be ordering a kit after payday so I can get it some experience in doing this.

Now in other news, I have also found 2 Grande lava lamps on Craigs List. I only paid $15 each. They are both very cloudy. One lamp does not flow at all after being on the lamp base for 6 hours. The wax levitates slightly over the coil at the bottom. It mounds up nicely in the center but never sends up any bubbles. It acts the exact same as the lamp I worked on earlier today. The second Grande is red and flows very well after around 3 hours of warm-up. Other than being cloudy, the lamp has leaked out 1.5 inches of it's fluid prior to me purchasing it. The inside cap is disintegrating and is positioned to fall into the globe (thought it is still secure at the top).

I would love to just change out the water in the red Grande lamp, hopeing to have some good experience from my smaller lamps as I tested out how to do this. But, I'm a little gun-shy since the other smaller lamps did not produce positive results.

I have one more lamp I purchased at a thrift store for around $4 and the water is cloudy. The lamp works great though, but standard methods to clear up the lamp have not helped to clear it up. I would love to have a successful water change and am curious if anyone else had good luck with them. Any pointers for this other lamps change? Grande water change? Your experience and advice is welcome. Thanks for taking the time to read.

Clyde

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