Is this behavior normal?

[Josiah]

Hi

About a month ago I got a "lava lite lamp" made in the USA from goodwill, one of the "new HOT elek-trick colors", it looked to be new in the box and never used as the tape was still on it. The model is 9413 if that matters. It said to use a 40 watt appliance bulb, which i've used many kinds, frosted clear ect ect. I find that it takes about 1-1.5hrs to get a decent flow going, but after that it only flows for about 1.5-2hrs until it forms one big blob on the bottom. I also tried a 25w bulb which was frosted and it didn't even separate.

I know this is not how they all act because I recently picked up an old starlite with a tiny bulb and though after a few hours it turns into a bunch of blobs going up and down as opposed to one or two long snake like blobs.

Is the behavior for the lava lite lamp normal, am I doing something wrong or is this the nature of the beast?

Thank You.

[Brad]

thanks for the update.  this helps us help others with similar problems!

Josiah said:

It was the coil. I found a white/pink one of the same size and age that had separated wax, swapped the coils and now it works like a charm, a bit hot but thats a light bulb and temperature issue, much less of a mystery.

Thanks everyone!