lava lite grande small blobs anyone any ideas ?

[jason brewer]

Ok ive got this grande it came from a local chain of discount stores bought three of them £20 each two were stupidly cloudy so were returned the one i have left is a blue liquid yellow wax model nice and clear takes an age to warm up which i expected due to its size however once warmed through it doesnt produce reasonable globules .  Once warm the lave rises to a peak only bubbles fron the dead centre of the lava and produces multiple globules all about the size of a grape .

At one point these would all rise to the top most of them would sit there with the odd one falling back down so not really cycling .

I removed the cap syphnoned off a small amout of liquid and replaced the missing liquid with distilled water this has now got me to the stage where i get the same size of globule but they all rise and fall .

Really looking to get a decent lava flow going in this lamp  anyone any ideas ??

I have two small lava lites which cycle beautifully if not quite as well as Mathmos lamps .

[Jeff]

Did you ever solve this?  I have the same problem with one of these...funny thing is when I first got it, it worked great...then it sat unused for a few years and now all it will do is this.

[Kirk]

I think the issue may be heat.

In creating the small balls, does it rise from the center via a skinny column and release a ball, and then does it again, and again?  I had one that did this.  I put a 1" socket extender in it that raised the bulb right up to the bottom of the base, and this cured the problem. 

[Marley's Ghost]

The exact same thing happens with my blue/yellow Grande.   I have tried Kirk's suggestion and got one "huge" blob hovering midways in the globe and smaller ones going back to the top and hanging like grapes.   I them took out the socket extender, and put a dimmer on it, and it flows half-way decently, but still not the best.   The blue liquid is also way too dark.   If I can find enought glitter, it will get a re-fill. I am tired of fooling with it.

[Jeff]

Yep..thats exactly what it does.  I fired it up tonight when I got home from work...if it gets hot enough I'll take some pics.
 
Kirk said:

I think the issue may be heat.

In creating the small balls, does it rise from the center via a skinny column and release a ball, and then does it again, and again?  I had one that did this.  I put a 1" socket extender in it that raised the bulb right up to the bottom of the base, and this cured the problem.