Lava Lite's New Website & The NEW Heritage Collection

[Dr. WHAT?!]

http://www.lavalamp.com/

The new Heritage Collection will be available to buy 10/28

**Updated the Heritage Collection will be released today on LavaLite Website at 10am CST. Heres a sneak peak!

*** http://lavalamp.com/heritage-collection ***

[Marley's Ghost]

I'm getting happier and happier with the Wizard!!   It's working great now!   Do the "trick" and yours will too I bet.
 
Erin said:

O RLY? That's good to know Marley!

[Egnix]

I've had my lamps on most of the day.  The pink Grande has flowed great the who time.  The green Grande tends to prefer spheres of lava.  Going to try to dim it a bit next time. 

The yellow/red Century has most of the lava stuck at the top with no movement at all.  Dimming it hasn't helped.  Sounds like others are seeing the same.  Anyone found anything that helps?

[Marley's Ghost]

I put a 60 watt bulb in my yellow/red Century, let it go full blast till it started really flowing, which it has never done before.  Now I'm dimming it a little at a time.  It's flowing and not sticking, but I'm still having the problem of that blob of wax staying in the top.   I don't think these fixes are going to help these much.
 
Egnix said:

I've had my lamps on most of the day.  The pink Grande has flowed great the who time.  The green Grande tends to prefer spheres of lava.  Going to try to dim it a bit next time. 

The yellow/red Century has most of the lava stuck at the top with no movement at all.  Dimming it hasn't helped.  Sounds like others are seeing the same.  Anyone found anything that helps?

[Rodrigo]

I agree with you Trevor, and also don't think there is a "one formula only" that is just being produced terribly by cutting corners, in China. I believe that it whatever formula is being produced in China IS different AND on top of that they're cutting corners when they can. That is why I think filling the bottles and making the formula here in the US will result in better lamps, not only because of the return of the (i believe) secretly kept usa formula but also because of the greater possibility to control every step of the process, whether that's mixing, heating, cooling, or filling the bottles.

But back on topic, my y/r century is doing alot better today. It left it running at full blast for about 7 hours and left home and now its not sticking at the top, or bottom but there is some residue left where it was stuck before. The flow is boring round blobs but it seems a little better than yesterday so i think with more runs it will loosen up, as long as its not sticking everywhere..

Metallica Fluidium man Trevor said:

I'm pretty sure there is a difference.... Why would LL give china the secret!?

Alfred said:

It's been mentioned several times that there is no US or "China" formula. It's all a matter of how closely the factory follows the formula, both in terms of ingredients and procedures (heating, blending, cooling, etc.). The problem is, Chinese factories have historically been known to cut corners when they can get away with it, sometimes even with the impression that they're doing the customer a favor.

I can't find it now, but I once read a rather interesting article on factories leaving screws out of laptops that weren't absolutely essential to hold things together. Of course, this meant that said laptops generally ended up falling apart within a year or two. (Remember when just about every Dell laptop did this?)

I don't know for certain that the formula has never changed, but it's been made clear that there was no intentional formula change when production moved to China. This doesn't mean I wouldn't love to see production return to the US, but I find comments implying that there's some magic formula that can only be brought back by returning production to the US to be a little exasperating.

[Brad]

same here - a large amount of wax sticks to the top of both of my centuries.  i've cycled them twice now and just turned them on for the 3rd run.  

i think the globe isn't getting hot enough.  my reasoning is this: a globe that is overheating will have wax at the top, but it's in a liquid state.  the wax at the top of my centuries is cooler because i can see a film develop around the outside of the wax, so it's definitely not overheating.  when the liquid wax hits the cooled wax at the top, it conforms and then eventually drips down toward the coil.  this process repeats.  i think a warmer bulb like libby suggested may help, or perhaps these lamps need to be cycled multiple times before they will work properly.  i'm not sure.  

it would be nice to hear something from LL.  i want to contact them but don't want to be annoying.  maybe one of us that is having problems could contact them with some photos and an explanation and see if this is normal, then report back.  the issue seems to be widespread since many of us report the exact same problem.

Egnix said:

The yellow/red Century has most of the lava stuck at the top with no movement at all.  Dimming it hasn't helped.  Sounds like others are seeing the same.  Anyone found anything that helps?

[Marley's Ghost]

Brad, I agree, that's what I've been saying all along.   That's why I used the higher wattage bulb.  But it's still not flowing correctly.   I'm going to order a Pink Grande tomorrow and see what I can find out.  I also have the two pictures of this problem which I posted, that I could send to them.   I don't want to annoy anyone either, but this problem is too prevalent to be a fluke with a couple of lamps.
 
Brad said:

same here - a large amount of wax sticks to the top of both of my centuries.  i've cycled them twice now and just turned them on for the 3rd run.  

i think the globe isn't getting hot enough.  my reasoning is this: a globe that is overheating will have wax at the top, but it's in a liquid state.  the wax at the top of my centuries is cooler because i can see a film develop around the outside of the wax, so it's definitely not overheating.  when the liquid wax hits the cooled wax at the top, it conforms and then eventually drips down toward the coil.  this process repeats.  i think a warmer bulb like libby suggested may help, or perhaps these lamps need to be cycled multiple times before they will work properly.  i'm not sure.  

it would be nice to hear something from LL.  i want to contact them but don't want to be annoying.  maybe one of us that is having problems could contact them with some photos and an explanation and see if this is normal, then report back.  the issue seems to be widespread since many of us report the exact same problem.

Egnix said:

The yellow/red Century has most of the lava stuck at the top with no movement at all.  Dimming it hasn't helped.  Sounds like others are seeing the same.  Anyone found anything that helps?

[Egnix]

I'm sure hoping my Century wakes up.  I bought it assuming it would have better-than-average (average being  poor) flow, but as of right now, it's the worst flowing lamp I have as it is not flowing at all.  :(

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

If China was using a different formula, the neon Grandes would not flow as well as they do. I've seen Chinese lamps that were bigger, and they don't flow like that, and I guarantee whatever formula Lava uses, the Chinese factories are all sharing.

The problem isn't the mix. It's how it's processed, and the current Lava brand are better because they're processed well. For all the other companies selling out of China, low cost is the number one factor considered, so they all cut corners.

[Rodrigo]

Yeah but the neon grandes STILL dont flow like USA made Giants..

I disagree. I believe there is definitely a formula change along with cutting corners. The lazy flow isnt the only problem china made lamps have over usa made lamps, for example: Clouding while shipping, they both do it but china lamps are way worse and rarely ever clear up, wax burning/sticking to the bottom and sides, wax loosing color, wax color leaking into the water within a year, etc. The problems that are present on china lamps and not on the 90s usa lamps go on and on. Thats just my opinion and .02 cents, the day china makes lamps that flow, look and last as good as the usa lamps ill believe you. But if the answer to get those lamps back was as simple as more control, i think LL wouldve taken care of that by sending someone from here to oversee the formula production, which they did for the heritage lamps and clearly did not bring back what the 90s had.

Also, the formula the factories in China use now probably IS shared by all the Chinese factories, but i seriously doubt that its the USA formula, because LL knows if they give that up the Chinese will leak it to the other factories.

[Metallica Man Trevor]

This is the newest formula. But if u open them they smell nothing like USA. They smell like oil almost. I just don't see LL giving out the secret. Its like Mathmos sharing theirs. Or like soda company's. There is only one person in the world that knows the Dr. Pepper formula. Even tho they use out side bottling company's, they send the finished syrup to them.
 
Jonas Clark-Elliott said:

If China was using a different formula, the neon Grandes would not flow as well as they do. I've seen Chinese lamps that were bigger, and they don't flow like that, and I guarantee whatever formula Lava uses, the Chinese factories are all sharing.

The problem isn't the mix. It's how it's processed, and the current Lava brand are better because they're processed well. For all the other companies selling out of China, low cost is the number one factor considered, so they all cut corners.

[Brad]

that would be great, thanks!  i would just make sure they know that many of your lava lamp buds are also having this problem and it's not isolated.

Marley's Ghost said:

Brad, I agree, that's what I've been saying all along.   That's why I used the higher wattage bulb.  But it's still not flowing correctly.   I'm going to order a Pink Grande tomorrow and see what I can find out.  I also have the two pictures of this problem which I posted, that I could send to them.   I don't want to annoy anyone either, but this problem is too prevalent to be a fluke with a couple of lamps.
 
Brad said:

same here - a large amount of wax sticks to the top of both of my centuries.  i've cycled them twice now and just turned them on for the 3rd run.  

i think the globe isn't getting hot enough.  my reasoning is this: a globe that is overheating will have wax at the top, but it's in a liquid state.  the wax at the top of my centuries is cooler because i can see a film develop around the outside of the wax, so it's definitely not overheating.  when the liquid wax hits the cooled wax at the top, it conforms and then eventually drips down toward the coil.  this process repeats.  i think a warmer bulb like libby suggested may help, or perhaps these lamps need to be cycled multiple times before they will work properly.  i'm not sure.  

it would be nice to hear something from LL.  i want to contact them but don't want to be annoying.  maybe one of us that is having problems could contact them with some photos and an explanation and see if this is normal, then report back.  the issue seems to be widespread since many of us report the exact same problem.

Egnix said:

The yellow/red Century has most of the lava stuck at the top with no movement at all.  Dimming it hasn't helped.  Sounds like others are seeing the same.  Anyone found anything that helps?

[Rodrigo]

I figured out my century came with a weaker bulb than my other lamps. Side to side comparison of the bulbs in the base with no globes CLEARLY shows the new bulb way dimmer, and both on dimmerless bases. I replaced the bulb and now its more active. I was also noticing with the original bulb, the blobs at the top formed a wrinkled layer and hardened.