Lavalite Lamp, wax sticks to glass at top

[BSP016]

Hello, I am relatively new to this forum, but anyway
I bought a LavaLite lava lamp about a week ago. It flows okay, but the wax sticks to the glass in some spots, especially at the top. I don't know what to do to fix this, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Below is a photo of the lamp. Notice the large amount of wax stuck to the top.

[VOXul]

Welcome to OG Ben!

One thing that I can think of that might be causing this is due to poor surfactant in the fluid. This is a soapy substance that aids in proper wax flow but also prevents sticking. Does the wax harden in place too or does it sink to the bottom when cool? You may need to pop the cap on it, drain it (but save it), clean the inside of the globe really good with hot water and salt. Shake that salt water solution like no ones business while it is inside the globe, dump the cleaning mix, refill with the original wax and fluid, and you should have no sticking. If you remove the cap very cleanly without bending you can usually reuse the original cap, snap it back over the top and use a hose clamp to crimp the edges back in on the bottle lip. Hose clamp can be removed once confirmed capped and sealed again. If you find it still sticks with a cleaning you may need to boost the surfactant level of the fluid, people use small amounts of dish detergent, such as Dawn, as a stand in to the fluids that can be bought from gookits.com.

[BSP016]

The wax stays stuck to the side after cooling but if you take a stick and poke at it it will fall, but leaves some "mark" in the spot it was. I will take your suggesstion and try that tomorrow. sounds like it should work, and since I'm off for the rest of the week, I'll have plenty of time to do it. l will update as necessary.

[VOXul]

Yea, it sounds like the wax has formed a thin, waterproof barrier in those spots.

[BSP016]

Did all that and...success! My LavaLite Lamp now works perfectly, and the flow was improved also. Thank you so much for helping me with my issue! I recorded a time lapse video of it warming up and starting:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0AQqKoqET9s

[VOXul]

Excellent to hear and see Ben. Looks to flow like a true Lava Lite, nice job! You are welcome, enjoy the show!

[NoneofyourBusiness Nosey]

I recently bought a 19 inch lava plus lava lamp and table lamp...accent size lava lamp with small table lamp attached. It is the clear read combo and I was having the same problems with wax sticking to the globe. I had read before and been told that coeaning with gasoline or "petrol" wil work but I have been afraid to use the gasoline especially since it sets off my asthma. I'm going to try the hot water and salt method right now- I tried rubbing alcohol and kosher salt shaking violently like a martini which seem to work about 75% so I'm anxious to try the hot water.

Would kosher salt work better than table salt since it is larger and might be more abrasive?

[VOXul]

You are correct Heidi, the larger granule should provide a better scrubbing abrasive. The fine grit of table salt can sometimes cover more area with a vigorous shake down though. Kind of like large grit sand paper and fine grit. Large grit will tear into wood but coverage has gaps per pass while fine grit will scrub more surface area per pass but not as deep. I have had luck cleaning other glass with pure acetone and table salt as well. Best to let acetone evaporate opposed to dumping down the drain, it will vanish rather quickly if left in open air.