Made a giant out of multiple lamps and now wax is floating to the top

[lavalover]

Hi. I had an old giant sitting around that wasn't being used so I filled it with various lava lamps. All the lamps I used were 'Lava Lite' brand with the white cap and red lettering. After putting them all together and running it the wax is floating to the top after it starts heating up and won't seat to the spring. I'm assuming the density is out of balance between the wax and liquid. What would he the best way to change the ratios to get it back down? Thanks.

[lavalover]

Normally it should turn sideways, shoot some up, fall back down, slowly melt, then start as small bubbles, becoming larger, then globs, but as soon as it gets to the point of any real melting it all goes up.

[Brad]

sounds like the water has a higher density than the wax.  dump (but keep just in case) some of the lamp water and replace with distilled until the liquid wax begins to rise and fall.

[lavalover]

Thanks for the reply Brad. So you would recommend the distiller water over weighting down the wax (as previously suggested by another)? Does anything need to be mixed with the distiller water? How much does or take to start changing flow patterns? I know this will be experimentational so you can't really answer that, but are thinking a few drops? A cup or two? Just not sure how potent the distiller water is. Thanks.

[Brad]

i can't recommend one way over the other, but it just seems easier to change the density of the water.  as for how much distilled water to add - i'm guessing it may be between 2 - 3 cups based on your previous photo.  i'd start small and go from there, making sure to save whatever lamp water you remove in case you need to increase the density of the water.

lavalover said:

Thanks for the reply Brad. So you would recommend the distiller water over weighting down the wax (as previously suggested by another)? Does anything need to be mixed with the distiller water? How much does or take to start changing flow patterns? I know this will be experimentational so you can't really answer that, but are thinking a few drops? A cup or two? Just not sure how potent the distiller water is. Thanks.

[Dr. WHAT?!]

did you check the production dates on the caps before you mixed them? Also my goo kits can do that but then it eventually sinks (sometimes takes up to a hour) I say let it keep running for a day or 2 days straight dont turn it off. See what happens before you mess with the water.

[lavalover]

Will do. I guess I felt that if no wax was stuck to the coil I was burning something up. The production dates vary. They were just globes I had sitting around. The wax will fall back down once dry so I know the mix can't be far off. I'll let you know what happens.

[Brad]

i agree to try running it for a few days just to be sure.  be sure to cover the top of the globe to reduce evaporation.

[lavalover]

I had it on for about 6 hours yesterday and when I checked on it it was melted as one giant blob directly at the top. Kind of looked like an upside globe when turned off. It was pushed as far top as it could possibly go. I'm not sure how it's supposed to ever fall back down like that.

[lavalover]

Hey Dr... Even though it forced itself into an upside down wedge at the very top of the lamp, would you still consider running it for a day to change? What exactly would change in that time? I really want to salvage this lamp, but I guess I'm just confused on what will happen a day later when every bit of it is at the very top and not a drop anywhere else. Or what will change inside that creates the slow manifestation of too light to heavy enough to drop.