Mathmos Fireflow overheating

[perishingtardis]

Got a brand new Mathmos Fireflow R1 today. I used the supplied tealight. Within 20 minutes the lamp was bubbling very nicely, but within 1 hour it was bubbling furiously, and then within 1.5 hours it had completely overheated - just one big blob sticking awkwardly to the bottom. The temperature of the room is completely normal - about 21 Celsius, and there are no other nearby sources of other heat.

Has anyone else had similar experiences with the Fireflow? Maybe the supplied tealight is not ideal? Or perhaps something is wrong with the bottle?

[Johnny]

sounds pretty normal, ive never had one on with the 3 hour tealight time, the bottle gets mega hot specialy if its in the chrome rocket version of the fireflow, you could email mathmos but reckon they will say its due to the hot weather :-(

[perishingtardis]

Mine is the green one. It's a shame they are so temperamental as it's a nice concept. I might try trimming the wick shorter (to about 5 mm) before lighting - hopefully this will make a smaller flame and less heat.

Nee said:

It is always touch and go with fireflows. I took advanatge of the 25% off offer and got a turquoise and a pink. Both bottles were VERY cloudy but have cleared some but are not totally clear. 

the pink one overheats every time at about 2 hours, the turquoise keeps going nicely until the candle has gone out. 

I like them but I think the whole concept is a little flawed. My O1 model works much better than the R1 which seems to get silly hot. A bit dangerous in my opinion. 

Haven't had a chance to test the new yellow/blue or violet/orange yet. 

What colour are you having problems with?

[perishingtardis]

UPDATE: I trimmed the wick down to about 5 mm and the lamp ran much better for the first 90 minutes - it didn't look like it was overheating at all. Then suddenly, at about 90 minutes in, it just went into one blob again and stuck awkwardly to the bottom. I have contacted Mathmos to see if they might exchange the bottle for me. Fingers crossed a different bottle will work better.