Mathmos Fluidium - air bubles in wax ?

[lampfancy]

Hello - was wondering if anyone here might be able to help with this - I have a Fluidium 2 (in yellow) about 10 years old, which I have had from new, but has spent much of its life in storage. Recently I dusted it off and fired it up but was soon reminded why I had stopped using it. When flowing lots and lots of air bubbles form in the wax, to the point where it really ruins the effect of the lamp, and actually looks quite grotesque. I vaguely recall reading somewhere at some point that the Fluidium 2 was particularly prone to this as it uses a less dense type of wax to other lamps (?)

Has anyone else experienced this ? Did anyone manage to 'correct' it - or is my Fluidium destined to end up boxed back up and forgotten about ?

[Callum Carr]

I also have a yellow fluidium and it does exactly the same! I agree; it completely ruins the effect :(

I'd assumed that mine might have been caused by the previous owner putting a 60w bulb in it but it sounds like it's a wider issue.

Would be great if somebody knew a cure.

[Tim Gill]

I don't know if this is going to be wrong advice but would 'super heating' the wax work - i.e. putting the globe in boiling water to melt the wax for a while giving it a change to release the bubbles and reform the wax.

Apart from that try running the lamp a lot to see if it sorts its self out.

TBH you may have just got a bad bottle or the previous owner not using it properly, the fludiums I have work fine and I havent heard of this issue before.

[lampfancy]

Are your fluidiums phase 1 or phase 2 ? I'm sure I read somewhere that the they changed the formula for the mk 2s, hence the 'bubbling' issue is more prevalent on later ones, but not sure if this is true. Have owned mine from new and it has always had this issue. Despite having had the lamp a number of years, it hasn't really seen much use, so don't know if a more intense period of 'running in' may be required, but I'll give it a shot and see if it helps...