Minimum cooling time?

[Mmm...]

Just how critical is it to cool the wax down completely after a lamp has been operated? Is there a minimum length of time required to let the lava cool down between periods of operation?  I have my Lava Lamp on a dimmer switch and enjoy it for extended periods of time. The liquid is clear right now and the wax seems to be quite healthy, but I am wondering if I must let my lamp rest for a full 8 hours before operating it again, or if it is simply a matter of waiting until all the lava seems to have fallen to the bottom of the globe and has begun to solidify. I want to avoid over-cooking the lava or causing the liquid to become cloudy.

[TomK]

Different sizes of lava lamps require varied cool down times because of the differing amounts of lava & fluid. It is more important to be careful not to overheat your lamp while it is operating. In general, I have found that once the sides of the bottle are no longer warm to the touch, then your lamp has cooled down. By that time the lava will have been solid for awhile. How much time this takes would depend on how big your lamp is as well as the temperature of the room it is in. If you plan to run your lamp(s) for extended time periods I would recommend using a fader switch which would allow you to set an optimum power level for your lamp (each lamp is different). Once your running lamp has reached peak performance you can back off on the fader a bit to prevent overheating. In essence you would be custom tuning your lava lamp.

[Mmm...]

Thanks, TomK. That's very helpful advice. I have a 52 oz. Lava Lamp and hope to keep it running beautifully for many years. I assume that a "fader switch" is the same thing as a "dimmer switch". If so, I do have one and use it regularly. They're not very expensive and readily available. What a difference it makes being able to keep the lamp running beyond the recommended 8 hours without over-cooking the lava! I tend to have trouble falling asleep at night and really appreciate having my Lava Lamp dancing at my side when I'm still awake during the wee hours of the morning.

[TomK]

Ah, a fellow insomniac! Lava lamps also help me to relax and sleep. I run 3 lamps at a time, all with dimmer / fader switches--the two names mean the same thing. My favorite lamp is the (52 oz) Century 100 Starlite series of which I have about 20. But right now I'm running 3 Safari lamps(32 oz) I just bought-- a Tortoiseshell, a Snakeskin and a Zebra with hot pink lava. I want to complete my Safari set with a Cheetah lamp, but so far it's been hard to locate one for sale.

But those dimmers are great for setting the optimum performance heat level for each lamp no matter what size or color! Most of them run on lower settings from max hence they can be run longer and safer. Overheating becomes non-existent.

[LampHead]

 The most important thing is to not overheat the wax, with the dimmer you have full control. Simmering the wax on low heat is not a bad thing but doing it non-stop is not the best. Add a timer with your dimmer so you can shut it off completely when you know you will be gone over 6-8 hours. Set the timer to come on 1-2 hours before you get home.

 

[Mmm...]

Thanks for the advice, LampHead.  And, yes, TomK, I definitely appreciate my Lava Lamps when I have trouble sleeping. That's why I am so happy to be able to extend the running time via a timer and a dimmer switch. Sure do love to have my Lava Lamps dancing at my side and keeping me company when the rest of the world is fast asleep!

I own two 52 oz. yellow wax/purple liquid lamps. One is clear as a bell, but the other is my "problem child." It is somewhat murky (but slowly clearing up with each use) and just yesterday it flipped its wax upside down so the coil was on top. Still, it seems to have great potential and keeps me entertained with every naughty behavior. 

I also have a 52 oz. yellow wax/blue liquid lamp which is absolutely beautiful. Very clear. I like to keep two running any time I'm at home. It's like having Christmas trees in various corners of the house. Such a joy to watch!

[TomK]

Are your 52 oz lamps Aristocrats or Centurys? Century lamps have black screw on plastic bottoms under the base, Aristocrats do not.

Mmm... said:

Thanks for the advice, LampHead.  And, yes, TomK, I definitely appreciate my Lava Lamps when I have trouble sleeping. That's why I am so happy to be able to extend the running time via a timer and a dimmer switch. Sure do love to have my Lava Lamps dancing at my side and keeping me company when the rest of the world is fast asleep!

I own two 52 oz. yellow wax/purple liquid lamps. One is clear as a bell, but the other is my "problem child." It is somewhat murky (but slowly clearing up with each use) and just yesterday it flipped its wax upside down so the coil was on top. Still, it seems to have great potential and keeps me entertained with every naughty behavior. 

I also have a 52 oz. yellow wax/blue liquid lamp which is absolutely beautiful. Very clear. I like to keep two running any time I'm at home. It's like having Christmas trees in various corners of the house. Such a joy to watch!

[Mmm...]

No, TomK.  Mine are brand new, made in China, Premier 16.3" Lava Lamps purchased on line from Amazon.com. The yellow wax/purple liquid lamps are model #5225 and the yellow wax/blue liquid lamp is model #5224-4.

[TomK]

Well, for all intents and purposes, Premiers and Aristocrats are the same basic lamp as far as globe and base sizes are concerned. Unfortunate for the Premier owners though, is their origin. Buying cheaper lamps made in China is a crap shoot at best. They use cheaper less dependable materials in their production to lower costs but this increases the risk of poor performance and malfunctions. Two identical lamps can operate totally different--your two yellow/purples are perfect examples of this. Trying to fix one can be a major headache because of their inherent lack of consistency. What works for one may be a disaster for another. I have heard rumors that China production has attempted to rectify their problems, but they are just rumors, no facts as of yet.

Sidenote: For anyone who decides they want to buy Premier lamps, Spencers has them for about $5 less than Amazon. Sometimes they go on sale for even less.

[Mmm...]

Yes, it is, indeed, a crap shoot! The first lava lamp I purchased (a 14 inch yellow/purple) was for my sister. I knew nothing about them at the time. Purchased one off the shelf at Menards.  It rolled around in my trunk for weeks during the dead of winter. Eventually, I brought it into the house and kept it there until I could make the 7 hour drive from St. Louis, to Wisconsin.  Believe it or not, that lamp was crystal clear when my sister opened the box!

Then I started ordering my own lamps on-line through Amazon because I could not find the 16.3" size in local stores. The first one (yellow/purple) was crystal clear, but the base didn't work, so I had to ship it back. Wish I could have just returned the base and kept the globe, but it doesn't work that way. The replacement they sent me was a nightmare -- very murky, obviously used, returned, and then sent on to me. I complained to Amazon and requested a refund.

Then I ordered another yellow/purple and that one arrived in good condition, but just a little bit murky. The cloudiness cleared up completely after only 3 cycles, and it remains a thing of beauty to this day.

The last two that I ordered arrived in the same box, which was left lying on its side on my front porch. The wax/coil chunks were found floating free in both of them, but I was able to correct that thanks to help from Oozinggoo members.

The liquid in the yellow/blue one arrived in startlingly clear condition. That lamp is so beautiful when it flows! But the yellow/purple one is somewhat murky and I am cycling it to try to clear the liquid. It seems to be working, albeit very slowly. If it doesn't clear up completely in a couple of weeks, I will either return it or try to change the liquid only. (I am not about to spend $90 on an MSR filter just to clear the liquid from a $34 lava lamp!)  Right now I am hoping to find a cheaper filter alternative for clearing cloudiness from lamps, just in case the cycling doesn't get the job done. But if I can't find one, I may try dumping out the liquid and replacing it with the home-made recipe, although I am reluctant to open that globe and mess around with all that. We'll see... 

[Mmm...]

[Mmm...]

This yellow wax/purple liquid 52 oz lava lamp was slightly murky when it first arrived, but cleared up completely after just a few uses.

[Mmm...]

This yellow wax/blue liquid 52 oz Premier Lava Lamp arrived in perfect condition and never required any special treatment. So beautiful when flowing!