My first lamp

[Dominick Pasquale Ciampi]

Hi my names Dominick and I found this lava lamp at the thrift store with all the parts in the original box for $5! The lamp says on the base (July 17, 1996) and thats rad af! The only problem is the water is pretty cloudy and even after almost 24 hours the lava only kinda floated to the top :(. I'm gunna include some pics, Let me know if you know what I should do. Thanks -Dom

[Faolynn Le Fey]

Hi Dom. I don't have a lot of advice on the cloudiness, sometimes it clears after a while and sometimes it doesn't... but the first thing I would do is check the bulb. Make sure it matches the recommended wattage. If it gets too hot or too cold the lava will not flow right. Good luck! Awesome find!

[Dominick Pasquale Ciampi]

I know the bulb is the correct wattage because I went out to spencers, bought a beautiful red and blue lamp and tried the bulb in that one and it flows perfect :(

Faolynn Le Fey said:

Hi Dom. I don't have a lot of advice on the cloudiness, sometimes it clears after a while and sometimes it doesn't... but the first thing I would do is check the bulb. Make sure it matches the recommended wattage. If it gets too hot or too cold the lava will not flow right. Good luck! Awesome find!

[Keith]

This is the bulb you need 40W A15 Appliance.  Some of the new lava lamps take a 25 watt bulb.  But unless you are using a higher wattage bulb than 40 watts the bulb isn't the problem.  However running it for 24 hours won't help.  Suggested run time is 6 to 8 hours, or until the wax gets too hot to flow properly.

What is going on here looks like separated wax.  Does the upper blob of wax settle to the bottom when the lamp is turned off?  If so the parts should recombine after a few runs.  Try running the lamp for 4 to 6 hours daily.  Or you could set it on a timer to cycle it.  If you use a timer then run it 6 hour on and 8 hour off continually for several days.  This gives the lamp a chance to heat up and to cool completely.  This should also help with the cloudiness.  Let us know how it goes!

Dominick Pasquale Ciampi said:

I know the bulb is the correct wattage because I went out to spencers, bought a beautiful red and blue lamp and tried the bulb in that one and it flows perfect :(

Faolynn Le Fey said:

Hi Dom. I don't have a lot of advice on the cloudiness, sometimes it clears after a while and sometimes it doesn't... but the first thing I would do is check the bulb. Make sure it matches the recommended wattage. If it gets too hot or too cold the lava will not flow right. Good luck! Awesome find!

[Dominick Pasquale Ciampi]

Yeah then definitely the right bulb. Ill give running it a few more trys. Would It need to be run more then 3 times? because thats how many times ive tryed to run it

 

Keith said:

This is the bulb you need 40W A15 Appliance.  Some of the new lava lamps take a 25 watt bulb.  But unless you are using a higher wattage bulb than 40 watts the bulb isn't the problem.  However running it for 24 hours won't help.  Suggested run time is 6 to 8 hours, or until the wax gets too hot to flow properly.

What is going on here looks like separated wax.  Does the upper blob of wax settle to the bottom when the lamp is turned off?  If so the parts should recombine after a few runs.  Try running the lamp for 4 to 6 hours daily.  Or you could set it on a timer to cycle it.  If you use a timer then run it 6 hour on and 8 hour off continually for several days.  This gives the lamp a chance to heat up and to cool completely.  This should also help with the cloudiness.  Let us know how it goes!

Dominick Pasquale Ciampi said:

I know the bulb is the correct wattage because I went out to spencers, bought a beautiful red and blue lamp and tried the bulb in that one and it flows perfect :(

Faolynn Le Fey said:

Hi Dom. I don't have a lot of advice on the cloudiness, sometimes it clears after a while and sometimes it doesn't... but the first thing I would do is check the bulb. Make sure it matches the recommended wattage. If it gets too hot or too cold the lava will not flow right. Good luck! Awesome find!

[Keith]

Is there any interaction of the two wax parts?  Or are they still separated when cold?

The cloudiness may take a few weeks to clear up with cycling.  I've had cloudy lamps take months to clear up, some never do.

[Dominick Pasquale Ciampi]

When they are cold they are still seperate

Keith said:

Is there any interaction of the two wax parts?  Or are they still separated when cold?

The cloudiness may take a few weeks to clear up with cycling.  I've had cloudy lamps take months to clear up, some never do.

[kero48]

Congrats on your first lamp even though it's cloudy. Not all finds are perfect, it's just the nature of the beast. If it doesn't clear up you can always redo the bottle or convert to glitter :)

[Dominick Pasquale Ciampi]

i put it on for the 4th time and the bottom wax started to flow. The Top wax is still stuck tho. Ill give it a bit longer I guess? Idk dont wana get rid of it or convert it because its a relic lol. More then 20 years ago that was made!

[Mr MaGoo]

If the top part does not melt and drop or the bottom part does not melt and rise to the top then you need to pop the top, very carefully.  Once the top has been gently removed, drain the lamp of master fluid, set this off to the side, you will reuse this later.  The top wax should drop and come in contact with the bottom part of wax.  So there will be just a small bit of master fluid left in bottom of your globe.  Now you can put the open globe back on the base and turn the light on and rewarm the two wax pieces together.  I have taken a long straw or wooden dowel and gently stirred them once they combine.

Take the globe off the base and let this "remixed" wax cool.  Then I take the globe and hold it at an angle and slowly, carefully, pour back in the master fluid your removed from earlier.  Don't reseal your globe yet.  Run the lamp again and see if the wax now spikes and begins to run as normal.  Once it does this then you can reseal the globe.  Either buy a pop top sealer kit or reuse you gently pried off cap and take a small hose clamp and place over your cap and gently tighten clamp down until cap is resealed on globe.  

Let us know how this worked.  Have done this with several "defunked" lamps that people have tossed or given me to fix. Good luck, if you run into an impass, please ask before you do something your not sure of.  Lot of great Gooers here to help.

[Claude J]

User a hair dryer to separate it from the globe, then lightly jossle it down if you can

(NEVER SHAKE A LAVA LAMP HOT)

If it does not settle to the bottom, it has bubbles trapped in it

Dominick Pasquale Ciampi said:

i put it on for the 4th time and the bottom wax started to flow. The Top wax is still stuck tho. Ill give it a bit longer I guess? Idk dont wana get rid of it or convert it because its a relic lol. More then 20 years ago that was made!

[Dominick Pasquale Ciampi]

Turned it on for like the 5th time before i went to bed and woke up to this! Few more runs and we lit boys!

[Keith]

Sweet!  

Just so you know, that globe isn't cloudy, just some clear fluid lamps have a hazy look from the brightness of the bulb.  You can try a frosted bulb to see if it makes a difference.

Dominick Pasquale Ciampi said:

Turned it on for like the 5th time before i went to bed and woke up to this! Few more runs and we lit boys!