Need advice, Please, on a Midnight Century

I'll try to cut to the chase, but I have several issues with this lovely lamp, so this is lengthy. When received, the Postal Service had done the football playing thing with this lamp, and the wax was turned upside down with the coil on top. I gently tilted it until it flipped back over into position. Upon starting, it had a stuck flow, just a large dome, so I removed the provided 40 watt bulb, and replaced it with a 60 watt, removed the reflector at the same time, and put the lamp on a dimmer.

Now it appears the globe is sitting "on" the bulb, it was when I got it, and even with the reflector removed it still is. I have a Wizard that does that too, but the Century socket holder cannot be bent down like the Wizard.

The lamp flows well now, liquid clear initially, but after a couple of hours, the water clouds up and the wax looks grainy and has a few bubbles, especially at the top. A blob always stays in the top with bubbles in it, despite the dimmer.

When first turned on, it spikes beautifully, but only up "one" side and when it does, that side rises with the spikes and tilts the unheated part of the wax blob and shows the coil. The unmelted top wax takes forever to melt, but when it does, the coil drops back in place. But that hard to melt 3/4" top part of wax stays a nearly black color, instead of a lighter purple like the wax that was on the bottom and melted first. Even after running, I have two colors of wax. I don't know how to get it from sitting on the bulb, and am not sure I should have removed the reflector, but it does not seem to make a difference.

Is the wax fried? Am I doing something wrong? This is a beautiful lamp, and has a bottle that was one of the last made in the USA from what I read on here. I don't dare goo kit it. It is a clear/purple 52 oz. made in 2002. If I turn the dimmer down any more, I might as well put the 40 watt bulb back in and then it will have a big dome, stuck flow and nothing more. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by Keith on May 6, 2013 at 11:30pm

Ok, I was curious if it was really a purple. The black wax #16 fades to a different shade of purple. I agree with Kirk that the wax needs boiled to recombine (since you have already tried cycling it). You might also need to redo the water to get it to flow properly, but one step at a time. :)

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Permalink Reply by Marley's Ghost on May 6, 2013 at 11:40pm

Baby steps at that, Keith!!! :-) Although my MSR Autoflow Gravity filter will be here tomorrow! I can't wait to try filtering a lamp! That might be an EEKKKK. lol