running temp of globes

[Phil Harris]

i purchased a temperature gun from home depot today to enable me to measure the temperature of the lava lamps as they run in order to see if i can nail down a specific temp they should be run at for maximum flow (however that is defined...).

i let my 52 oz neons, a few of the 20 oz, my old hot rocks glitter lamp and two clearview run since about 9am.  I just got home with the gun so i took a quick check.

the 52 oz were running a constant 131 degree F (all four of them) and the flow was ok.  They seem to flow the best to my satisfaction about 2 1/2 hr or so after turning on.  I will take measures on how quickly they reach operating temp later.  I'll also do some direct bulb temp measures too.

the 20 oz are all on dimmers.  this is interesting.  a couple are looking very good at full power, at 128 degrees F but some, particularly my clear/orange and blue/white need to be dialed down to about 114 to stop the golf ball look and get some decent movement.  

The clearview were also running at 131 and were ok looking.  the hot rocks glitter runs at 150 degrees.

I'll be doing more specific tests later, this was the first 'hey i have this gun lets start using it' playing around  :)

the gun is this one.

[Cowmatian]

This is interesting! I have never measured temperatures but my 52 oz aristocrat doesn't get painfully hot like my 2 32 oz usa globes do. I put them on a dimmer to help deal with overheating. I think the 40 watt bulb is too hot for most 32 oz lamps, not sure why lava lite thought smaller globes needed the same amount of heat as the 52 oz ones.

[Phil Harris]

just observing the globes start up this morning, the lava seems to be liquid enough to begin to flow at around 112 degrees.  the neons are just at that temp now and i like the way they flow at this point.  i was thinking that since i have them on shelves that are enclosed how that impacts the behaviour as opposed to a lamp by itself in the open.  i'll have to look at that too.

im not sure i can get a good 'naked' bulb temp, the guage rocketed to over 400 deg!  that cant be right.

[Carol]

That is really interesting!!!  I would love to see what my 52 oz goo-kitted lamps need to be happy because I have to run them on a frosted 60 watter'er with dimmer's dialed down a tad after about 3 hours to get decent stretchy flow!!  My 2 vintage LL 32 oz'er run hot, hot, hot after around 3 hours and they also have to be dialed down with the dimmer after that.  My 20 oz is back on a 25 watter because the 40 with the dimmer was just too hot and it is between  4 other lamps that run hot (2 on each side).  Also depending on whether or not my bedroom window is open and the room is cool, depends on the running temp too I believe.  I should buy one of those.  That could be useful once one knows what actual temp the lamp performs the best at!!!

[VOXul]

I have heat gunned my 32oz globes at around 117f and grandes about 123f. Base seam temperatures hit upwards of 150f+.