Sigh... Shaken lamp

[GodSponge]

Hi everyone. I have a Lava Lite lava lamp. Red wax, clear liquid. Some time ago someone knocked my lamp on the floor and it got terribly shaken. I promptly turned it off and left it to settle. Most, if not all, of the little globs settled to the bottom, but when I turned it back on a few days later, it would act like it was going to flow, but the glob never separated from the main one. It would go up toward the top and then come back down without separating. This made me quite sad, so I left it for several years without use. Now I've gotten it back out, and it still seems to do the same thing when I turn it on. Any ideas on what can be done, or is there anything at all that I can do? I would just buy a new one, but spencer seems to only have 3 colors right now(none of which I like). I thought about replacing the liquid and/or wax in it using some of the info on this site, but I've never done it before and don't want to spend a lot.

[GodSponge]

Oh, the bulb is frosted and there is a glob that sticks to the top when it is turned on if that makes any difference.

[Kris]

You can try using a clear 40w bulb instead of a frosted one to get it started. Also, you want to make sure the coil inside is on the bottom and the wax is inside of it/touching it. If the wax is not touching it but hovering over it, gently pull the bottle out and place it on a flat surface. Grab the top of the bottle so the cap part is pressed against the palm of your hand and gently twist the bottle back and forth as if you were turning a door knob but going back and forth. Do this quickly but not crazy. This will join the wax back to the coil.

See if that fixes your issue.

[GodSponge]

Well I got a clear 40 W bulb. I'm trying it now. I'll let you know in about 5 hrs. lol

[GodSponge]

Well, I tried the clear bulb and the towel. It just made all of the wax move to the top. After I let it cool and turned it back on, it just all floats in a big glob near the bottom again.

[GodSponge]

when it's cooled down, it does. I may just have to give up on that one. I just got a new 52 oz from Lava Lite. Same colors, but this one is cloudy! I'm just having no luck with my lamps lately :(

[Kris]

Sounds like a bad coil. Can be fixed - but might not be something you want to do. You call return the lamp or call Lava World and have them send you a replacement.

Maybe when they get enough calls and complaints they might fix their crap. Then again - I have a better chance winning the lottery :)

[GodSponge]

Well, I'm returning my new one. hopefully my replacement will be ok.

I guess I'm gonna use my old one for my custom lamp I always wanted to try to make.

[Middy]

I replaced the liquid in my 2001 yellow/clear lamp last year. I knocked it over when it was on too, d'oh! I searched the web but didn't find the info that it would probably settle out with time, and I popped the top and poured it out... It took two tries to get a new liquid to work alright. In the process, I ended up removing some wax from the lava. I don't know if that made a difference in the end, but now my formerly mostly opaque yellow lava is now mostly translucent with several bubbles suspended in it. It's kind of a cool look, but the lava doesn't flow like it once did. It mostly hovers at the top or at the bottom and travels too quickly between the two.

Oh well. It still lights up a dark corner of my desk nicely. Let us know how your experimentation goes.

[GodSponge]

Well my second new lava lamp was cloudy also, but not nearly as bad as the first one. I let it run a few times and it has mostly cleared out.

I haven't tried anything on my old one though. I'm still trying to figure out, once i pop the top, how to get it back on, or something to replace it.

[Middy]

Once I popped the top on my lamp, I replaced it with a plastic cap from a Martinelli's apple cider bottle. It's nice and tight, the perfect size for my 32 oz lamp. I don't know if the neck size on the 52 oz lamp is the same though, and didn't notice if you said which size lamp you have.

[GodSponge]

I realize it's been a very long time since I updated this thread, but I still to this day can't figure out how to make my 52 oz lava lamp get it's wax from the bottom of the lamp. It just stays in a ball in the bottom like my other lamp did. I've tried different bulbs, and even plugging it into different outlets. Nothing works.

On the plus side, my wife got me a new lamp and it works great!