Wax stuck at the top

Hey there, I decided to fire up my lava lamp that's been hidden in the deep corners of my room for a couple years. So, I turned it on and let it do it's thing for a couple hours. To my surprise the wax didn't fall down once it made it's way up, most of the wax just floated up and sat there while a little amount of wax was on the bottom.

I turned it off and went to bed, next morning the wax was still stuck at the top of the part and it won't come down even after the lamp warms up and it becomes fluid.

Pictures:
Top of the lamp after it warmed up and became liquid:
Some weird stuff started forming from underneath the wax but disappeared later.

Bigger picture of the top:
Bottom of the lamp:
The wax on the bottom is very transparent and weird looking.

Any suggestions on this?

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Permalink Reply by Mr MaGoo on March 9, 2015 at 12:09pm

Bro, that lamp looks like it has seen its better days. Looks as if there is sticking to the glass, cloudy and that floater at top not good signs. You could pop the top, empty most of the fluid into a container save for refill. Then get the lava to the bottom with little master fluid in it re-warm it so it attaches to the coil. Let it cool then add the master fluid back into the globe and restart it and see what it does. But realistically, looks like a goo kit project to me, if you like the globe and base style of said lamp. Good luck either way and keep us posted!

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Permalink Reply by Artur on March 9, 2015 at 12:20pm

Yeah, the lamp is dirty as fuck. Might need to clean it as well ;) I'll try to empty the bottle and re-heat the waxes back together someday this week. I'll let you know what happens when all is done :)

Mr MaGoo said:

Bro, that lamp looks like it has seen its better days. Looks as if there is sticking to the glass, cloudy and that floater at top not good signs. You could pop the top, empty most of the fluid into a container save for refill. Then get the lava to the bottom with little master fluid in it re-warm it so it attaches to the coil. Let it cool then add the master fluid back into the globe and restart it and see what it does. But realistically, looks like a goo kit project to me, if you like the globe and base style of said lamp. Good luck either way and keep us posted!

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Permalink Reply by VOXul on March 9, 2015 at 12:57pm

This happened to my Jet. Was an easy fix for a screw top vessel. Drain almost all of the fluid from the lamp into a container for later, leave a little bit in the lamp as a simmer fluid but not too much that it allows that material to stay out of reach from the wax at the bottom. Once all the fluid is out, run the lamp for a while so that the wax can recombine, the stuff up top is all of the light material in the wax, it will not run without that and it will forever be stuck up there without a good churn mix. Don't combine it with any kind of stir stick or spoon, let the heat do it for you. Once you see that all of that semi clear material has recombined with the wax, fill it back up with the fluid you removed and it should be back in action!

EDIT: Basically what MrMagoo said, haha. It can be fixed and with emptying the fluid the glass will heat up and cause all of the sticking wax to dribble down to the bottom. Once it is cooled fill it back up and hopefully the master fluid will re-coat the glass and prevent the wax from sticking again.

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Permalink Reply by Brad on March 9, 2015 at 2:04pm

i did this before and it helped get the wax down from the top. heat the lamp until the wax is liquid, then turn the globe on the top and let it cool upside down. when the wax hardens, turn the globe back over and heat it. it may not work in your case since it seems like you have some wax sticking to the sides as well, but it's worth a shot!