(Lava Chat)

40w vs. 60w bulbs

I have a blue/white 32 oz. Lava Lite that most of the time, flows like this:

So I switched to a 60w bulb since I had one lying around. Will this be a problem? The flow is great now, but I don't want to do damage!

Thanks in advance.

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Permalink Reply by Autumn on August 9, 2010 at 8:27pm

60 watt bulbs can cause a lot of problems.
They can fade the wax.
They can leave residue on the inside of the bottle.
They can completely destroy the wax by burning it up.
They can cause the lava to get a lot of bubbles of liquid in the lava.

This is if you leave them on for too long. If you dont run them for very long I dont see anything happening. I would suggest you just run the lamp daily for a few weeks and its flow should improve.

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Permalink Reply by Erin on August 9, 2010 at 8:30pm

Ok I'll do that. I was just so impressed with how much nicer the flow is with 60w.

But I don't want to damage anything, so back a a 40w tomorrow...

Now that I think of it, I bet that's what happened to my clear/green I just bought. There's a residue on the inside of the globe and it came with a 60w bulb in it.

Thanks Autumn. :)

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Permalink Reply by Autumn on August 9, 2010 at 8:34pm

The only way to get rid of that residue is to clean it. I use a sponge paint brush taped to a hangar and wipe the inside clean with that. It comes off really easy.
I found a store that had a lot of 90's lamps that they couldnt sell for some reason(probably because they were VERY overpriced and in horrible shape). All of the lamps had the residue on the inside and the owner told me she ran them all with 60 watt bulbs. I tried to tell her thats why they were in such bad shape but she wouldnt believe me.

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Permalink Reply by Erin on August 9, 2010 at 8:41pm

Good to know! No more 60w bulbs ever again!

I'm so scared to open up one of these...but I have two that are total crap. If you use the bench capper, can you put the original cap back on them?