1974 lamp - weird flow

[Erin]

I got this 1974 Century a few days ago. Lava is really mottled looking. When it flows, it usually has a big chunk at the top, or the longer if flows, big blobs hang out towards the bottom. It moves...but oddly. The lava looks really hole-y and spackled. And, after 6-7 hours running, I ended up with this today:

It just hovered there.

Any thoughts? I know the lamp is old, but is there something else going on here? I'm using a 40W bulb.

I did notice my clear/yellow 52 oz. globe (next to this lamp in the pic) does some weird stuff after several hours, too. Do these lamps just flow differently than 32 oz-ers?

Thanks in advance for any help you might have to offer. Also, if anyone knows what color combo this was supposed to be, let me know! Right now it's light blue with light minty-green lava. An original blue/green?

[matt01165]

It looks overheated.try a dimmer switch. These older lamps usually heat up faster and have short run times. If you run them hot too long they will cloud up.

[Erin]

Really? I wouldn't have guessed that. Thanks for the tip! How does a coil go bad? I notice it's not corroded or anything.

[Erin]

This thing seems to take FOREVER to get going.

[Erin]

Ah ha. Thank you so much for the advice. Being that this is a 1974 lamp, I have no idea how to get into this. How does the lid come off? It doesn't seem to unscrew.

Thanks Bohdan. I appreciate the help. I'd love to save this lamp.

[Keith]

They have a screw top and can be very hard to unscrew. Don't use tools or you will probably break the cap.

[Erin]

Huh, so they *do* unscrew. I'll give it a shot this evening.

[Erin]

Oooh, I bet that IS a cool color. I'd love to have it flowing properly.

[LampHead]

Before making any repairs make sure your using a frosted bulb, clears run too hot. Im really surprised its overheating, the Century bases are the coolest running. If you have another 52oz base try running the globe in that just to see what it does.


LampHead

[Erin]

I will check into that. Thanks Jim! It does take a looooong time for this thing to get going. I have a 52 oz. clear/yellow sitting next to it and it gets going way before the Century does.

[Erin]

Well, it looks like the heat ring is missing (thanks Autumn!). Anyone have a spare they'd want to sell? ;) Otherwise, I'm going the tinfoil route.

It's weird, the lamp flows ok for the first few hours, but then 2+ hours in, the lava is in a big chunk at the top, then 4+ hours in, there are big blobs of lava hanging out in the middle (like above). The lava seems to start out looking nice, but then it gets all hole-y looking and looks like it has little flakes of something in it. It's a weird lamp, for sure.

[Erin]

Here it is after about two hours (and closeup of lava):

[Erin]

Yeah, if it'd fit, I'd like to try one. You're the 2nd person that's said it didn't come with a ring, so obviously I'm not sure. How much would you want to sell one for?