Rejuvenate Fluidium after 2 years

[squibn]

Hi all,

Just joined this site, and I'm hoping someone will be able to help me out!

I've got a Fluidium lamp (the one with the Ross Lovegrove logo on the front). It hasn't been used for over two years. This was due to the lava basically not warming up and staying down the bottom of the bottle, then when the bulb blew I just put it into storage.

I now want to bring it back to life!! But when I looked at it it, seems to have gone a little cloudy. I've search the forum and this seems to happen to some of lamps?

So my question(s) is this...

What do I need to do to restore it...

1) Where can I get a bulb from (I'm in the UK). Mathmos want £9 (after postage)...and this seemed a little steep? I have in the past bought standard one from a supermarket, but I think they over heat as they seem to blow really, really easily!

2) Is there a reason why the lava has stopped heating up?? (I understand that this could be for several reasons, but not sure how to find out which one it is!)

3) Is the clouding a problem? Or should it disperse once heated up?

Apologies if I'm asking alot of questions, but I've no idea about these things, and thought this would be the perfect place to ask!:)

Thanks,

Squibn

[Tim Gill]

The lava may not be heating up for a number of reasons - it may not get hot enough, the wax is dead, its been sitting around a while and needs braking in.

The clouding is likely to go after some constant use.

I think that the problem is that the fludium was using a 30w astro baby bulb and that's not enough so I would recommend buying the halogen bulb from Mathmos and see how that goes.

[Modulo '70]

I tried a 40 watt 'golf ball' bulb on my reluctant opal coloured fluidium and it worked nicely.

[squibn]

Won't these just overheat and blow easily? Is there something special about the one from mathmos that I should be aware of?

ALPHA CENTAURI of the LAVAERIONS said:

I tried a 40 watt 'golf ball' bulb on my reluctant opal coloured fluidium and it worked nicely.

[Tim Gill]

I havent had my Mathmos brought bulb blow easley - they are halagon and last for ages. 

Yes they do overheat quickly with the halagon bulbs - this can be delt with by using a dimmer

[squibn]

Update... Recieved my Halogen bulbs from Mathmos yesterday....I'm happy to say that these bulbs seem to do a great job of heating my wax, they seem a lot more powerful than the other bulbs I've been using!

The clouding still seems to be a major problem though??...But I'm hoping (like what has already been suggested) this will sort itself out after some prolonged usage! Is there anything I can do to aid this? And at which point do I need to start thinking of other ways to sort the problem...I must admit I'm not very confident that it will sort itself out!:(

[Mr MaGoo]

I have read on several threads on here..squibn, that if this is a mathmos lamp, the cloudiness won't go away.  But, on the flip side of that, have also heard that you can filter the master fluid and get a good result too.  Hope this helps.  Sure others will chime in with more experience than I.  Glad to hear flow is working out with new bulbs though!  :)

[squibn]

Thanks Mr MaGoo...I too have read the threads, although I wasn't sure if these were applicable to my situation? I saw the thread about filtering the master fluid but it sounded like I would need to buy in all sorts of soaps and stuff and filtering kits and I really don't want to be spending money on something that either wont work or might screw the lava up!

Mr MaGoo said:

I have read on several threads on here..squibn, that if this is a mathmos lamp, the cloudiness won't go away.  But, on the flip side of that, have also heard that you can filter the master fluid and get a good result too.  Hope this helps.  Sure others will chime in with more experience than I.  Glad to hear flow is working out with new bulbs though!  :)

[EngineerSkinny]

It never clears up with fluidiums from my experience. Pumping is the only way.

Mr MaGoo said:

I have read on several threads on here..squibn, that if this is a mathmos lamp, the cloudiness won't go away.  But, on the flip side of that, have also heard that you can filter the master fluid and get a good result too.  Hope this helps.  Sure others will chime in with more experience than I.  Glad to hear flow is working out with new bulbs though!  :)

[squibn]

Well if pumping is the only way wouldn't it be cheaper for me to just buy a replacement bottle? A friend of mine suggested I just buy a bottle of distilled water, empty the old cloudy water out, give it a wash out then add the new water in. Bear in mind I know nothing about this stuff is he talking sense? Or is there far more to it than that?...I feel that there must be if people are suggesting pumps and stuff??!!;P

[Tim Gill]

- Filtering it with a decent MSR filter does cost as the cost of the filter kit is about 60 quid
- You could replace the water using DI water and Epsom salts - this could work and it would be cheap
- Another option could be to just buy a replacement bottle and but the cloudy one on ebay to recipe a bit of cash.

[matt01165]

problem with the msr filter and these smaller lamps is that some fluid gets lost in the thing. while it is cold just use an ordinary 2 stage water filter with the pitcher then reheat it a bit before replacing the cap .

[squibn]

Think I might try the cheaper method using the DI water and epsom salts...is there a "how to" on here? Knowing me I'll screw it up!!;P

Tim Gill said:

- Filtering it with a decent MSR filter does cost as the cost of the filter kit is about 60 quid
- You could replace the water using DI water and Epsom salts - this could work and it would be cheap
- Another option could be to just buy a replacement bottle and but the cloudy one on ebay to recipe a bit of cash.