Reviving a blue and white 1995 aristocrate

I recently dug out my lava lamp after about 10 years in the attic. It was in a pretty sorry state, and not knowing any better, I did the exact wrong things. Then I found this website and started following the advice I found. Thankfully I am on my way to a full recovery.

Mistakes:

At first the wax was all stuck to the sides and mucked up. I turned it on and after it got a little warm I started swirling it trying to get the wax off of the sides. Then once it was good and hot I really shook it up. As you can guess I emulsified all the wax.

What seemed to work:

I ran it long enough that it completely warmed up and then shut it off and let it completely cool down. Afterward I found it real interesting that about half of the wax had dried at the top and the other half solidified at the bottom.

I next turned it on and when it got a little warm I gently spun the glass by the cap. The wax seemed to stay still as the glass spun around it. As some of the fluid got in between the glass and wax, the plug became dislodged and began to sink. So I turn it off and let it cool down.

Now that all of the wax was at the bottom I turned it on just long enough to melt the wax. Before it sent a bubble of wax to the top I shut it off again. After doing this a few times the wax all seemed to be melted together. I decided to give it a go and the goo finally appeared to be flowing normally.

The next issue is that the fluid was milky in appearance. After a few days of 8 hours on and 8 hours off I *think* it is clearing up. I have read that it might take 2 weeks so I will stick with it.

Remaining issue:

Once the lamp is completely warmed up I have noticed 8 to 10 medium to small bubbles of wax loitering at the top for a rather long time and not really flowing up and down. My guess is that the goo is pretty hot and is taking a while to cool off before it falls. The main problem I have with this is that the bubbles take on a yellowish color from the very top of the bottle. Since it only does this after it has been running for a good while my guess is it is running a little hotter than it should be.

Questions:

Does it matter if the 40 watt appliance bulb is clear or soft white?

Is there anything I can try to keep it from getting too hot?

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Permalink Reply by Keith on May 21, 2012 at 10:55am

I think you are on the right track and your current assessment is correct, the wax is a little too hot. Definitely try a frosted/soft white bulb. Also, the ambient room temperature may be to warm, (optimal room temp is 68 to 74 degrees F). You might try running a fan to move heat away from the globe. If nothing else works you can get a lamp dimmer to adjust the heat, this also affects the light output so your lamp won't be as bright.

It might take longer than 2 weeks for the globe to clear, sometimes it can take months. Clear bulbs can make the water look hazy and can give the white wax a more yellow tone.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Gill on May 21, 2012 at 1:57pm

Keith and James are right about ways of dealing with the overheat issue.

About the cloudyness really the thing to do is to run it every day for about 8 hours at a time and this should help it clear up .If there is no change or little change then you could try filtering it using a camping water filter - there have been mixed results with cheap ones but the best one to use is a MSR filter. If you do decided to do this make sure there is no carbon filter in it as this will take out some nesersary chemicals in the water - thus changing its flow.