Colossus Lamps available!

[Charlie]

Found oozinggoo.com when I was looking for ways to repair the Grande I picked up at CostCo a few years ago.  It's one of the Chinese made ones that has gone extremely cloudy and ceased to flow (going to try replacing the fluid one of these weekends). 

It was here that I found out about really big Lava lamps.  I was bowled over by videos of the  Colossus lamps and really want to see if I could get one, I couldn't find them available anywhere so I wrote LavaLite.  I wanted to let this group know what I got this from Lava Lite today:

We have a special promo on the Colossus for serious buyers.   This will be the last time the Colossus will be seen.

Please see attached promo sheet with pricing included.

If you are interested please contact on my direct line at 630-496-6663.

 

Best regards,

 

Susan Michaels

Customer Service Representative

LAVA LITE

630-496-6663 direct line

[e-mail]

www.lavalite.com

Sadly these prices are outside of my discretionary funds, even though they include shipping.  I post it in hopes that someone here may be interested.

 

[Loren]

Man...I'm sorry, Ben. :( I hope your lamp gets its act together!

[Bridget T]

That below is the entire problem in a nutshell.  You would hope more expensive lamps would run better than the cheap ones.

I'm 50% for running good, hopefully my replacement clear/red will behave as well as my purple/pink.

Ben said:

 I've gotten better performance from a $20 lamp at Spencers.  :-(

[Ben]

Bridget, 

When did you get "approved" for a red/clear replacement? I was wondering if that was an option for me but I don't know if they even have any globes left at all at this point.  

Critter, I'll wait to see what Susan says and I'll try the different bulb.  Were you trying to solve the same problem?  Does anyone know what exactly the difference in bulbs is that would make it run better with the Lowes bulb?  

Bridget T said:

That below is the entire problem in a nutshell.  You would hope more expensive lamps would run better than the cheap ones.

I'm 50% for running good, hopefully my replacement clear/red will behave as well as my purple/pink.

Ben said:

 I've gotten better performance from a $20 lamp at Spencers.  :-(

[Bridget T]

I was one of the first to complain, so I am getting a replacement.  They shipped me the wrong color initially, so I am finally getting the correct one.

Susan says she is going to issue a ticket to pick my p/y up to take back to study, so maybe it'll serve as the research what's wrong example globe.  I can get it to flow for a few hours, but it takes fiddling and watching.  My p/p flows without having to tweak it much at all except for my preference for snakes vs blobs, just turned it off after a 2 week run.  That's what they should all be capable of in my opinion.

Does anyone know if the cord dimmers we use on the smaller lamps would provide a more fine tuned control over the one installed in the colossus?  I'm thinking of experimenting to see what happens, but only with the p/y, I'm not touching the settings on my p/p.

[Kirk]

Just a quick update...

Y/P has been flowing nicely for 2 days now on 32-33 minute setting.  I'll keep running it and trying to push the dimmer a little higher.

P/P flows slowly for many hours at a time, but I can't push it over 25 minutes or it gets stuck.  If it gets stuck, I turn it off for 20 minutes and then back on (the Loren fix).  I'll keep running it until it flows like my Y/P.

R/C continues to flow perfectly from day one.  I love it, and I hope my other two will be just as nice in a few more weeks.

I'm just wondering why most/all of the Y/Ps get stuck, and only one or two of the other colors are getting stuck?  I think that running them slowly corrects the problem, but why do some of them work great from day one?  What's the common denominator for the ones that get stuck?

Y/P cap:

21H

10032901

C

P/P cap:

21H

10032901

B

R/C cap:

10H

10010901

C

[Don Souliere]

I dont think u need to wait 20 min to get flow going again. I wait 5 min tops then go 10% less then its fine again. When your lamp gets stuck iits also because the room its in prob got hotter.

I also unplug the unit, I want the unit to last as long as possible rather than use the dimmer and it wears out.

[Ben]

I had great flow for the first two days as well. Then I went on vacation and when I came back it hasn't been the same. It's bizarre. I like fiddling with pet projects, but come ON, we all have a life outside of Lava Lamps... Don't we? I like to pretend I do, anyway! LOL



Critter said:

Ben,

Yes I was fighting the exact problem you are. My P/Y was a nightmare and I was given a replacement globe a P/P. The first run on the P/P was amazing and I ran it for at least 24 hours. I did its second run yesterday and struggled to get it to flow, I did get it flowing again after a lot of adjusting and it is flowing right now as I write this and it has been on for 34 hours.

[Ben]

Don, I agree about waiting 5 minutes. It doesn't take very long to break out of the SSBS (Spinning Stuck Blob Stage). Mine will snap out of it quick enough but goes right back eventually. FYI my room temp is a constant 70 degrees until overnight when it cools to 65.

Don Souliere said:

I dont think u need to wait 20 min to get flow going again. I wait 5 min tops then go 10% less then its fine again. When your lamp gets stuck iits also because the room its in prob got hotter.

I also unplug the unit, I want the unit to last as long as possible rather than use the dimmer and it wears out.

[Ben]

Kirk,
When you run your yellow/purple at 25 minutes, what does the flow look like? Mine is sort of stable at that setting but all I get is the dreaded "collapsing spiral turd" that someone else so eloquently called it (perfect description, btw). It's a lazy, semi-glazed-over protuberance that never does much other than stand there, undulate, and fall down on itself. If I dare heat it up more than that... POOF! Stuck Spinning Blob Stage. Game over.



Kirk said:

Just a quick update...

Y/P has been flowing nicely for 2 days now on 32-33 minute setting.  I'll keep running it and trying to push the dimmer a little higher.

P/P flows slowly for many hours at a time, but I can't push it over 25 minutes or it gets stuck.  If it gets stuck, I turn it off for 20 minutes and then back on (the Loren fix).  I'll keep running it until it flows like my Y/P.

R/C continues to flow perfectly from day one.  I love it, and I hope my other two will be just as nice in a few more weeks.

I'm just wondering why most/all of the Y/Ps get stuck, and only one or two of the other colors are getting stuck?  I think that running them slowly corrects the problem, but why do some of them work great from day one?  What's the common denominator for the ones that get stuck?

Y/P cap:

21H

10032901

C

P/P cap:

21H

10032901

B

R/C cap:

10H

10010901

C

[Ben]

Speak of the devil: a Collapsing Spiral Spinning Turd as I speak:

[Kirk]

Ben - yes, my P/P at 25 minutes is not ideal flow.  It's slow with collapsing turds.  Any faster/hotter, and it gets stuck.

My Y/P used to have the same problem -- if I tried to heat it up to produce great flow, it would only last an hour or two before getting stuck.  After 4-5 weeks of slow flow, my Y/P has definitely improved.  It now flows really well for days at a time.

I think the P/P will make the same improvement -- it'll just take time.

[Bridget T]

Initial test concluded, the dimmers we use on the smaller lamps to prevent overheating provide much finer control on the colossus.  So much finer that I still haven't gotten the y/p I'm testing it on to reach flowing stage yet, but I'm only increasing the heat a smidge at a time.  I"m slowly working up to a sweeter spot, I hope.

So, for those that don't like the factory dimmer, try one of the lamp cord ones to see if you get better results.