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.

 

[Jethro]

Yep, I'm crazy...I've some special plans for my old Humongo.

Phishy Lava said:

Gookit a Colossus? That would be crazy!

You'd need to find a CAULDRON to put the globe in when you melt the old wax!

[Phishy Lava]

My Colossus's first run was also, BY FAR, it's best to date. 

Ever since then, it has been acting like a jerk....overheating and whatnot. 

On Tuesday, my Norman Lamps 200w bulbs came in the mail. Now it only overheats after 24+ hours, but it stays in "volcano mode" most of the time, spitting off ugly little bubbles with a little lava attached. The most it EVER does is occasionally form a single column that rises and falls very slowly, but it eventually settles down and goes volcanic on me again.Not very exciting to watch. 

Also, has anybody discussed the Colossus's impact on our power bills yet?

I put one of those Kill-a-Watt power consumption monitors on my Colossus, and my estimate is, with the 200 watt bulb, it costs roughly $10 per month to run (at 100%). Mind you, that is calculated at 24/7 usage, so it'll obviously be less. 

It's better than what I THOUGHT it was going to cost, but it's still something to think about...

[Ben]

Phishy,

Make yours purple/yellow and its identical to mine. Same behavior, same flow, both now & then. Somewhat comforting to know in not the only one with this flow. Still waiting for my replacement... Susan said she'd ship it the week before last and it didn't ship until this week. Boo.

Phishy Lava said:

My Colossus's first run was also, BY FAR, it's best to date. 

Ever since then, it has been acting like a jerk....overheating and whatnot. 

On Tuesday, my Norman Lamps 200w bulbs came in the mail. Now it only overheats after 24+ hours, but it stays in "volcano mode" most of the time, spitting off ugly little bubbles with a little lava attached. The most it EVER does is occasionally form a single column that rises and falls very slowly, but it eventually settles down and goes volcanic on me again.Not very exciting to watch. 

Also, has anybody discussed the Colossus's impact on our power bills yet?

I put one of those Kill-a-Watt power consumption monitors on my Colossus, and my estimate is, with the 200 watt bulb, it costs roughly $10 per month to run (at 100%). Mind you, that is calculated at 24/7 usage, so it'll obviously be less. 

It's better than what I THOUGHT it was going to cost, but it's still something to think about...

[Metallica Man Trevor]

i ran mine with a 125 watt heat lamp, but still got stuck. It took longer to heat and to get stuck. but it still did

Al Chemysto said:

Susan has offered a full refund. The 200 watt bulb has made no difference. Depending on how soon she sends fedex out to pick up the lamp I might try an even lower watt bulb. Whats the next lowest wattage 175? Would that even be hot enough to get proper flow?

She said they only have blue lamps left. I really hate parting with this thing but if I'm paying $750 for this thing then it needs to work properly 100% without babysitting. I might see if she'd be willing to do a partial refund so I could gookit this thing.

This has been such a disappointing experience. I really hate giving it back

[Ben]

Well I think we can easily say we've product tested the heck out of these things. Countless bulbs in varying wattages, constant babysitting in differing environments, all with the same results. I'd say its safe that this isn't an operator error issue. There are too many of us with the exact same results to say we are doing something wrong.

That being said, if the replacement globe cures what ailes it, I'll still be happy.

[Metallica Man Trevor]

ill prob take the refund. Then buy a bunch of mathmos stuff

[Ben]

Got the replacement red/clear globe today.  All looks good so far.  But that's what I said when I got the original, too:

Nice & clear

My original purple yellow trying its best to look good... and not really pulling it off.  

temps nominal.. all systems go for launch tomorrow hopefully!

I am keeping well in mind that my purple yellow was awesome the first few runs.  I expect the same (and more) from this one!  

[Jethro]

kinda cool...perhaps the local strip club would buy it from you??

 Just kidding...seems like a surfactant issue.

Ben said:

Does anyone else's Colossus look like this? A central volcano that spits bubbly wax? I think someone else mentioned the bubbliness. When it's not busy getting overheated, too cool, or otherwise stuck, it does the Galileo thermometer act. Those bubbles hang there forever. It really makes me think that extra coil needs to come out. If its getting hot enough in the middle to allow fluid to get underneath, maybe that coil needs to not be there. I bet it's focusing too much heat on the wax in the middle, which is why mine often gets stuck after a bare spot develops in the middle. Thoughts?

[Jethro]

Also the cost of the AC in the summer to counteract all the heat this thing puts out.

For me, the Humongo is like a pet...I tend to it, play with it, watch it anbd put it to bed at night.

Phishy Lava said:

Also, has anybody discussed the Colossus's impact on our power bills yet?

I put one of those Kill-a-Watt power consumption monitors on my Colossus, and my estimate is, with the 200 watt bulb, it costs roughly $10 per month to run (at 100%). Mind you, that is calculated at 24/7 usage, so it'll obviously be less. 

It's better than what I THOUGHT it was going to cost, but it's still something to think about...

[Phishy Lava]

Let it simmer, huh?

An interesting theory.....

[Bridget T]

I need to find the simmer point on mine, I may have to resign myself to watching hollow spikes for a few weeks.

[Ben]

So far, so good with the replacement red clear.  But this is what the purple/yellow looked like at first, too.