Muddy Giant

[Todd Miller]

I've recently acquired a mid 90's Giant and it's so murky.

Toying with different light sources, since I don't have

the correct bulb, I'm using my Variac to get it up to temp

and get some flow going. 

The darn thing looks like a bloody marry.  What I don't get

is this lava lamp was packed with EXTREME CARE and kept

upright.  It was packed and shipped very well via Fed EX. 

The pic's for the original sale showed very clear water.

I've been cycling the lamp as best as I can.  It's 250oz so

it takes at least 3-4 hours to get going.  Flow is improving a bit

with each cycle, but the water is still cloudy....

I've seen comments on Amazon, that they have been halting the

sales/shipments of the "Grandes" do to customers receiving cloudy

units brand new.

Regardless if this is a shipping issue or not, how do we fix ?

My question is this;

To refill the lamp or filter ?

An MSR filter costs between $70-$90 on Ebay.  From what I've

read, this is a good filter/pump, but the number of strokes to do a

a liter is 70-80 strokes.   250oz = 7.3 liters.  @ 70 strokes per liter

that's 511 strokes.  I know we have to subtract for the lava mass, but

were still talking 100's of stokes.  I can see pump failure, filter clogging

and extreme cramping of my hand to do this.

Wouldn't be easier to dump out the water and replace it with some

DI water, a few drops of dish soap and play with the salt ?

Oh, and Merry Christmas !!!!

 

[Todd Miller]

With the help of the Old Lady (term of endearment) we filtered this Giant with an

MSR gravity filter.  The result was the water is much clearer than before.

Unfortunately the staining inside the vessel remains, despite cleaning it with HOT

water and soap + a scrub brush.  Perhaps it's a mineral stain and I should've used

a bit of CLR or Lime away. 

We strained the wax with a screen colander and caught some black chunks, but

not enough.  There were smaller black flakes and some fine dandruff sized white

stuff that still is in the wax.  I may be able to remove the black stuff by filtering it

with a finer screen, but nothing will get rid of the white stuff, it's too fine.  Most of

the crap in the wax is only noticeable if you have your nose right up to the glass.

None the less the wax is contaminated...

I finally found the correct bulb, however it flows better with the voltage cranked up to

145vac on the variac.  At a 122vac (mains voltage) the lamp is very sluggish.

How long does it take for your "Giant' to warm up ?

Perhaps the lamp would be a good candidate for a gookit.

[Joanne]

If that is how it moves DONT change it . that is wonderful flow !

[Rodrigo]

I would NOT gookit a giant..

[Marley's Ghost]

Glad that MSR Gravity filter worked for you, Todd.   If you end up filtering it, try pantyhose.

[Kirk]

Good job!  You're  going to have that Giant looking good as new.  I'm glad it landed in such capable hands!

[Marley's Ghost]

Todd, I should have made myself clear that I meant if you re-filtered the "wax" to try pantyhose.   That MSR filter works great on the liquid, as you found out.   But that gunk in the wax might get caught up in pantyhose.
 
Marley's Ghost said:

Glad that MSR Gravity filter worked for you, Todd.   If you end up filtering it, try pantyhose.

[Todd Miller]

I am somewhat happy with how this turned out, but I'm a bit of a

perfectionist, and must clean the stain inside the vessel.  It shows

too much.  I could drain it again, clean the glass really good and

refill.  I may try to strain the wax with a finer screen or pantyhose.

Run time on this lamp is over ten hours now, re flowing the wax to get rid

of small air pockets in the wax.   I've been varying the voltage from 122-145vac

to get things going and it's working....  The glass has to be crystal if you know

what I mean...

[Marley's Ghost]

I know exactly what you mean,  I have OCD about my lamps too.........but you've really done an amazing job on it so far.   Now just for that haze on the inside and gunk in the wax!!!    You're almost there, great job, Todd.

Edit:   I think it was Jus who filtered the goo in one or more of her lamps with "two layers" of panyhose, Todd.

[Marley's Ghost]

PanTyhose, sorry........OCD about typos too....    Although I say it like I misspelled it.  ;-)
 
Marley's Ghost said:

I know exactly what you mean,  I have OCD about my lamps too.........but you've really done an amazing job on it so far.   Now just for that haze on the inside and gunk in the wax!!!    You're almost there, great job, Todd.

Edit:   I think it was Jus who filtered the goo in one or more of her lamps with "two layers" of panyhose, Todd.

[Todd Miller]

Over the weekend I worked on another muddy Giant, a blue one.

This lamp also had the same sealing technique of using an O ring,

some kind of caulk, the cap with a zip tie and silicone self sealing

tape.

From what I have seen on Giants (on the internet) there is no mention

of this caulk, just the cap, O ring, zip tie and shrink tubing.  Date code

on one of my lamps is 1995.

The caulk is nasty and has degraded over time, falling into the lamp.

I suspect this is what made my two lamps cloudy.

They look so much better after filtering.  I used an MSR Gravity Flow

filter system and after doing two of these Giants, the filter is shot !

Here's the blue Giant on it's first run.