My new 40 year old Century!

[ChuckM]

I bought this Century.. it is a bit cloudy but the flow seems real nice and there are no bubbles. I plan on trying what I can to clear it. I am going to cycle first... I may try Loren's method if that doesn't work (the fog juice and glycerin method). I doubt I will take it to the filtration step since I don't want to spend a fortune on a filter... that will be my limit!

I didn't realize until it showed that it has a birthday this month. The cap says March 1974!

I started cycling and only realized after a few hours that the bulb that came with it is 60W. I shut it off and will swap in a 40W.

We shall see!

[ChuckM]

...and the other photo

[Keith]

Looks good!  Give it time and there is a good chance that it will clear.

I have a blue/white silver century that will only run on a 60 watt bulb, although it does run hot after a few hours.  It will not run on a 40 watt, just shoots up little balls of goo.

[Brad]

nice lamp!  i agree with keith - let it run, and it should clear up.

[Kempton]

Even if it doesn't clear i would leave original fluid. A 40 year old lamp with blue fluid that isnt ruined is very hard to come by.

[Snicks]

I concur. If it ain't broke... for the love of God leave it alone! It's a fine specimen as is, although I would suggest a frosted 40 watt bulb.
 
Kempton said:

Even if it doesn't clear i would leave original fluid. A 40 year old lamp with blue fluid that isnt ruined is very hard to come by.

[Blind Faith]

Great lamp one of my favorite models, I doubt a China counterpart would last this long.

[ChuckM]

Oh... I would feel guilty doing anything to the lamp now... but... I also don't want a cloudy lamp. I am cycling this on a timer at work and will see if it starts to clear over the coming week or two or if it stays the same. IF it doesn't clear, I will have to decide whether I would try to replace just the liquid following Loren's fog juice and glycerin approach (his lamp was from the same year) or even offer it for a trade to someone who has a completely cloudy early 1970s Century globe that is otherwise great quality glass (i.e., then I would goo kit their globe). I don't know... I really like the lava flow since it is different but I can't quite comprehend keeping the original liquid if it is cloudy... the photo looks better than reality, but clearly some folks have had lamps that are completely opaque.

I did swap in a frosted 40W appliance bulb. This is my first century so I put the bulb in that came with it from the seller and then looked on here to double-check... glad I did since that is when I realized it was the wrong wattage. I also don't like the pinhole projecting the filament on to the wall...looks weird. I do think that the frosted bulb creates a diffused light that actually makes the cloudiness worse rather than the point-source of the filament which seems to highlight the lava a bit more.

[Kempton]

It will take longer than a few weeks to clear. I have my lamp of the same color from a few years earlier cycling and its been about a month and its only a little better. but it was opaque. Yours should clear in two months. If not after two months looks at before and after and if it is getting better keep going. If not you could kit it. 

[ChuckM]

Well, I botched this thing. It cleared up, but was soooo dark it was really not that interesting. I tried to add more contrast by adding some wax dye. It was not better. I tried to replace the fluid with fog machine juice, but that didn't do anything at all... finally, I realized I had wrecked the wax. I really felt bad about it, the flow was good, but it was just not enjoyable for me.

I did a GooKit on this. At first it just wasn't working. I do realize now that the recommended surf for GooKits seems to be way off lately, at least in my hands. I used the recommended amount for a 52oz globe (about 16-17 mL) and the thing would just dome and start to rise. I cycled for days. Finally, I decided to add another 6 mL of surf and the attached photo shows the result. I think I am going to leave this as clear/white.

[ChuckM]

The thing is looking nice... I hope it stays this way since it is flowing better than I would have hoped!

[Mmm...]

That's gorgeous! Nice work!

[ChuckM]

I now have the globe back on the original 1974 Century base. After cycling for several days, I am very happy with the outcome. I have no regrets dumping the original. I now really know that the magic of the GooKit starts at 52 ounces. The flow has a great cycle…It goes from snake, to blobs, to snake blobs… back to snake. This full minute video seems to be a good representation of how it works. 

One thing I have noticed. The latest batch of surf seems to have some fuzzy gunk in it. The lamp looked great, but I could see crud. I know from topping it off the last time, that I avoided this by putting premixed surf/water through a clean coffee filter (I use the V-shaped brown paper cone). Anyway, this video was shot after I actually drained the contents through a coffee filter into an empty clean deionized water jug. I then carefully rinsed the wax plug and bottle with a little deionized water (just a little gently sloshed around a couple times). Then, I carefully poured the filtered liquid back into the lamp. Runs great and no more fuzzy crud. This is definitely from the surf and only this latest batch. I ran it for days thinking it might be stuff that would dissolve… it never did so I filtered it.