Messed up fluidium - advice appreciated

[Ben Begbie]

Hello good people.

I was hoping you could give some input this sad tale - I had an opal fluidium for sale on ebay (see my thread https://oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topics/shameless-plugging-of-a-opa...).

The fluid wasn't absolutely clear (as with a 10-12 year old lamp) but was pretty clear, like a glass of water with a tiny drop of milk in it.  I think you can see from the photos that you can see through it easily.  I cooled it down slowly before postage to make one solid piece of wax at the bottom, so it wouldn't suffer the shakes too much.

Long story short - buyer complains about condition, I accept the return.  What I got back is the attached pic.  The fluid is really milky, slight leak, the wax is in chunks and small pieces. 

Now I'll try and claim with the courier, but the fact the wax is in tiny pieces makes me wonder how this can happen just from shaking in a van.

Any ideas about the cause would be great; any advice whether it a write off or not is even better (haven't run it yet, as wasn't sure what to do with it).

Thanks!

[Critter]

You could filter the fluid and then try cycling the lamp through run and cool cycles.

[Ben Begbie]

Thanks Critter - any alternatives to the suggested expensive ceramic filter? I was looking at the mini ceramic filters but they seem to have active charcoal beds, which this site advises against.

If anyone has ideas what causes the wax to disintegrate I'd also appreciate it.

[Mel]

Maybe the buyer had it on, never let the wax form back to solid or the bottle cool down, resulting in the wax becoming solid pieces whilst in transit back to you? It is possible to do a fluid change... but very time consuming in finding the correct chemical balance. Turn back on and leave to cool for 24 hours. It is possible to empty the fluid out and sell it as an empty bottle that needs re-filled. It will get bought.... Opals are very rare and collectable.

[Critter]

No, no alternative to the ceramic filters that I know of.... You could try a solid month of eight hour on and eight hour off cycles. I have a blue blue Astro that was like that after shipping and cycling fixed it 100 percent. It is now crystal clear and flows like a champ.

[Ben Begbie]

Thanks both, appreciate the feedback

[Ben Begbie]

Hi, no I haven't had time. I work in Namibia a lot so its sitting at home in Brum while I'm over here...