17" Clearview Lava Lamp not flowing

[Madscrills]

Hey everyone. So I have a 17" clearview lava lamp and it hasn't flowed right since I got it. I feel like it's not getting hot enough. Here is a picture. I'm using a r39 25 watt bulb. The same one that came with it. Any thoughts?

[Dr. WHAT?!]

A lot of those clearviews lamps had crappy globes. you can try a 40w bulb in there. Its a 32 oz globe and those usually take a 40w. Or you can dump it and get Kirk's Glitter :)

[Madscrills]

idk what a kirks glitter is haha. But I'll see if I can't find a reflective 40w bulb. Honestly, I don't think it's the globe that's the problem. I feel like the plastic doesn't help funnel the heat into the globe as well as a full metal base does. Do you have any suggestions on where to get the right bulb? 

Thanks a ton!

[Ian]

Sometimes, if the wax is not fully connecting to the spring, it will not flow at all. It will get hot enough, but still not make any movement. Is the wax fully connected and surrounding the coil? If its not, you can try gently swirling the globe when hot to try to get the wax to connect. If that doesn't work, I do not think there is any other easy solution other than returning the lamp and getting a new one.

I have had 2 clearview lamps where the wax refused to stick to the entire coil, so neither one flows. Ive tried everything to get it to reconnect, aside from opening the lamps up, and nothing.

I do have a couple of 32oz clearviews that flow just fine on their original 25 watt bulb, so I'm not sure if it would be a bulb problem or not.

[Madscrills]

Yep, coil contact is great. Here is a closeup of it along with me holding it in the air by the globe no problem with my bare hand after it's been on for a few hours. Link

[Ian]

Ah, so that's not the case then. Is the wax stuck to the glass on the bottom? It's hard to tell from the picture. It won't flow if there is too much stuck to the glass at the bottom.

[Madscrills]

You know, it does seem that it's stuck to the glass. How do you fix that? Just let it cool and swirl it?

[Dr. WHAT?!]

http://oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topics/fast-glitter-formula-discove...

[Madscrills]

Ah, nah those don't appeal to me. Thanks though :)

[Ian]

Unfortunately, once it is stuck to the glass, it is essentially not going to be able to be fixed. I have had one lamp un-stick itself, but I did nothing to help it and I honestly have no idea why it did that. I would honestly just return it and get a whole new lamp, if you are able. There are methods where you can dump everything out of the globe, clean off the wax on the inside with powerful cleaning agents, and then put everything back into the lamp. This does not always work, however, and it is very easy to mess up, so once again I would say the best bet would be to just get a whole new lamp.

[Madscrills]

Funny story. I bought 1 clearview, submitted a return, got the one you see in the images, then it didn't work either and submitted another return request and got the 50 anniversary one you see here too... I was never asked to return any of the previous lamps so I essentially got to keep them.... So I don't think I can issue another return on this guy =P. I'll try a new bulb and see if the extra heat tries to pry it from the glass. Thanks for your help! :)

[Madscrills]

Okay so here is the situation now.

2 Clearview Lamps. One on the left side is orange with teal base. Right side is green with silver base. Both are having flow issues as if they aren't getting warm enough. Both have coil contact. Orange seems stuck to the glass at the bottom . I put a 40w non reflective bulb in the green lamp and it began to rise and would lazily glob a lump of wax halfway up and then it would promptly fall back down. As a test I swapped the globes to see if it would help the orange lamp and lo and behold it did the same thing even though it's stuck at the bottom. See Here

It seems to me the 25w reflective bulb isn't powerful enough to heat the lamp and the 40w non reflective bulb is better but just barely not warm enough. I would imagine a 40w reflective bulb would do the trick. I can't seem to find any on Amazon, does anyone have an further input on what they think the issue might be? I'm no lamp expert but these are just my findings.

[Madscrills]

Update: I've put the orange globe in the base of the 50th anniversary lamp and it's flowing beautifully. Seems like a heat issue with the other bases. Anyone know of a reliable source to get some 40w reflective bulbs?