Goo appears to break up easily

[steve]

I have a blue-gold 52 Grande and it appears cloudy- not as sharp as my red-purple grande. I noticed that a lot of the goo will collect at the top of the glass. When I tap it gently, or maybe no so gently, it tends to break apart in flakes.

I do not think this is supposed to happen.

I read on this sight a blog post from someone who took the top of his lamp and boiled it in a pot partially filled with water to solve the problem.

It sounds extreme. And chemically how can extreme heat be anything but bad for the goo- what is the stuff made of anyway?

I am loading a picture of it-  if it works.

[Claude J]

Picture not working.

I do it all the time

it even eliminates bubbles in lava (sometimes)

For cloudy lamps, I dump the fluid, heat the bottle, dump into pyrex bowl, then clean the bottle with boiling water and some dishsoap. I'll use distilled water and leave room for adding propelyne glycol if necessary.

If the goo is separated (oil and solids), you very well may want to dump the whole mess and use a goo kit

With a Grande,you have to be careful removing the cap so you can save it for reinstallation

[steve]

So let me get this straight.

For a cloudy Grande, you take off the cap and remove the fluid leaving the goo. Then you put the bottle in boiling water or put it in water that you bring to a boil and let the goo percolate for a couple minutes.

Then you add distill water to the proper level, then put the cap on , and then it's going to work?

[Keith]

Distilled water + propylene glycol + surfactant (such as "miracle bubble")

the propylene glylcol increases the density of the distilled water, allowing the melted wax to rise, you may not need any or maybe just a little.

The surfactant keeps the wax from sticking to the sides of the glass and also effects the shape of the goo.  Less surfactant means bigger, rounder blobs.  More (but not too much) means stretchier flow.

[Keith]

I say miracle bubbles because that has been reported to work without clouding (reclouding) the water, others may work, but I know from experience that not all brands do.

[Claude J]

thanks for the response Keith

It should help everyone

If you go as far as melting the wax/goo in the globe, after a moderate "cooking", you might as well dump it into a pyrex bowl and washout the globe to eliminate any residue. this way you start with a fresh look.

P.S. I always leave a bit so soap reside in the globe and never rinse more than 2X to make sure there is a coating on the inside of the globe so there is no sticking.

P.P.S. once the water boils, IMMEDIATLY turn DOWN the heat to a simmer

[Claude J]

Bubbles are cool!

[steve]

Sounds like a pretty gutsy thing to do.

I saw a sci-fi movie that started out somewhat similarly.