Will my lava lamp work

[micheymoo]

 I have bought a second hand lava lamp, I saw it working. When I got home with it the  bulb was broken , so I have purchased new replacement bulbs from Amazon  (exactly the same type as original bulb). My question is , how  long will it take to heat up the wax, because right now it does not look very promising, there isa lump of wax at the top of the lamp and some big clumps at the bottom. I have had the lamp on for almost three hours now and it is not looking very active/ If any one has an idea how long it may take for a very enormous lava lamp to get going I will be very pleased to hear from you. I cant give you the make or model of the lamp as I do not have that info.

Micheymoo

[Becky E]

How tall is your lamp? What size bulb are you using, watts? Can you post a picture of the lamp? There are different size lamps so we need more info. 

[micheymoo]

ok. i will post the pic, it is big/ I am using a spotlight 100w 80 reflector type, so far it has been on since 12 o clock lunch time, (UK)  the wax is rising in one big blob , so I  imagine something is happening. earlier I noticed  coil spring was attached in the big wax blob but it now seems to have dropped to the bottom

I really hope it does work , I saw it working with the same bulb  and i wonder what any one else thinks is wrong or right here ?

Kindest Regards

Michelle

[Keith]

That is a "Grande" lava lamp.  Bulb is the right size.  Sometimes when warming up the wax will flip like yours did.  That makes the warm up time quite a bit longer.  That is the worst flip I have seen!  Hopefully it won't flip like that again, maybe something to do with it being moved?  In some globes the wax will flip occasionally, some rarely, and some never.  The wax flip shouldn't make the globe run any differently though.

Best of luck on future runs!!

[micheymoo]

Hi thanks Keith, so do you think it will right itself, it has been on now since 12 noon and it is now 17.20

Regards

Michelle

[Keith]

You said the coil is at the bottom now so the wax should be melting and then begin flowing.  I can't say if it will flip the wax again or not.  I have one that flips maybe 25% of the time and takes about 5 hours to flow when that happens.

[micheymoo]

Hi Keith,

  Thank you for your replies, it is amazing that there is even a  forum out there in the world to discuss Lava lamp woes. 

I am also happy to know that you have been able to identify my Lava lamp as a Grande.

Well it is now 18.11 and it has been on since 12.  The was is still in a big clump but closer to the top now. I notice that the was is dripping very slowly (and I mean slowly) in small drips from the centre of the big main clump, they drop to the bottom and  I just wonder how long I should keep the lamp going now ?  I ask because i read somewhere not to run for more than 10 hours , all seems a bit silly if I have to turn it off when it has not yet even got properly going. do you have any thoughts ?

Thank you for taking time to answer my questions

Michelle 

[Keith]

The smaller the lamp the more need to adhere to the "run time" rule.  Grandes can safely be ran longer than 10 hours.  There are times when I have ran mine for 14 hours of a little longer.  Some will run their's for a couple of days at a time.  The main thing is to watch out for overheating.  The images below will give some help.

[micheymoo]

Thanks Keith,

Well I have been out and come home to find that the lamp looks lovely , there are big huge bubbles of wax rising and falling now , there is still some solid wax near the top, but overall I am pleased that things are moving and I cant believe how fixated I have been  on the lamp working today or not. I believe it is a very nice one and maybe the start of a new collection, who would have thought there was so much to know about these wonderful lamps, thanks for your help

Michelle

[Keith]

You are most welcome Michelle!  Glad to be of help.  If you would like, feel free to post a pic of it running (because we are addicts and enablers!) 

[Becky E]

Keith said:

You are most welcome Michelle!  Glad to be of help.  If you would like, feel free to post a pic of it running (because we are addicts and enablers!) 

True that!

[micheymoo]

I would love to share a video , however I am not sure how to upload from  my pc

 Michelle

[micheymoo]

I think i might have managed it after all..yay 

michelle