Coil size and Lava flow

[Tim Vigil]

So i've noticed that some of my Lava Lite Lamps had different sized coils on the bottom! I assumed they would be the same size coil for each of the 14.5 in ones, but I was wrong.

How exactly does the coil size effect the flow of the lava? Is it better to have a smaller coil compared to larger? Is the coil supposed to fit the bottom of the globe or does it not matter?

help!

Timothy

[Claude J]

Simple answer

Coils are the method of transferring the heat to the lava.

Sizes are determined differently so they fit into the bottom of the inside of the globe diameter so they do not flip (even though they sometimes do)

Some larger lamps with the problem of flowing have been sold with 2 springs

The heat transfer item could actually be anything made of stainless steel.

A piece of screen, ball bearings, etc all will do the similar job.

[kero48]

Just a side note, I have used stainless ball bearings and did not like the result. The lamp took way to long to warm up. The surface area of a coil is quite large compared to bearings.

[Claude J]

Smaller bearings and lot more of them?