LAVA LOUIE GOO GRANDE REFILL EXPERIENCE = WHY WOULD YOU EVER REFILL ANY OTHER WAY? HA!

[Woodvetch]

I have done it all.
Used existing lamps to refill a grande = a mess, not to mention the globe sacrifice and cost of buying complete lamps for a refill project. Filtering all the fluid is also time consuming and pain in the butt.

Made my own goo and fluid = Yuk talk about a time consuming nightmare of a mess, takes forever and adjusting the fluid is catch as catch can

Bought Louie's goo kit with everything needed included = Easy as eating fresh made blueberry pie. 3 minutes in the micro to melt the wax. Another minute to easily pour the wax into the Grande thru the funnel and large straw that goes all the way to the bottom of the globe. Let wax harden, (I put the covered globe on the porch to speed the process). Put 50 ml of the surficent in distilled water and pour into the globe. No muss, no fuss and you can easily make your own colors if you want.

Run the lamp with a 60 watt bulb instead of 100 watt bulb and use a 52z coil. Running a Louie goo Grande on 60 watts and a 52z coil for 12-13 hours will give you the same flow progression ending in a begin to overheat as US made Lava Lite lamps running on 100 watts does in less time.

The first run is way cool, gets all the ingredients used to each other and the goo is almost transparent. Got really cool spikes and great flow. After the first run the flow just gets better and better and the goo begins to become translucent, color richer/deeper with light still able to come thru the blobs. Real pretty goo.

Huge benefit using distilled water and louie surficent. The fluid is absolutely crystal clear. The reflections of the goo in the water are amazing. I cannot overstate the benefits of crystal clear fluid I have over 70 lava lamps most "crystal clear". I'm here to tell you nothing touches the clarity of distilled water. No comparison.

Have so many great pics of the initial run and will post more later of subseqent runs so you can see how the goo texture gradually changes.

K

pee ess
Nothing like crystal clear fluid. Nothing like it.
I am completely sold.
k

[Woodvetch]

***CORRECTION*** approx 10ml of Louie surfactant in a 52z globe. (more if you like nice big slow moving stretchy globs and columns, less if you prefer faster moving round blobs). 6 to 7 ml Louie surfactant for the 32z globes.

[Woodvetch]

At the moment the best way is to call and give your order to Michelle, the number is on the www.lavalouie.com website under "contact us". You'll need the 1 quart kit and ask for black, (if for some reason black is not available get the violet, it runs black, I'll post a pic later today/evening). Start with 50 ml of surfactant in approx 1.5 gal of water. I added another 5ml after running a while to get the flow I like = slow, long stretchy blobs and columns. The kit includes a long fat straw to get the liquid wax to the bottom of the grande with no splashing, and a small measuring cup for the surfactant and a measured dropper. Make sure you mention you need those in case they are making up a "special" kit for the black.
I'm finding a 60 watt reflector bulb or a plain old 4/$1 100 watt light bulbs run the lamps without overheating 24/7.
I left the tops unsealed on my 4 for a week so I could easily adjust the flow by adding a squirt of surfactant in the running lamps until I got exactly the long term flow I wanted. Piece of cake to do and if you get too much surfactant just pour out some water and add new. DISTILLED WATER ONLY.
Tell her Karen refered you.
K

pee ess
You will love Louie goo and how easy it is do a refill and adjust flow to suit your likes. No muss, no fuss just really superior lava lamps compared to any previously experienced.
k

[Woodvetch]

Don't hesitate to speak to Louie if he's available for quesitons but be sure to place your order with Michelle. She's the business end, Louie is the creative manufacturing end. (At the moment lava is not Louie's primary business but it is his primary passion. He makes waaay cool electric racecars and other stuff. See www.electriclouie.com he's quite the genius inventor guy )

[Woodvetch]

Cool. Do whatever they need you to do for ordering and follow their instructions, they are the experts.

Post refill leave the top unsealed for a few days so you can easily adjust the flow if desired. Adding surfactant to a running lamp is as easy as putting a few drops in while running.
I haven't tried the denser wax yet but have ordered it to play with so I don't know if it starts transparent/translucent and becomes opaque with running like the standard wax. Louie would know.

[Woodvetch]

2 oz or approx 60 ml. I believe, call to make sure. I got a pint as I had a large order of goo.

As for the "regular" or denser wax I dunno comma but you cannot go wrong with Louie's basic goo, I've over the moon about it as you can tell! ahahahaha. Along with the denser goo Louie also has a "stringier" goo that I have also ordered but not tested yet.
I'd stick with the basic until we have some reviews on the other waxes but I have no doubt they will all be super. Louie is always playing with different goo formulas for specific commerical goo purposes.

[Jeff]

Karen,
Can you tell me what color your surfactant is?
I've had this bottle from Louie for around 3 or 4 years. I've had it stored in a mason type jar and It's always been this golden color. I didn't use this particular bottle but what I did use was the same color, yet it didn't turn the water any less clear when I used it.

Do ya think this is still useable? Or is this a question for Mr. Louie?

[Jeff]

Duh... forgot the pic...

[Woodvetch]

The surfactant should be fine and is meant to be used with distilled water to make the goo flow properly. It won't clear up a LW or LL globe and cannot be used alone with water to refill using LW or LL wax as those waxes are formulated to run in water/gycol/surfactant. Louie goo lamps are so clear as they run on water/surfactant only.

[Jeff]

" Permalink Reply by Woodvetch 9 hours ago
The surfactant should be fine and is meant to be used with distilled water to make the goo flow properly. It won't clear up a LW or LL globe and cannot be used alone with water to refill using LW or LL wax as those waxes are formulated to run in water/gycol/surfactant. Louie goo lamps are so clear as they run on water/surfactant only. "

Thanks Karen. I was hoping I could just replace the cloudy as hell liquid in a lamp I recently got from ebay with the distilled and surfactant... but of course that would be too easy! :O)

[Kris]

That really sucks.

[Roger Stenstrom]

I want to refill a grand.

[Woodvetch]

go to www.lavalouie.com and buy a quart kit.