Potential Dangers of Dimmers?

[M]

Hey guys,

I recently acquired a plug in dimmer and attached it into my 1975 Carlisle for a few hours over the span of an afternoon. Just adjusting and readjusting for fun and to check out different looks and flows.I didn't notice anything unusual during this time period and was just hanging around the house.

However, after turning it off and going to bed, I woke up with most of the wax just coagulated at the very top of the globe...I had never had that happen with this lamp before. According to the Lava Library: "If there is a significant amount of wax stuck at the top of a lamp after fully cooling, then it is likely your wax has separated. That means the less dense wax separated from the more dense wax. This can be a difficult problem to fix, and if not done right it can ruin the lamp."

Did I somehow separate my wax just by playing around with a dimmer for an afternoon? Seems really odd to me. Especially considering dimmers are always recommended and newer lamps typically come with a dimmer feature (if I'm not mistaken.) I used the hair dryer trick for a few quick minutes to get the huge chunk dislodged and it fell to the bottom. From there, I turned it on and the lava lamp did its thing and started flowing normally.

The lava in my 1975 Carlisle does have some larger bubbles form on occasion. The lava also has a bit of a...grainy? look to it--like it is not super smooth or glossy. Both of these features were present before and after the dimmer experiment. Now I'm wondering if that "grainy-ness" was really the less dense wax slightly separating from the more dense wax, and that my dimmer experiment made it worse?

I'd really appreciate any thoughts or feed back. I can also attach some pics if this gains any interest/replies. Thanks! n_n

[M]

I will also add I had it on about 50% for a few of those experimentation hours. It just formed a nice blob at the bottom. Idk if that is relevant at all.

[Arne]

I dont think that your wax has separated. I've had lamps with separated wax floating on top and although it didnt stick to the bottle or anything else it was impossible to shake it down as it went straight back to the top. sometimes it was about half of the lamps wax and sometimes only a few grape sized lumps but they were floating and they didnt get back into the rest of the wax even if I ran it really hot so every wax in the lamp was liquid including the floating bits.