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Austria, Vienna
1 Level
696 Review
51 Karma

Review on πŸŒ‹ Decorative Lava Lite Lamp - The Original Silver Base Lamp with Yellow Wax in Purple Liquid, 14.5", Yellow/Purple by Dave Phobia

Revainrating 3 out of 5

Retro Relaxation: Lava Lamps

Unfortunately, after a few days, there were balls on top and cloudy liquid. I made a temporary fix, but I really know what's wrong. There should be air at the top, but there's too much of it, and some of it falls into the drops, then they don't reset. A quick fix is to gently tilt it so the top drop touches the other, then turn it back on and let it run for 24 hours. Little air remains in the drop and it does not sink again when it cools. The more he works, the fewer problems. It really is a great throwback to the 1970's when my roommate brought one into our dorm room as a funny joke. But you know, we loved the colorful glow that there is in a darkened room, and seeing the wax ooze is oddly relaxing. on a silver cap. The instructions then tell you to heat it up (let it run) for 3 hours or more to allow the cold wax to melt and run to the top, as the wax becomes less dense as it expands with heat. The bottle looks cloudy when taken out, I suspect due to slightly emulsified wax beads that broke off in transit and floated in the liquid. Within an hour I had a clear liquid and flowing, lava-like balls of wax. (Mostly the drops were individual wax vesicles, the streams only seemed to come from the first heating of the wax. I repeated this the next day, the same thing: lava flows until the lamp gets very hot, then the wax rises and falls two or three large balls down.) My wax did not float to the top and stayed there as reported by some owners. When the lamp is shaken, the wax often sticks together on the sides or top and does not behave properly (by forming a lump at the bottom: an air bubble trapped there may be to blame). around and pay attention to the wattage of your lamp. A small instruction manual and lamp wattage would have been nice if included in the box. This lamp is the same as it was almost half a century ago (Wow. Really that long ago?). It is designed very simply. The bottle with the yellow, wax-colored liquid is closed with a crimp cap like a beer bottle. You place the bottle on a stand with a round bulb that provides both light and heat to melt the wax. At the top is a decorative cap that hides the crimp cap. Turn on the switch. When the wax is heated, it rises and its density decreases. As it cools near the top, it condenses again and sinks. That's all, although recently a company that provides encryption algorithms found a way to take a wall of these clockwork lamps and videotape their random patterns to generate truly random numbers. My use is much less high tech. I find a pink glow, a darkened room, and some music to unwind after a busy day at the office. I went with pink and in hindsight a prettier choice that creates a warm, womb-like glow in the room. But it comes in a different color to suit your psychedelic needs.

Pros
  • Free for educational purposes
Cons
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