This video was very helpful. I had an old lava lamp that was cloudy and the wax was stuck at both the top and bottom. I emptied out all the old water. Then I boiled some water in a pot and set the glass bottle in it to melt any stuck wax. Once all the wax was melted I poured it into another container so I could clean out the bottle. Once the bottle was clean I put the wax back in the bottle using the same boiling water technique. I let the wax solidify then filled the bottle with distilled water leaving about 2 inches at the top as instructed. I added 1 teaspoon of epsom salt to the bottle and turned on the lamp for 2 hours. I then started to make my epsom salt solution. One thing the video does not mention is how much of the salt you actually use. I was quite surprised that I used almost 2/3 of the 16oz bag of epsom salt in one tall kitchen glass. Also I did not wait an hour in-between adding the mixture to the bottle. I added one strawful about every 10 minutes and had success. I used 3 drops of detergent to achieve the ball size and frequency.
Glad it worked out for you! Refilling liquid didn’t work for me coz my wax was cycled too many times and lost its properties so I had to replace both wax and liquid. I bet you would be very disappointed after doing all that and realizing your wax is wack after all.
This is by far the best video on UA-cam about how to simply refill these lamps. Thanks so much. I see so many people not pay enough attention to the " not more than 2 drops of dish liquid or SURF" and dump a whole big bunch in there and ruin their lamps. It breaks the wax up way too much. Please pay attention to that part.
I want to thank you for helping me with my lava lamp. I made some changes it was clear wax I used a wax dye to change the color of the wax worked beautifully. This lava lamp is about 17 years old. I just took my time with it and it turned out beautiful thank you very much ✌️
Thanks so much for the very clear instructions. My 25 year old lamp was getting so foggy it was hard to tell what colour the lava was supposed to be - and now I've got it back to as-new condition!
@@jaydavidson4592 My lamp sat in a box for several months and I'm now having a hard time with it. I'm thinking about replacing everything, including the parafin wax
Thanks, Ordered a lamp from amazon and it arrived looking so cloudy I couldn't even see the blobs floating. This helped me replace the water repairing my new lamp!
Third time was the charm. I’m sure the first 2 were operator error. My kids gave me this lamp in 1997 so I was rally hoping to get it working and I did with your instructions. Thank so much!
I found that using glycerin works better for me vs. the epsom salt and is easier to mix. I also feel that the salt may corrode the metal spring especially if it sits inactive for a length of time. I discovered that some of the "Magma lamp brand" lamps only needed water and a couple drops of dish detergent to control surface tension.
This process worked great for me. I replaced the liquid and used the old wax in the Century 100 Starlight lava lamp that my grandmother received as a gift around 1965-1967. The old liquid smelled like kerosene and was so cloudy that you couldn't see the wax.
Just picked up a lava lamp today from a yard sale after not having one for about 20 years. I may have to go ahead And do all of this and bring it back to life!
Thank-you! This video was extremely helpful. I’ve been lucky as my three lava lamps have not lost any liquid over 6 years and the wax has stayed the same colour. It was just the liquid that has faded to almost clear, so the last bit about the food dye was really useful. Thank-you for making this video.
I had to restart the process about 20 times cause I didn't listen and kept trying to rush. Please listen to this guy if you try this don't be like me lmao. it works if you do it right
@@shinzo222 It did but I had bought a used one that was dying already. Me doing this just delayed the inevitable. I'm stuck with clear slugs that run up the wall no matter what right now. I'm moving soon so I plan to buy a goo kit to fix it afterwards. Goo kits come with surfficant, wax and dye. You just need to get the distilled water
@@josephngo8389 Oh so it did not work properly ? Goo kits are not in stock for long time, So thats why i want to try this. Mine is pretty slugish too, but i guess anythng will be better than it is right now.
I have never had a lava lamp, but this video was absolutely fascinating to learn what is required to make it work. What is the normal operating temperature?
Best video of all and I watched quite a few. Very easy instructions to follow with great visual examples. I now don’t have to buy a new one Thank you for posting this.
"It takes a really long time, like growing a plant. It could take a whole day" Wow! I can only assume that he know very little about growing plants. Good for him, and us, that he is teaching us about lava lamps...
I have a glitter Mathmos lava lamp that had leaked fluid through the screw top, after being knocked over a couple of times...there was about 2/3 of the liquid left in the lamp. Honestly, I was too impatient to wait to go out to buy Epsom salt and to distill some water, so I just took a punt and used tap water, coarse sea salt and blue Fairy Liquid as a surfactant (my lava lamp already happened to be in blue!). I poured in the tap water bit by bit, added a little salt bit by bit, and added 2-3 drops of the Fairy Liquid. I gave it a gentle slosh around and turned on the lamp. At first, it was quite cloudy or a little bubbly so I just turned it off and went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning and turned it on, it immediately started working beautifully - no bubbles, no cloudiness and the glitter is rising in exactly the same way as it did when I bought it new. I didn’t measure anything when I first put the ingredients in but just added everything little by little and it worked out perfectly! I hope this is of some use to anyone else trying to rejuvenate an old Mathmos lamp!
I found my 30 yr old red 17 inch lava lamp the other day it was 4 inches low on water so I added tap water and table salt a little at at time( because the wax stayed at the bottom and would not move ) and it's working better than new .
I have a 16" lamp. It was super cloudy. I believe its lava brand. All it needed was new distilled water and it was like new. No salt, no soap. Just water. Looks and works like new! I even videoed it to compare the flow. Its exactly the same. I'm glad it was so easy with this particular lamp. It's about 10 years old I believe. It was my sister's. She threw it out due to the cloudiness. I had to try at least to fix it. I was prepared to do what you did but I didnt need to. Have you ever heard of this?
@@HarleyBadger I'm not sure how to read the date code but I believe it's from 2009 and it looks to be from Spencer's. I dont know if Shilling owned Lava lamp company then?
If anyone does this, DO NOT use Dawn Platinum dish liquid. It degrades the wax and eats it apart. I had one that the wax was seperated and totally fried. I've never seen any video of wax that acted and looked like this particular lamp I had. I was kinda just playing around with different things to try and fix it (doubtful) and I used this dawn liquid. It's good for cleaning out old lava out of your bottle, but dont use it in your lava lamp. It will destroy it!
Thanks for the video! So I have an old lava lamp from the 70's. Bought a bulb for it and fired it up, the wax will not flow correctly. Does this process help to restore 'old wax'?
Update; so I just learned that the wax is bad. It is cloudy/muddy-looking and breaks apart ununiformly. Good wax will be smooth and solid looking. What I will do is simply empty a new lamp into the old one after I clean it out
Hi ,i was happy to find this video i have a 1974 lava lamp that desperately needed a overhaul , i got all my ingredients ready and started. I started to add the Epsom salt ,1 hour 2 hour 3 hour 4 hour.....come to the 7th or 8th hour and still no movement with the wax. There is little room at the top for anymore salt so i decided to add a drop of the liquid soap. ...nothing , so i add3d another drop still nothing. Should i turn the light on 😂. Lol jk no the light has been on . Any suggestions would be appreciated., i read on another guys thread about his failed attempt to rejuvenate his lamp ,but he wasn't using Epsom salt water nor was it distilled. And he added a lot of soap and it looked bad. Anyway a guy in his comment section said to use distilled water and the stuff you make dry ice with. Come to think of it, the failed attempt he did use Epsom salt,just no distilled water. So i don't have the dry ice stuff, any help. Should i just start over ,and repeat this process? Thanks in advance 😊 Pss i had already liked and shared this video and mentioned it to the guys on the other video process and your video🥴
Exceptionally helpful! I bought a large lava lamp from the thrift store today with rich blue wax, looked kinda odd but the size of it was awesome so I snagged it. When I got home and untaped it (the thrift store had half a roll of tape on it to keep it from breaking i guess lol) I noticed that the cap had several dings in the top and one side was pushed in. I'm wondering if I could ask some advice on how I could proceed to troubleshoot or fix it?
Might be a bit late, but a small ball bearing on the inside of the cap/hat and gently roll and push/apply pressure to the ball(with your finger) where the dents are and they should 'roll' out🙏🙂🤙 Edit: The caps are usually only made of aluminium so you can essentially just push bigger dents out with your thubs/fingers, the 'roller ball'(ball bearing) technique works best for the dents that are smaller or hard to reach and push out
2 questions. I still have the initial liquid and wax in my lava lamp, but the wax either forms a pilar and stays, or more commonly, just sits at the bottom and does nothing. Would this system work if i just added the salt and dish soap? Also, If I don’t have rosin salts, can you use regular salt! Thx for the awesome video!!!
Followed the video and thanks for posting. Any ideas on what I'm missing as after my distilled water and 1 tsp epson salt i get 2 blobs. 1 on top and 1 on bottom. Never get a single blob floating in middle, etc. The lamp pretty much does the same thing. Warms up and the blobs divide 1 to top and stays other to bottom.
I heard that there is such a thing called bad/lazy wax and if that happens im suppose to return the lamp to the manufacturer but my lamp was a gift. It wont heat properly and stay as one blob from the bottom of the lamp to the top. If it ever separates it doesnt turn into multiple blobs but instead just does 1 blob at a time. Can the method of this video fix that issue? Also when doing this method does the top part of the lamp cover need to be on or off the lamp?
Once you get the salt balance right, how do you top up the lamp to make sure it's full without disrupting that balance? Also, thanks for the great video!
I have a lamp from the 90’s that lost about half its contents. I added to the original contents instead of starting from scratch. It did work but it required a lot of dish soap to get the blobs to break up into the normal smaller pieces - probably due to the other chemicals that are in the original solution. As a result the liquid is quite cloudy - would you recommend pouring it all out and starting over? The movement of the lava is really good now but it just doesn’t look right because of the cloudy liquid.
WOW thanks for this I've been wondering how I could re do my lava globe. See it got knocked over and ever since then its closing and the wax doesn't flow the same its all blobby and flows to the top. I do have one question HOW do you reseal the cap ? I read somewhere that you could tighten it back up by using a hose clap.
Awesome video, thank you for posting it! I have an issue with my lamp where at the bottom it forms water bubbles within the wax that floats upwards. This bubbly wax is not a good look. Does the wax need replacing, or would changing out the water as you have instructed do the trick? Do you have a video on how to replace the sealing cap? All of mine are like a bottle top.
Does anyone have any suggestions for what to use or how to put the cap back onto the bottle once you're finished refilling it? How do you get it to seal back on?
Great Video! Thanks for the info. Just got a Lavalamp fot Christmas and it's cloudy. Should I send it back under the warranty or try to fix it myself? Is there a trick for replacing the wax?
Hi Spats Bear. Any thoughts on how to get air bubbles out of the wax? I have two lamps and both have the same problem. Not sure if it's just the way they are or whether it was caused from rough handling on delivery. Any tips would be most appreciated. Thanks.
It's actually me :-) And there will always be a bubble or two here and there, but if it's really bad, I'd suggest putting your lamp on a timer.. 8 hours on, 16 hours off, and let it be for a few days, it should work the air out.
@@HarleyBadger Thanks for the reply. I carried on using the lamps for another week, but, the problem just got worse and worse. I ended up boxing them back up and returning to amazon for a refund. They were really terrible. I've had many lamps over the years but I've never seen any quite like them. They were just awful quality. There was also other issues with them as well as the bubbles. Never buy a lava lamp made by 'The original lava lamp company', they suck! Thanks anyway. I appreciate your time.
I have a vintage 1970 Lava Lamp and it was dropped and the cap cracked....and all the liquid poured out. Will this refill technique work for this lamp also? The liquid feels like it has mineral oil in it....my next question where can I find a replacement cap? Its a gold base with a gold screw on cap.... thank you for any help you can give me....
I dropped my friends lava lamp from 1990 and it broke open I thought it was a jell inside because it felt like jelly and greasy , it was tuff to get off of her wooden floor ,it kept smearing, so I thought there was a gummy slimey solution in it. But I have my own lamp kniw abd it quit bubbling and just add a lump of wax in bottom and a bunch of wax hardened towards the top along the sides , so I thought by shaking it up the hot wax on the bottom would make contact with the cold wax on the sides and melt, but its still not bubbling and now I have particles floating all thru the lamp. So I am going to attempt this in a couple of days ,after getting stuff tommorrow . I am excited because I really loved my lamp, it was calming to watch. Did I do the damage myself because I did leave it in for hrs. at a time, I probably should have turned it off more than what I did...
Is it possible to "top off" a lava lamp that has had some evaporation without going through this whole process (completely replacing the liquid)? Mine is down about a half inch but otherwise works just fine. Thanks..
I've replaced the master fluid in my Lava-Simplex Aristocrat at least 5 times before I got it to how I wanted it. This also works for adding fluid to lamps with low fluid.
Thank you, very informative! Any tips on repairing a lamp that has wax sitting at the bottom and wax floating at the top but no action between the two?
Is this only for refilling?? ... Also do you happen to know what the wax is made out of the one that stays at the bottom this is great Ive always wanted to create my own shade and have it long lasting like the originals any advice would greatly appreciated.
Yep, this is intended for refilling from scratch. The wax formulation differs depending on the actual manufacturer ("Lava Lite" is just a name, they are made by many different contractors, mostly in China,) but is generally paraffin or a paraffin blend. I think if you want to make your own (#1 most important is to make absolutely CERTAIN you are using an extremely heat-resistant container, most glassware is NOT,) fill a regular Lava Lite and make sure it works properly, then pour the contents into another container while it's hot. Use a hook or bent coat-hanger to extract the spring and place it in the new container if possible, and make sure to shield your hands, it will be extremely hot of course.
How are yours so cool looking. Mine is so boring. The wax/lava is stuck at the bottom of the glass. I think I overheated it cause it was on for 24 hrs. Is there anything I can do to fix it??
Do I use the same ratios or adjust if I’m using a “gigantic lava lamp” the one that is two feet tall? Please help! This is the most informative video I’ve found about this. Just trying to make another mans trash my treasure
Also, I have several lamps, they were all exposed to freezing temperatures, so they no longer operate, they just melt and sit at the bottom. If I'm following your instructions, the wax is salvageable? One of my lamps is the Enchantress planter style, the screw off gold cap has a sticker with the year 1977 on it, the globe has white wax and a light aqua liquid. Is the liquid and wax different from more modern versions? Can the wax be saved, and can I use your recipe for fluid replacement on this vintage wax?
Thanks for your video I'm going to restor my father's original late 60s lamp (I shook it like a twat) I've ordered the salt and I'll pop down to o'Rileys when it gets here for the water. You have been very helpful that's a lot 😎
Yeah vikki all I can say is take your time in the processes lol it's tricky getting the salt balance correct. But worth it my lamp is awesome now I've got red lava and put orange food colouring in the water it looks like real lava. 🔥😜🔥
Oh I'm from Devon hiii lol well I found the cheapest in halfords it's used to top up car batteries but you can buy it in Tesco to I think. It's not expensive 😁
Firstly your tutorial very well executed. Would like your guidance as my lava lamp is low on liquid. Glass vessel measures 11 and a quarter inch from bottom to top. Space needing liquid approx 1 inch. from bottom of screw on cap. Lamp works well except that a large amount of wax sits at top and does not move .Can I just add distilled water, or is some form of mixture needed? Your feedback appreciated!! Thank you.
1. "add a teaspoon of salt" Ok, per WHAT SIZE of lamp? I have two that need help. One tiny one where the wax keeps on floating and one oh, I think it's a 14" where the wax is called "lazy lava." I get the blob and that's all. Water on that one is clear so thinking just adding some of the salt solution should fix it??? 2. Taking off and putting back the cap. HOW???? Pry it off will ruin it. And no one seems to touch on this part of the whole operation. Someone suggested a twist off beer bottle cap BUT the lamp is not a twist off form. So I doubt that will work. Any advice on removing and mostly replacing their sealed cap?
I just carefully pry with a screwdriver around the bottom flange. That's the only way. I haven't put it back on tight yet. Making sure the lamp is working properly before I tighten it back on. I am thinking of pliers and gently squeezing around the cap to tighten the bottom flange. Be careful. You can chip or crack the glass.
Mine had an aluminium cap pressed on over a rubber bung, lve run a Stanley knife round the top popped it of added salt,put the stopper back in and it's fine.
The size of the lamp doesn't matter, the same instructions apply. Just keep adding a teaspoon of the "extra salt water" as described at 3:00, and follow my instructions from that point. Gently pry the cap off little by little around the edge, with a flat screwdriver, paper clip, etc and when you reattach the cap, gently tighten it with a hose clamp until it's snug again. See below for the link.
Here's how to reattach the cap and bend the flange back tight. Put a hose clamp (link below) over the cap and *gently* tighten it until it compresses the flange back into place. *GENTLY.* www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiHof7z3cXfAhURoYMKHVgHB20QjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.homedepot.com%2Fp%2FEverbilt-1-2-1-1-4-in-Hose-Repair-Clamp-6712595%2F202309385&psig=AOvVaw3041AYAHdjFH7QiioC8MRS&ust=1546196739863564
Hose clamp. Thank you. I wish I knew that before. This was my first repair. I will try to remember that if I need to do another repair!! It's still fun!!!
Question.. I found my old lava lamp night light. Almost all of the light inside has evaporated. It didn’t have the light wax in it but has sparkle pieces. I figured out that the top opens so you refill it and added a little water to it and now the blue liquid that was in it originally is at the bottom and the water is at the top.. when I turned it on and left it on for 8 hours, it did nothing.. so I want to empty it and refill it. I found online that the wax inside is called paraffin wax.. should I buy some for it to do it like in this video or could I just add something else like it was with just glitter sparkles inside that swirl around when it gets hot? Please help!
Followed all your steps but I dont know whats going on as after refiling the bottle with new distilled water with just one tea spoon of epsom salt, left it run for three hours (wax looked really fluid and shiny just three main bubbles), added one tea spoon of the saturated water and from there the entire wax parked at the top and never went down again. Never saw the "large blob" at the bottom as it never went fully down there during the process. Tryed turning it off until cold, the wax now is solidified on top. Not coming down. Should I add more saturated salt? should I proceed with the washing up liquid? what should I do? Thanks.
Try one more drop of washing liquid. It sounds like the formula might be a bit different than Dawn brand (unless it *is* Dawn brand,) otherwise try adding just a dash more epsom salt. If it doesn't work, at some point you'll need to dump it and try again.
@@HarleyBadger thanks, yes tried dumping it twice and realized that there's no need of any salt. Just plain distilled water (no washing up liquid at all) and now is flowing great. The washing up liquid is for increase the booble qty of decrease it? Now is flowing around 4 5 medium boobles would be nice if they were just two or three but not sure if is a washing up liquid thing. Thanks
I have a giant lava lamp that I’ve had for a long time. There is about a half inch air gap at the top between the liquid surface and the cap that’s visible. Could I add just a bit of distilled water to fill it all the way? Or would I need the epsom salt as well?
Very detailed except for one thing. You didn’t talk about removing/replacing the bottle cap. Or in the case of my 250oz lamp, it’s more like a lid. How do you do this? Where can you get replacement caps? Can you reuse a cap, and if so, how do you remove it without damaging it? Also, where do you get replacement wax? I actually have bugs trapped in my lamp and need to replace the wax. The quality control in China is crap.
Is there a way to tell if you've added too much salt solution? My daughter has one of those giant off brand lamps. I figured I would need to double the teaspoons at each hour interval. I did see the wax "wave" each hour as i dropped the teaspoons in, but that's all it does. It does not rise in one big clump as in your video. I've been adding solution for over 8 hours. Do I keep on going or dump it all out and try again? I too never got my mix of epsom salt to look quite like yours.
Yes, I did it!! But I didn't have to use dish detergent. I have an off brand lava lamp. I have clear water now! I just used epsom salt solution. It breaks apart just fine. Not adding detergent. Don't need it.
Thanks, I followed the video and it works well, but noticed that after a few days all the wax floats and accumulates to the top and tends to stay there. Any ideas on what this maybe? As a side note i have an original lava lamp that has to be at least 50 years old.
Thank you for this, your slow, clear and evenly paced instructions were perfect and my lamp lives!
This video was very helpful. I had an old lava lamp that was cloudy and the wax was stuck at both the top and bottom. I emptied out all the old water. Then I boiled some water in a pot and set the glass bottle in it to melt any stuck wax. Once all the wax was melted I poured it into another container so I could clean out the bottle. Once the bottle was clean I put the wax back in the bottle using the same boiling water technique. I let the wax solidify then filled the bottle with distilled water leaving about 2 inches at the top as instructed. I added 1 teaspoon of epsom salt to the bottle and turned on the lamp for 2 hours. I then started to make my epsom salt solution. One thing the video does not mention is how much of the salt you actually use. I was quite surprised that I used almost 2/3 of the 16oz bag of epsom salt in one tall kitchen glass. Also I did not wait an hour in-between adding the mixture to the bottle. I added one strawful about every 10 minutes and had success. I used 3 drops of detergent to achieve the ball size and frequency.
Glad it worked out for you! Refilling liquid didn’t work for me coz my wax was cycled too many times and lost its properties so I had to replace both wax and liquid. I bet you would be very disappointed after doing all that and realizing your wax is wack after all.
what does the mixture you add to the epsom salt consist of?
@@troycali4235 water and epsom salt
This is by far the best video on UA-cam about how to simply refill these lamps. Thanks so much. I see so many people not pay enough attention to the " not more than 2 drops of dish liquid or SURF" and dump a whole big bunch in there and ruin their lamps. It breaks the wax up way too much. Please pay attention to that part.
I just picked up 8 of these for $5.00 and a few have lost water, this is going to help so much in restoring these!!!!
Good find!
heyyy. did you get yours restored ? did this video worked for you ? thx
I want to thank you for helping me with my lava lamp. I made some changes it was clear wax I used a wax dye to change the color of the wax worked beautifully. This lava lamp is about 17 years old. I just took my time with it and it turned out beautiful thank you very much ✌️
Thanks so much for the very clear instructions. My 25 year old lamp was getting so foggy it was hard to tell what colour the lava was supposed to be - and now I've got it back to as-new condition!
Hey, 9 months later, how has it held up?
@Brian Musgrove, is your lamp still going?
Hey one year later is it still foggy
3 years later how the lamp ?
Second time i've come to this video in my life, thank you for helping me keep my Original Lava Lamp alive!
Hold on to your original lamp there. There's a reason the Chinese ones are so cheap. Yours is superior quality there.
Thanks!!! I just found my Lava Lamps from 30 years ago and was wondering if they can be restored to their former Glory!
Did you ever have any luck? I have one from 1972, and it didn't work right; the wax doesn't flow. Did you happen to try this process on yours? Thanks
My was isnt moving sits at the bottom on small piece sits at the top how can u make the was move again
Chocolate I have one from like 2009 all you have to do is leave it plugged in for like 4-8 hours
@@jaydavidson4592 I did. And it worked.
@@jaydavidson4592 My lamp sat in a box for several months and I'm now having a hard time with it. I'm thinking about replacing everything, including the parafin wax
Absolutely great tutorial on Lava Lamp repair.
Thanks, Ordered a lamp from amazon and it arrived looking so cloudy I couldn't even see the blobs floating. This helped me replace the water repairing my new lamp!
Third time was the charm. I’m sure the first 2 were operator error. My kids gave me this lamp in 1997 so I was rally hoping to get it working and I did with your instructions. Thank so much!
I found that using glycerin works better for me vs. the epsom salt and is easier to mix. I also feel that the salt may corrode the metal spring especially if it sits inactive for a length of time. I discovered that some of the "Magma lamp brand" lamps only needed water and a couple drops of dish detergent to control surface tension.
What process do you follow when using glycerin and in what proportions
do you know how to make one of these homemade ??? would totally love to make my own and add stuff
Same measurements?
@@livingforChrist i used the same measurements i hoping it works
@@niakue-493 please let me know how it goes. Thank you!!
This is the best of the four videos I have watched. It’s specific about amounts and process. Thank you!!
This process worked great for me. I replaced the liquid and used the old wax in the Century 100 Starlight lava lamp that my grandmother received as a gift around 1965-1967. The old liquid smelled like kerosene and was so cloudy that you couldn't see the wax.
Just picked up a lava lamp today from a yard sale after not having one for about 20 years. I may have to go ahead And do all of this and bring it back to life!
Thank-you! This video was extremely helpful. I’ve been lucky as my three lava lamps have not lost any liquid over 6 years and the wax has stayed the same colour. It was just the liquid that has faded to almost clear, so the last bit about the food dye was really useful. Thank-you for making this video.
I had to restart the process about 20 times cause I didn't listen and kept trying to rush. Please listen to this guy if you try this don't be like me lmao. it works if you do it right
Thank you! The explanation was reasonably paced, clear and easy to follow. Good job!
thank you
Finally, someone explaining in detail, many thanks just what I needed,,cheers M England.
Probably the best lava lamp video made. Thanks for the useful info.
I did it for my 17inch lava lamp and it worked perfectly! Now imma be doing this to a used grande I got for about $50. Wish me luck!
heyyy did it worked for your grande ? thx !
@@shinzo222 It did but I had bought a used one that was dying already. Me doing this just delayed the inevitable. I'm stuck with clear slugs that run up the wall no matter what right now. I'm moving soon so I plan to buy a goo kit to fix it afterwards. Goo kits come with surfficant, wax and dye. You just need to get the distilled water
@@josephngo8389 Oh so it did not work properly ? Goo kits are not in stock for long time, So thats why i want to try this. Mine is pretty slugish too, but i guess anythng will be better than it is right now.
@@shinzo222 it didn't work for mine because of the condition of the one I had. It depends on what sort of problems you have
My lava lamp is 14 years old and I think it time I do this... thank you for this helpful video
I have never had a lava lamp, but this video was absolutely fascinating to learn what is required to make it work.
What is the normal operating temperature?
Yup! Just found another one recently. And they typically run about 60c.
Best video of all and I watched quite a few. Very easy instructions to follow with great visual examples. I now don’t have to buy a new one Thank you for posting this.
"It takes a really long time, like growing a plant. It could take a whole day"
Wow! I can only assume that he know very little about growing plants.
Good for him, and us, that he is teaching us about lava lamps...
I have a glitter Mathmos lava lamp that had leaked fluid through the screw top, after being knocked over a couple of times...there was about 2/3 of the liquid left in the lamp. Honestly, I was too impatient to wait to go out to buy Epsom salt and to distill some water, so I just took a punt and used tap water, coarse sea salt and blue Fairy Liquid as a surfactant (my lava lamp already happened to be in blue!). I poured in the tap water bit by bit, added a little salt bit by bit, and added 2-3 drops of the Fairy Liquid. I gave it a gentle slosh around and turned on the lamp. At first, it was quite cloudy or a little bubbly so I just turned it off and went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning and turned it on, it immediately started working beautifully - no bubbles, no cloudiness and the glitter is rising in exactly the same way as it did when I bought it new. I didn’t measure anything when I first put the ingredients in but just added everything little by little and it worked out perfectly! I hope this is of some use to anyone else trying to rejuvenate an old Mathmos lamp!
Thanks for the video. I may have to watch it a few times before I start.
No problem :-)
I found my 30 yr old red 17 inch lava lamp the other day it was 4 inches low on water so I added tap water and table salt a little at at time( because the wax stayed at the bottom and would not move ) and it's working better than new .
Why not distilled?
I have a 16" lamp. It was super cloudy. I believe its lava brand. All it needed was new distilled water and it was like new. No salt, no soap. Just water. Looks and works like new! I even videoed it to compare the flow. Its exactly the same. I'm glad it was so easy with this particular lamp. It's about 10 years old I believe. It was my sister's. She threw it out due to the cloudiness. I had to try at least to fix it. I was prepared to do what you did but I didnt need to. Have you ever heard of this?
Nice that it was easy! Nope, never heard of that type before.
@@HarleyBadger I'm not sure how to read the date code but I believe it's from 2009 and it looks to be from Spencer's. I dont know if Shilling owned Lava lamp company then?
@@robertholsopple9451 Ah cool. Schylling didn't purchase the brand until 2018.
Hi! It's amazing! Any changes after a few months of working? Do you have something to ad? Thank you 🤝
If anyone does this, DO NOT use Dawn Platinum dish liquid. It degrades the wax and eats it apart. I had one that the wax was seperated and totally fried. I've never seen any video of wax that acted and looked like this particular lamp I had. I was kinda just playing around with different things to try and fix it (doubtful) and I used this dawn liquid. It's good for cleaning out old lava out of your bottle, but dont use it in your lava lamp. It will destroy it!
My lava lamp exploded and the water hit the ceiling and all over the wall
What tool do you use to remove and install the cap?
right and put it back on
A beer bottling capping tool
Hey thanks for the video, so when you have a cup of distilled water how much Epsom salt do you put into the cup and stir?
Haha watch the vid again.. till the water gets cloudy and no more will dissolve
Very easy to follow step by step instructions and tips! Thank you 😁👍
Glad I found your vid. It's the best one out there! Gonna try it tomorrow. Thanks much!
John Berthoty did it work ?
@@aaronnicolaus1400 Yes it did! took a little effort to get the balance of salt vs distilled, but definitely works.
Thank you :-)
Thanks for the video! So I have an old lava lamp from the 70's. Bought a bulb for it and fired it up, the wax will not flow correctly. Does this process help to restore 'old wax'?
Update; so I just learned that the wax is bad. It is cloudy/muddy-looking and breaks apart ununiformly. Good wax will be smooth and solid looking. What I will do is simply empty a new lamp into the old one after I clean it out
What kind of wax do you need to buy?...I want to make my own from scratch
Great but wish you had mentioned about taking off the bottle cap and replacing it.
Did you figure anything out on this? I wonder if you just use a bottle cap opener but then how to put it back on tightly is the problem
Hi ,i was happy to find this video i have a 1974 lava lamp that desperately needed a overhaul , i got all my ingredients ready and started. I started to add the Epsom salt ,1 hour 2 hour 3 hour 4 hour.....come to the 7th or 8th hour and still no movement with the wax. There is little room at the top for anymore salt so i decided to add a drop of the liquid soap. ...nothing , so i add3d another drop still nothing. Should i turn the light on 😂. Lol jk no the light has been on . Any suggestions would be appreciated., i read on another guys thread about his failed attempt to rejuvenate his lamp ,but he wasn't using Epsom salt water nor was it distilled. And he added a lot of soap and it looked bad. Anyway a guy in his comment section said to use distilled water and the stuff you make dry ice with. Come to think of it, the failed attempt he did use Epsom salt,just no distilled water.
So i don't have the dry ice stuff, any help. Should i just start over ,and repeat this process? Thanks in advance 😊
Pss i had already liked and shared this video and mentioned it to the guys on the other video process and your video🥴
Exceptionally helpful! I bought a large lava lamp from the thrift store today with rich blue wax, looked kinda odd but the size of it was awesome so I snagged it. When I got home and untaped it (the thrift store had half a roll of tape on it to keep it from breaking i guess lol) I noticed that the cap had several dings in the top and one side was pushed in. I'm wondering if I could ask some advice on how I could proceed to troubleshoot or fix it?
Might be a bit late, but a small ball bearing on the inside of the cap/hat and gently roll and push/apply pressure to the ball(with your finger) where the dents are and they should 'roll' out🙏🙂🤙
Edit: The caps are usually only made of aluminium so you can essentially just push bigger dents out with your thubs/fingers, the 'roller ball'(ball bearing) technique works best for the dents that are smaller or hard to reach and push out
2 questions. I still have the initial liquid and wax in my lava lamp, but the wax either forms a pilar and stays, or more commonly, just sits at the bottom and does nothing. Would this system work if i just added the salt and dish soap? Also, If I don’t have rosin salts, can you use regular salt! Thx for the awesome video!!!
Mine 2. Mine is still just sitting at the bottom.
You sound like a professional.
Hi. Great video. Does this process also apply to glitter lava lamps please. Thanks.
Followed the video and thanks for posting. Any ideas on what I'm missing as after my distilled water and 1 tsp epson salt i get 2 blobs. 1 on top and 1 on bottom. Never get a single blob floating in middle, etc. The lamp pretty much does the same thing. Warms up and the blobs divide 1 to top and stays other to bottom.
You needed to add 1 or 2 drops of dish soap
very useful, thank you! Do you know the recipe for the wax?
I think it’s just paraffin wax
You are awesome I really appreciate you being so cool with lava lamp information.
I heard that there is such a thing called bad/lazy wax and if that happens im suppose to return the lamp to the manufacturer but my lamp was a gift. It wont heat properly and stay as one blob from the bottom of the lamp to the top. If it ever separates it doesnt turn into multiple blobs but instead just does 1 blob at a time. Can the method of this video fix that issue?
Also when doing this method does the top part of the lamp cover need to be on or off the lamp?
Very informative dude. Thumbs up
Any tips for taking the lid off?
Hi is this the same process for the old 70s lamps ? Grate vid thank you.
Once you get the salt balance right, how do you top up the lamp to make sure it's full without disrupting that balance?
Also, thanks for the great video!
Did you figure it out ??? I have tint bubbles forming but nothing to crazy yet.. waiting another hour to add another drop of dish soap
add a bit of both distilled water and then more epsom water(if needed) till you get the desired effect.
I have a lamp from the 90’s that lost about half its contents. I added to the original contents instead of starting from scratch. It did work but it required a lot of dish soap to get the blobs to break up into the normal smaller pieces - probably due to the other chemicals that are in the original solution. As a result the liquid is quite cloudy - would you recommend pouring it all out and starting over? The movement of the lava is really good now but it just doesn’t look right because of the cloudy liquid.
WOW thanks for this I've been wondering how I could re do my lava globe. See it got knocked over and ever since then its closing and the wax doesn't flow the same its all blobby and flows to the top. I do have one question HOW do you reseal the cap ? I read somewhere that you could tighten it back up by using a hose clap.
Worked like a charm
Awesome video, thank you for posting it! I have an issue with my lamp where at the bottom it forms water bubbles within the wax that floats upwards. This bubbly wax is not a good look. Does the wax need replacing, or would changing out the water as you have instructed do the trick? Do you have a video on how to replace the sealing cap? All of mine are like a bottle top.
It was interesting and informative, thanks.
How do you reseal the cap? They don't seem like they are meant to go back on easily. Thanks.
Very informative. Would love to see a video of the process... thanks
Does anyone have any suggestions for what to use or how to put the cap back onto the bottle once you're finished refilling it? How do you get it to seal back on?
I used a metal hose clamp. It worked great! Be careful not to over do it. Its air tight again.
Great Video! Thanks for the info. Just got a Lavalamp fot Christmas and it's cloudy. Should I send it back under the warranty or try to fix it myself? Is there a trick for replacing the wax?
Hey! I would try warranty first, especially if it's a name-brand. If not, try the old trick of leaving it on for 6-8 hours a day for a few days.
Hi Spats Bear. Any thoughts on how to get air bubbles out of the wax? I have two lamps and both have the same problem. Not sure if it's just the way they are or whether it was caused from rough handling on delivery. Any tips would be most appreciated. Thanks.
It's actually me :-) And there will always be a bubble or two here and there, but if it's really bad, I'd suggest putting your lamp on a timer.. 8 hours on, 16 hours off, and let it be for a few days, it should work the air out.
@@HarleyBadger Thanks for the reply. I carried on using the lamps for another week, but, the problem just got worse and worse. I ended up boxing them back up and returning to amazon for a refund. They were really terrible. I've had many lamps over the years but I've never seen any quite like them. They were just awful quality. There was also other issues with them as well as the bubbles. Never buy a lava lamp made by 'The original lava lamp company', they suck! Thanks anyway. I appreciate your time.
@@gazb0075 Good deal then :-) ..yeah, I had a couple that were just lost causes, I donated them to Goodwill... thought maybe some kid would like them.
I'm mind blown 😳
This was awesome 👌
Very helpful video thank you 🙏🏻 😊
How do you remove the bottle cap without bending it?
Little bits at s time with a bottle opener.
Perfect! I have an old rocket shaped lava lamp that needs an inch or so of refilling.
did it work? my lava lamp needs an inch of refilling
OMG THE INTRO SOUND!!! Nostalgia inbound... Dr. Dre 2001 !!!
Not sure if it's the exact sound from the album, but it sure made me think of it!
Gaz B 007 THX Logo from almost every movie from the 90’s-early 2000’s
I have a vintage 1970 Lava Lamp and it was dropped and the cap cracked....and all the liquid poured out. Will this refill technique work for this lamp also? The liquid feels like it has mineral oil in it....my next question where can I find a replacement cap? Its a gold base with a gold screw on cap....
thank you for any help you can give me....
best guide to refill a lva lamp i found tnx a lot (:
I dropped my friends lava lamp from 1990 and it broke open I thought it was a jell inside because it felt like jelly and greasy , it was tuff to get off of her wooden floor ,it kept smearing, so I thought there was a gummy slimey solution in it. But I have my own lamp kniw abd it quit bubbling and just add a lump of wax in bottom and a bunch of wax hardened towards the top along the sides , so I thought by shaking it up the hot wax on the bottom would make contact with the cold wax on the sides and melt, but its still not bubbling and now I have particles floating all thru the lamp. So I am going to attempt this in a couple of days ,after getting stuff tommorrow . I am excited because I really loved my lamp, it was calming to watch. Did I do the damage myself because I did leave it in for hrs. at a time, I probably should have turned it off more than what I did...
Is it possible to "top off" a lava lamp that has had some evaporation without going through this whole process (completely replacing the liquid)? Mine is down about a half inch but otherwise works just fine. Thanks..
What if the wax has been throughly shaken? Will this fix it or does it have to be replaced too?
I've replaced the master fluid in my Lava-Simplex Aristocrat at least 5 times before I got it to how I wanted it. This also works for adding fluid to lamps with low fluid.
"Its like growing a plant"... ya I hate waiting a full day or two before I can harvest a dank crop, smoke and trip out on my lava lamp
I got a lava lamp but all the lava wax is stuck in the bottom 😭😭😭😭😭
Thank you, very informative! Any tips on repairing a lamp that has wax sitting at the bottom and wax floating at the top but no action between the two?
Oidium45 yes - that’s what this video is about, just do it!
Have you thought of checking the specific gravity to take the guess work out of it ?
Is this only for refilling?? ... Also do you happen to know what the wax is made out of the one that stays at the bottom this is great Ive always wanted to create my own shade and have it long lasting like the originals any advice would greatly appreciated.
Yep, this is intended for refilling from scratch. The wax formulation differs depending on the actual manufacturer ("Lava Lite" is just a name, they are made by many different contractors, mostly in China,) but is generally paraffin or a paraffin blend. I think if you want to make your own (#1 most important is to make absolutely CERTAIN you are using an extremely heat-resistant container, most glassware is NOT,) fill a regular Lava Lite and make sure it works properly, then pour the contents into another container while it's hot. Use a hook or bent coat-hanger to extract the spring and place it in the new container if possible, and make sure to shield your hands, it will be extremely hot of course.
How are yours so cool looking. Mine is so boring. The wax/lava is stuck at the bottom of the glass. I think I overheated it cause it was on for 24 hrs. Is there anything I can do to fix it??
Do I use the same ratios or adjust if I’m using a “gigantic lava lamp” the one that is two feet tall? Please help! This is the most informative video I’ve found about this. Just trying to make another mans trash my treasure
Where did you get your white wax from?
I am up to step added 1 tsp salt mixture have 2 wax balls moving 1 up 1 down more salt concentrate or dish soap? Thanks.
So can I use this tutorial to change the fluid in my lamp? It was supposed to be clear but it came as a weird milky color.
I found a antique lava lamp in my aunts owl house and its a milky color I don't like it so I'm trying to see if this shit is legit
Also, I have several lamps, they were all exposed to freezing temperatures, so they no longer operate, they just melt and sit at the bottom. If I'm following your instructions, the wax is salvageable? One of my lamps is the Enchantress planter style, the screw off gold cap has a sticker with the year 1977 on it, the globe has white wax and a light aqua liquid. Is the liquid and wax different from more modern versions? Can the wax be saved, and can I use your recipe for fluid replacement on this vintage wax?
Thanks for your video I'm going to restor my father's original late 60s lamp (I shook it like a twat) I've ordered the salt and I'll pop down to o'Rileys when it gets here for the water. You have been very helpful that's a lot 😎
You're welcome!
Micheal Barnes that’s what I did...
Yeah vikki all I can say is take your time in the processes lol it's tricky getting the salt balance correct. But worth it my lamp is awesome now I've got red lava and put orange food colouring in the water it looks like real lava. 🔥😜🔥
Yea I can’t do this coz I don’t have distilled water (never knew it existed) coz I live in uk but what’s even the difference lol
Oh I'm from Devon hiii lol well I found the cheapest in halfords it's used to top up car batteries but you can buy it in Tesco to I think. It's not expensive 😁
Firstly your tutorial very well executed. Would like your guidance as my lava lamp is low on liquid. Glass vessel measures 11 and a quarter inch from bottom to top. Space needing liquid approx 1 inch. from bottom of screw on cap. Lamp works well except that a large amount of wax sits at top and does not move .Can I just add distilled water, or is some form of mixture needed? Your feedback appreciated!! Thank you.
I followed your instructions and the wax will not dome up yet. I have the large lamp 24 inches. Any suggestions
1. "add a teaspoon of salt" Ok, per WHAT SIZE of lamp? I have two that need help. One tiny one where the wax keeps on floating and one oh, I think it's a 14" where the wax is called "lazy lava." I get the blob and that's all. Water on that one is clear so thinking just adding some of the salt solution should fix it???
2. Taking off and putting back the cap. HOW???? Pry it off will ruin it. And no one seems to touch on this part of the whole operation. Someone suggested a twist off beer bottle cap BUT the lamp is not a twist off form. So I doubt that will work.
Any advice on removing and mostly replacing their sealed cap?
I just carefully pry with a screwdriver around the bottom flange. That's the only way. I haven't put it back on tight yet. Making sure the lamp is working properly before I tighten it back on. I am thinking of pliers and gently squeezing around the cap to tighten the bottom flange.
Be careful. You can chip or crack the glass.
Mine had an aluminium cap pressed on over a rubber bung, lve run a Stanley knife round the top popped it of added salt,put the stopper back in and it's fine.
The size of the lamp doesn't matter, the same instructions apply. Just keep adding a teaspoon of the "extra salt water" as described at 3:00, and follow my instructions from that point. Gently pry the cap off little by little around the edge, with a flat screwdriver, paper clip, etc and when you reattach the cap, gently tighten it with a hose clamp until it's snug again. See below for the link.
Here's how to reattach the cap and bend the flange back tight. Put a hose clamp (link below) over the cap and *gently* tighten it until it compresses the flange back into place. *GENTLY.*
www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiHof7z3cXfAhURoYMKHVgHB20QjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.homedepot.com%2Fp%2FEverbilt-1-2-1-1-4-in-Hose-Repair-Clamp-6712595%2F202309385&psig=AOvVaw3041AYAHdjFH7QiioC8MRS&ust=1546196739863564
Hose clamp. Thank you. I wish I knew that before. This was my
first repair. I will try to remember that if I need to do another repair!! It's still fun!!!
Can you replace the wax?
Orobably
yeah, there is a kit you can buy
ua-cam.com/video/eSlDnEEYSgU/v-deo.html
Should you melt the paraffin wax before putting it in the bottle or shave it and put the shavings in then melt it?
Question.. I found my old lava lamp night light. Almost all of the light inside has evaporated. It didn’t have the light wax in it but has sparkle pieces. I figured out that the top opens so you refill it and added a little water to it and now the blue liquid that was in it originally is at the bottom and the water is at the top.. when I turned it on and left it on for 8 hours, it did nothing.. so I want to empty it and refill it. I found online that the wax inside is called paraffin wax.. should I buy some for it to do it like in this video or could I just add something else like it was with just glitter sparkles inside that swirl around when it gets hot? Please help!
Do they make a tool to fasten the bottle cap back on so it's nice and air tight to prevent epavoration over time ?
So cool! You are a legend!
Followed all your steps but I dont know whats going on as after refiling the bottle with new distilled water with just one tea spoon of epsom salt, left it run for three hours (wax looked really fluid and shiny just three main bubbles), added one tea spoon of the saturated water and from there the entire wax parked at the top and never went down again. Never saw the "large blob" at the bottom as it never went fully down there during the process. Tryed turning it off until cold, the wax now is solidified on top. Not coming down.
Should I add more saturated salt? should I proceed with the washing up liquid? what should I do? Thanks.
Try one more drop of washing liquid. It sounds like the formula might be a bit different than Dawn brand (unless it *is* Dawn brand,) otherwise try adding just a dash more epsom salt. If it doesn't work, at some point you'll need to dump it and try again.
@@HarleyBadger thanks, yes tried dumping it twice and realized that there's no need of any salt. Just plain distilled water (no washing up liquid at all) and now is flowing great. The washing up liquid is for increase the booble qty of decrease it? Now is flowing around 4 5 medium boobles would be nice if they were just two or three but not sure if is a washing up liquid thing. Thanks
@@lespaulx OK good, glad you got it figured out. As for the soap, I'd play it safe and leave it as-is, at least for now.
How do you replace the metal cap that is like a coke bottle cap to make sure the bottle is refilled?
I have a giant lava lamp that I’ve had for a long time. There is about a half inch air gap at the top between the liquid surface and the cap that’s visible. Could I add just a bit of distilled water to fill it all the way? Or would I need the epsom salt as well?
How do you get the freaking cap on and off? Did you bring that up?
Very detailed except for one thing. You didn’t talk about removing/replacing the bottle cap. Or in the case of my 250oz lamp, it’s more like a lid. How do you do this? Where can you get replacement caps? Can you reuse a cap, and if so, how do you remove it without damaging it? Also, where do you get replacement wax? I actually have bugs trapped in my lamp and need to replace the wax. The quality control in China is crap.
I have a south park lava lamp from 2011, the wax changed from blue to yellow/orange and I dont know if I have any options to fix it.
Is there a way to tell if you've added too much salt solution? My daughter has one of those giant off brand lamps. I figured I would need to double the teaspoons at each hour interval. I did see the wax "wave" each hour as i dropped the teaspoons in, but that's all it does. It does not rise in one big clump as in your video. I've been adding solution for over 8 hours. Do I keep on going or dump it all out and try again? I too never got my mix of epsom salt to look quite like yours.
Yes, I did it!! But I didn't have to use dish detergent. I have an off brand lava lamp. I have clear water now! I just used epsom salt solution. It breaks apart just fine. Not adding detergent. Don't need it.
ua-cam.com/video/ik3Rbs7QJ8Q/v-deo.html
The cap had to be pried carefully around the bottom flange to get it off. Different brand.
Nice! And yep, may not have to use detergent on those shapes, I think it only helps on the actual brand with its trademark tapered shape.
I have a grande lava lamp with a 26 inch globe. I put 1.5tsp in during the second step before heating because I have about twice the volume.
Thanks, I followed the video and it works well, but noticed that after a few days all the wax floats and accumulates to the top and tends to stay there. Any ideas on what this maybe? As a side note i have an original lava lamp that has to be at least 50 years old.
Harley says add a pinch of epsom salt, or a few drops of dissolved epsom salt. He says good luck!