Question - How to clear up a foggy 90's lava lamp

by Spencer541

Dec 6, 2016

I'm going through my whole collection and running into a few lava's that are very foggy such as this cranberry pictured below, a green one, a teal one etc.  These are all globes from the 1990's.  What can I do to help clear them up -

Should I run them?  

If so how long?

Frosted bulb or clear bulb?

Right now they are running a 4 hour cycle twice a day with about 12 hours in between cycles.  Is that enough or do they need more run time?

Thanks.

Pictured below is one #16 black and two #18 cranberry lamps sitting next to each other.  Obviously one is doing a little better then the other

The tape on the globe is just there to let me know where the liquid level was when I boxed them up years ago. 

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    Bohdan

    There are times when dealing with a cloudy lamp you run across a bad coil. What I have done is removed the cap carefully and if its rusty on the inside I will recap with a new cap. There are times when the older LL USA globes have become loose enough to let air in and the liquid level starts to drop. Once the cap is off I will run the globe till hot and use a long metal hook to remove the coil. This hook can also be made from a coat metal hanger and just reform the tip with a short hook.

    5

    Dec 27, 2016

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      Bohdan

      For the cap I will use a thin screwdriver under the cap then turn as shown into the glass and into the 21 cap points 1 at a time this will pry out the cap complete and make it easy to remove with no damage. The cap will be easy to reseal once done.

      7

      Dec 28, 2016

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        Spencer541

        Well it took a month a about two weeks of running 8 hours a day for a couple of days on then a few off but as you can see in the picture this purple lava went from a foggy mess to crystal clear.  I am truly amazed it recovered.

        Jan 28, 2017