How To Fix A Lava Lamp After Shaking It

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Fix shaken lava lamp

I absolutely love the look of Lava lamps as they are unique and are a very nice addition to my computer room. I even have one on my PC desk!

A lava lamp uses heat to make the colored wax inside it rise and fall, giving it that really cool lava effect. There are so many cool lamps to choose from with a huge variety of colors, which is why they still remain so popular today.

However, the only problem with this is if you shake your lava lamp, the wax inside starts to form into clumps or doesn’t flow properly, causing it to break. You will end up with a lava lamp with wax stuck at the top or stuck at the bottom.

It’s no good having a lamp where the “lava” doesn’t flow. So below I have listed some steps on how to fix a lava lamp that may have been knocked over or shaken by mistake.

How to fix a shaken lava lamp

Method 1: Turn off the lamp

To start with if your lava lamp is on, turn it off and then wait for a few minutes for it to cool down completely. Just remember they can get really hot, so don’t touch it until it has cooled down. Depending on what lamp you have and how long it has been on will depend on how long you will need to wait.

Once your lava lamp has cooled down and been off for a while, turn it back on and hope that it works.

Method 2: Leave it to settle for a few hours

Turn off your lava lamp, then leave it for a few hours to let it settle. This will allow the wax inside the lamp to cool and stabilize which will then hopefully allow it to start flowing correctly again.

So leave it for a minimum of two or three hours before turning the lamp on again. It can sometimes even take a few days for your lava lamp to settle, so if you are in no rush to fix it leave it alone for a few days after the wax inside has settled.

Method 3: Lava lamp bulb

Make sure the bulb is still working and has not blown. If the bulb has blown or is not heating up enough, this is going to cause issues such as making the wax not flow correctly.

Method 4: Move the lamp

Seeing as you are now down to this method suggests you have not had any luck so far with fixing your lava lamp, so the next thing to try is to gently move the lamp.

The reason for this is that if the wax inside the lamp has stuck together or is sticking to the sides, then gently moving the lamp could help free this. Which will then allow it to flow again.

So hold your lava lamp and ensure it’s not hot before doing this, then tilt it slowly back and forth, and then side to side. Make sure you do this slowly as you do not want to break the wax and cause more damage.

Method 5: Top up the water

If you are still having issues with your lava lamp not flowing correctly then you could try adding some warm water. You will only be able to do this if your lava lamp has the option.

So fill the lamp with warm water then make sure you leave about an inch or two of space at the top (refer to the manual on how much space to leave for your particular model of lamp).

Now turn the lamp on and let it warm up, now the warm water should help the wax loosen up and start to flow correctly again.

Method 6: Replace the liquid

In many models, you can actually replace the liquid inside. So it will look and feel like a brand-new lamp again!

Be careful when doing this and refer to the manufacturer’s instructions on how to change the lava lamp liquid/wax for your particular model.

Final thoughts

So as you can see shaking a lava lamp can cause the wax inside it to get stuck together, resulting in it not working correctly.

Luckily though we can do a few things to fix this. I hope the above guide has helped get your lava lamp back to its normal working and flowing state.

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