How to Refill Lava Lamps

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This is a quick educational video regarding how to replace the water in a Lava Lamp.

[wendykirkman]

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.

[queen_in_yellow]

This is by far the best video on YouTube 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.

[dhenryiles]

Thank you for this, your slow, clear and evenly paced instructions were perfect and my lamp lives!

[TheHillsdaleBatman]

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!!!!

[waddg]

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 ✌️

[bhvrd]

Second time i've come to this video in my life, thank you for helping me keep my Original Lava Lamp alive!

[BrianMusgrove]

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!

[jamesgraham]

Absolutely great tutorial on Lava Lamp repair.

[randytrombley]

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.

[MMB]

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!

[sharonsattler]

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.

[Olaf_ggz]

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!

[ridingwiththereids]

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!

[DetroitWrecker]

Thanks!!! I just found my Lava Lamps from 30 years ago and was wondering if they can be restored to their former Glory!

[lucyfryer]

This is the best of the four videos I have watched. It’s specific about amounts and process. Thank you!!

[robertholsopple]

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!

[josephngo]

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!

[markgrainge]

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.

[hollymcconnell]

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!

[Squiggles]

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