I've gone through about 6 of these supposed "1 year" bulbs in about 3 months, in light sockets in the garage that are only on sporadically. They're shorter lived than the regular cheapie bulbs I've been using.
Anyone find them to last anything like what's claimed for them?
Most lightbulbs are rated for "X" number of hours at 4 hours per day, 7 days a week. Phillips Duramax bulbs are among the best for logevity in normal household situations, however, garage door openers create vibration which will reduce the life of the bulb. As well, if you live out in the country (or perhaps even in an urban setting) where power spikes are frequent, these will also dramatically shorten the life of the bulb.
Depending on where you are on the planet, I'd suggest switching to a
13-15w compact flourescent (Commercial Electric, commonly sold at Home Depot, or Phillips are my picks) which will normally last 5-7 years and produce more lumens than the 60w incandescent bulbs they are commonly compared to. As a bonus, they are much more energy efficient and the ozone layer and your bank account will thank you in the long run.If you don't like the temperature of the light they emit, Phillips makes an excellent "Country" bulb (they are marked as such) which are advertised to work up to 6000 hours. You might also consider trying a rough service bulb.
Having said that, I've been using DuraMax bulbs forever and have had very good success with them.
Finally, consider returning the bulbs to the store where you bought them. If that batch of bulbs got bashed around during shipping, it could cause premature failure.
Cheers Sparky
I was going to suggest the same thing! Bulbs in our house's external light fixtures were burning out after just weeks sometimes. I tried different types and brands of incandescent light bulbs but all with the same results. Until I tried the fluorescent ones! These have been working for about a year now!
I don't know what it was about those light fixtures, probably temperature swings outside. This could be the reason for your garage bulbs failures too.
I had problems with the Duramax bulbs in the garage also. Anyplace there is a vibration they seem blow. Try Sylvania bulbs instead. Not GE. GE is even worse.
I bought one-year bulbs (don't know about Phillips) in an older house, and they'd go out in about a month. Really disappointing. Then I moved to a newer place. I've had the light on literally two years, and it's still going strong. ::knock wood::
So, I think it depends on wiring, power surges. I also believe the old place was haunted, which could have affected the electricity. Don't laugh until it happens to you. ;-)
At any rate, try a few and just test it out. It may be just where you're living.
Larry
sporadically.
I've had similar problems with this brand of lamps. Did you purchase them at Home Depot?
Likely the problem was not the lamps, but rather vibration from a door opener or other equipment. I might add that three months continuous duty is a good year of the normal cycle that is used for most ratings of lamp life.
From their web site
"Based upon an average of hours usage per day/7 days per week. Hours differ between products, and there are exceptions. See individual packages for details."
Yes.
Don't have a garage door opener. Just the celing sockets. They have a much shorter lifespan than other bulbs I've been using. I doubt on average they're on even 2 hours a day.
I would want to add that stress factors include people dancing vigorously or children jumping around or even in worse cases children bouncing balls where the jolts impact the lightbulbs in question... Also doors slamming hard if that is jolting the lightbulbs in question.
- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)
The Philips bulbs are giving me bad service here also. Did you buy them at Home Depot? In my case, they are 40W "fan light" bulbs in a non-fan chandelier fixture. This lamp is in our dining room with no vibration - on in the early morning and then again at night: three on-off cycles per day on average. Damn things burn out frequently (month or two at most).
Home Depot has started carrying GE fanlight bulbs - no bulb failures since I switched brands.
Package of bulbs may have been dropped. I once ruined a package by dropping it. All bulbs worked but only for a short time.
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