Washing lightbulbs

[PeterD]

You have to run the brand new bulbs thru a dishwasher cycle before the first use. If you don't then your attempts to wash them later, will fail.

[hrhofmann]

Don't say that, some folks may believe you. The Darwin principle will take care of them.

[anonymous]

I coat them with WD-40 and the dust slides right off.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Twice a year is too anal for me. Once in a while, a bulb may be wiped with a damp cloth if it is really dusty.

[krw]

Usually once, when I clean the fans.

I'm really not concerned if the attic fixtures get a little dusty.

Some people don't clean anything.

[gregz]

The only bulbs I have are in the fridge, and running for a long time.

I remember cleaning ceiling flame bulbs once. Made a clear difference.

Greg

[Tomsic]

--

Yes, darkening due to tungsten evaporation is one of those little-known effects that used to drive lamp engineers crazy in the early days of incandescent lighting. Carbon filament lamps were worse since they were vacuum lamps (no gas inside) and so blackened uniformly. Several types of large, high-wattage stage/studio lamps used to be made with a half teaspoon or so of loose grains of tungsten inside so that when they darkened, the lamp could be removed and then shaken to swirl the tungsten around to scour the inside of the glass.

Tomsic

[krw]

I have about 40 in the "old" house. All of them, with the exception of the four in the back porch fan, are at least five years old and all have been cleaned in the last couple of months. The "new" place has probably half that number (and half that again) CFLs. I haven't done anything to them, yet, including replace the CFLs for incandescents. ;-)

Clear bulbs clearly need cleaning. ;-)

[Twayne]

409 and a soft cloth.

[Ashton Crusher]

I sandblast mine.

[Stormin Mormon]

Mine go out for dry cleaning. They come back pressed, in a thin bag, and on coat hanger.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

I sandblast mine.