3 light bulbs in 36 hours

Jan 06, 2004 24 Replies

In last 36 hours, three light bulbs have blown in my house. One on the



1st floor light ring, and two on the ground floor ring (these 2 blew the ring fuse as well). Should I be concerned? Normally I only lose a light bulb every 4 to 6 months.

Thanks in advance.


Most likely just a chance occurance. Start to become concerned if it becomes a regular thing.

Also depends whether they are of a similar age, or at least, a similar number of hours of being on along (or number of switch ons etc).

D

hats the trouble with a sufdden change in wind direction and a sudden rise in temperature. Mains goes a bit high, and any marginal bulbs pop...I've had three go too.

Would be a lot more concerned if all the light bulbs had "blown" in one particular socket but three going all over the house, within 36hours, you can chalk down to coincidence (may be connected to MTBF and the number of on/off cycles).

You wait for ages and nothing happens, then three blow all at once! Just like buses.

Andy.

I've only ever seen one bus blow at a time. Quite spectacular it was, though. It took days for the scorch marks on the London Road to subside.

Christian.

You need a Priest - there is something definatly untoward going on - but the good news it is not likely to be DIY related. :o)

If it gets regular then you may want the ring or ceiling connections checked. How old is the wiring?

dg

That normally happens here too. Either the mains has overvolted or more likely you fitted the bulbs at the same time and they have come to the end of their pre-programmed life :-)

I just saw another two on teh same switch had gone tonight. Thats 5 in 4 days now..all candle bulbs apart from one (non Newey and eyre) LV halogen.

Still no failures on those.

s).

Candle bulbs do seem to have a poor lifetime - I suspect due to the long filament lengths.

I tried different makes to no great effect and eventually just bought a bulk pack of 50.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Ring are definitely the worst.

Check your mains voltage and check the lights are not flickering. The latter might indicate a poor connection which would seriously reduce the life.

I think I got GE ones IIRC......

.andy

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The fitting we have uses them cap up; I blame the short life on the possibility they are meant to burn cap down. This based on experience of T- series theatre lamps which last for minutes if used outside the specified burn angle.

40W is the normal max for cap up on candles and golf balls. The problem is the lamp base (and possibly lampholder) overheating. However, I would not expect it to affect the life of the lamps (unless the overheating generates a bad contact). Usually what happens is the lamp solders itself into the holder.

Thats a different problem -- planear filaments runs are close spaced and can sag into each other if run in a position which the filament supports were not designed for.

Oh, no - no problems like that at all. Its just natural wastage. Candle bulbs seem to last on average about 6-9 months. I have (thinking hard)..35 of them roughly, so I would expect one to go on average...(calculating hard...) every week. It doesn't take much imagination to see that 5 in one week is a bit tough, but will be followed by a month or two in which none go..

As I said, I suspect they had the power stations run up for a cold snap that vanished overnight.

I also get a bit of surge when odd bits of kit come on and off. That 'takes out the stragglers'.

What I suspect, is that the bulbs are on the way out anyway, and teh odd high voltage/switch n surge.whatever just rips through teh 99th percentile as it were. taking out the weak and dying as it does so.

I take it the compact flourescent bulbs are more immune to power supply fluctuations? I have replaced a few incandescent bulbs with energy savers recently - the packaging reckons up to 5 years lifetime depending on the number of switching cycles. (they are great as a main light in the bedroom, the way they come on slowly doesnt blind you first thing in the morning or if you get up in the middle of the night :o)

I've got a pair as outside front door lights - although they are under cover as the front door is recessed as in most Victorian houses. They are on all the hours of darkness. Over three years now...

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote | I just saw another two on teh same switch had gone tonight. Thats 5 | in 4 days now..all candle bulbs

If they're on the same switch they'll have been running for the same length of time (and were probably first fitted at the same time) so they'll all blow at about the same time?

Owain

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