Bulbs & fuse blowing

I rent a shop which has a fusebox rather than tripswitches. I have always had CU with RCD's at home/work so thought i'd ask, is it normal to have to replace fusewire when a bulb blows?

In addition I seem to be buying bulbs like they have gone out of fashion to the point where I have changed 2 fitting for flourescents (which I was going to do anyway for economy), in 4 months I reckon I have replaced every bulb in a 4 spot halogen fitting, and normal bulbs in a couple of wall lights numerous times.

Could there be some problem electrically causing bulb blowing or can I put this down to coincidence.

Reply to
R D S
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Nothing wrong with your electric, in fact this is *more* likely with MCBs not less. Some GLS bulbs have a built in

Reply to
Graham.

We get through bulbs (sorry, lamps) at a rate of knots. I've always put it down to over voltage. We have a sub station thingy at the end of the cul de sac & our voltage is always 250v +.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

I am sure you are right. Ours is always about 245v and I imagine it comes from this old transformer across the road

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seen better days
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Reply to
Graham.

You will probably be changing them again in 4 months if they are GU10s

and normal bulbs in a couple of wall lights

Are the lamps at a funny angle, ie not vertical? Lamps tend not to like this

How old and worn are the lightswitches? My parents had a lamp that blew frequently until I changed the 30 year old light switch. I assumed the lightswitch was "bouncing" when the light was turned on.

Adam

Reply to
ARWadworth

They are horizontal.

Intersting, they appear to have been installed in anticipation of electricity, it's worth a few quid to change them I suppose if it might help.

Reply to
R D S

In message , R D S writes

Disconnect it from the streetlight outside

Reply to
geoff

At risk of summoning the one who should remain nameless, yup, I have observed the same. There was a time I was being called to change a bulb at an elderly neighbour every couple of weeks. Voltage was normal (spot on 240 in fact), and there was no other obvious problem like vibration etc. In the end I changed the switch, and all was well after that.

Reply to
John Rumm

There could be several reasons...

Check the voltage of your supply. Voltage higher than 240v will reduce lamp life proportionally.

Are the lamps genuine 240v ones, I once bought some designed for 230v in the UK - they lasted no time at all.

Could there be surges in voltage? The lights themselves might show this up by becoming brighter than normal.

Poor wiring connections/lamp-holders/switches can cause the lamps to flicker. Flickering means the filaments will heat up and cool down rapidly, which in turn can severely reduce their life.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

uk used to be 240 volts years ago, europe was 220 volts, but a few years ago europe was upped to 230 and the uk dropped to 230 volts,

We never had any problems when 15 years ago we moved back to england from germany, and brought a load of fancy lights with us, which of course used screw in bulbs as that's the standard in europe, anticipating trouble getting a decent range of screw in bulbs in england, we brought back about

100 bulbs from germany,

they were 220 volt bulbs of course, but they didnt seem to last any less running on 240 volts than they did in germany, back then they seemed to last a good few years,

nowadays bulbs seem to last months, no doubt because they are made in china now, so made to the absolute cheapest standards they can get away with, prolly use cotton for the fillaments :)

But i wouldent be surprised if tugsten bulbs were being made to last a very short time deliberately, the government meddlers want us all to use cfls after all, make us fed up of chaning tugsten bulbs ever few months and we'll welcome a cfl that lasts 10 times longer (good for the manufacturers as they can make the cfl's cheaper as they now last 10 times longer than the current tugsten bulbs which is nowt like they used to last :)

Reply to
gazz

The actual UK voltage is still 240 - it never changed. All that has changed is the specified voltage and the tolerance allowed. So the spec may be for 230, but the actual voltage is still in range at 240V.

Some bulbs are deliberately stressed during manufacture so that they have a more limited life. The intention being to prevent ever decreasing efficiency (and hence falling light output) as they age.

10x is not typical alas...
Reply to
John Rumm

My mate fitted a 240V soft start units for the GU10s in his hallway and landing (11 lights) after having to fork out £3-4 a month for replacement bulbs in his new house. Had his house 4 years odd now and not a single bulb blown. Came from TLC, quite expensive but compared to constant bulb replacement works out quite cheap.

Reply to
Ian_m

Occasionally, yes. But normally one would go years between such events.

Could be overvoltage for mains filament & halogen bulbs. Should be

240v, not 230. Filament lamp life is proportional to voltage to the power of 13, so a small overvoltage has a big effect. Could be bad switches or bad bulb holders, though this usually isnt the cause Could be a batch of faulty lamps, but again this isnt usually it Vibration to the bulbs is often a cause Could be that someone's touched the halogen capsule before it goes in Could be small enclosed fittings causing heavy overheating

But the biggest cause by far of this is a combination of design and under informed user expectation. You've got however many lamps there, each lasting maybe 1000 hours, so if for example you had 10 lamps you'd get an average of one failure per 100hrs. Plus lights get left on a lot more than they used to.

The solution to that is to understand the results of your lighting setup, pick fluorescent and cfl lamps, and where desirable use less of them. CFLs & Fls dont normally pop fuses.

For more see the CFL, filament, halogen & fluorescent articles on the wiki

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Reply to
meow2222

gazz explained on 23/09/2008 :

But despite the harmonisation with the EU, it is still 240v as measured at your sockets. The actual voltage did not change.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

Their touch dimmers are also soft start, and they are not that expensive.

Reply to
John Rumm

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net...

Are GU10s known for failing fast? I am replacing a lot of them in our newly wired house, despite the promise of 1500 hours life (iknow this is an average).

Thanks Jonathan

Reply to
Jonathan

I have eight in the kitchen and have had one failure in about a year, with regular switching on and off. The one failure was shortly after installation so was probably a bad bulb. I also have six in the bathroom and have had four or five failures in about as many years.

Reply to
Frank Erskine

We had 6 in our kitchen but no longer. They did seem to fail a bit often and they invariably blew the fusewire in the (soon to be replaced) old fusebox. My wife prefers good old fashioned fluorescent tubes. With spots a lot of lighting is required to avoid shadows IMHO.

Reply to
Invisible Man

They can be... they are easily disturbed it seems (both in use and in transit) and they really don't like vibration when running. Its not uncommon to go through a number in short order, but then hit a collection that lasts quite well. Also try different brands until you get one that lasts.

Reply to
John Rumm

They can do, but more often the problem is in people's expectations. If you have 10x 1500hr bulbs, you should get one failure per 150hrs average (=3D10 per 1500hrs).

NT

Reply to
meow2222

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