Lamps blowing

Can anyone suggest why lamps keep failing, I've changed 8, in different rooms, in the past month for an elderly friend. This morning all three 40W lamps had failed in a single ceiling fitting! I've checked for loose connections in the fittings and at the fuse box without success. Could it be something like the immersion heater thermostat causing a spike? I'm really getting desperate!

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Peter

Reply to
Peter Andrews
Loading thread data ...

Standard lamp (GLS) life is 1000 hours, but other types may be less. And this is for an ideal mounting. Factors like heat and vibration may also effect the life.

To come to any conclusion, you'd have to carefully log their use. Some people leave lights on when not needed, for example, so it's difficult to just guess how long they should last in years or whatever.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Replace incandescent bulbs with CFL (compact fluorescent) types. These last much longer, and use a fraction of the electricity.

You might have slight overvoltage on the line. Incandescent lightbulbs are very sensitive to line voltage.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

Cold weather causes lamp failure, as does overvoltage. Sometimes when one lamp blows it takes out others on the same circuit. You can get a monitoring thingy for the mains to show spikes coming in. But probably just coincidence/cold weather.

mrcheerful

Reply to
mrcheerful

voltage surge and crap bulbs used.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

I have come across a number of instances, both privately and professionally, where the mains voltage was unusually high. Even if the voltage is within spec but on the high end of it, this can make a very substantial difference to the life of an incandescent lamp. I recall a friend of mine having similar problems a few years ago, and I found that his mains supply was often going out of spec. He had a word with the supplier and it was dealt with - a change of tap on the local substation transformer perhaps.

I remember 'inheriting' a number of 230v lamp bulbs from my Grandma some years ago, and although these used to burn nice and bright on 240v mains, they certainly didn't last nearly as long as a pukka 240v bulb.

The mains spec used to be 240v +/- 6%, but due to European harmonisation of mains voltage to a nominal 230v, I believe that it is now specified as 230v

+10% -6%. (If not, then someone will be along in a moment to correct me.) Therefore, the permitted range is from about 216v to 253v. At my friend's house it was closer to 260v! See if you can borrow a reasonably accurate multimeter to check your friend's supply, but take care and don't zap yourself!

Bye from Rick

Reply to
Richard Sterry

And are bloody awful, they take time to come up to brightness and, to some, give off a detectable flicker.

Reply to
:::Jerry::::

some do take time to come up to brightness, but some don't. It just depends where you get them. I have never found the flicker to be a problem, and the money I save would far make up for it anyway

Reply to
Mike Hibbert

Some are better than others about slow warm up times.

I haven't had one that flickers for ages. Things have moved on since 1995 when they often had non-electronic ballasts. They were also huge and had old style "strike" starters.

There has been a huge improvement in the colour spectrum emitted, although this is still variable upon brand. Some of the ones I've got are indistinguishable from incandescents, except through careful study, such as examining overly frequency sensitive pigments. Choose something like a 2700K tri-phosphor for best results.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

That I rate as a plus: much easier on the eyes to start off at reduced brightness and come up to full. But YMMV

Reply to
Tony Bryer

For passageways maybe but for rooms where the light is usually off and you go in and switch it on to look for something they are a bit of a pain.

Reply to
Bob Mannix

40 W bulbs and 3 in one fitting. It sounds like they could be R50 bulbs. They are manufactured by the devil and blow frequently if they are not tight enough into the fitting. Tighten them up and you can never get them out.

Peter, also check for loose connections in the switches.

Adam

Reply to
ARWadsworth

"Bob Mannix" wrote in news:cmobb2$2ci$ snipped-for-privacy@blackmamba.itd.rl.ac.uk:

By the time I get the light on I've forgotten what I went in there for anyhow

mike

Reply to
mike ring

The tri-phosphor ones that RS do are very nice, and get a little bit smaller each time I order one, although personally I prefer 4000K. The colour rendering index (CRI) should be a useful indication of accurate colour rendering (the higher the better) but can sometimes be misleading.

Reply to
Ben

I agree. The "soft start" is nice at night. Recently fitted 9W CFLs to the lounge fittings previously 6 x 40W candles, blowing at one a month or more. The CFLs give more light and consume much less power, these lights are on 18hrs/day, pay back for the capital will be about 6 months...

Of course CFLs are not really suited to place where they are switched on/off frequently, much better for the "always on" places like living rooms.

As for the OP, check the mains voltage, preferably at regular intervals (every hour) over a few days. You will probably find it is at the top end or over the maximum allowed.

We suffered 40W candle bulbs going at a rate above what their quoted run time would indicate (see above). Bought a UPS and the thing went straight into "voltage reduction" mode, thought it was faulty until I got the meter out and measured the incoming mains... A phone call to the lecky board they came out measured it, agreed, and came back a coupel of days later to adjust the tapping on our pole transformer.

40W candle failures then fell back to what would be expected.
Reply to
Dave Liquorice

"Peter Andrews" wrote | Can anyone suggest why lamps keep failing, I've changed 8, in | different rooms, in the past month for an elderly friend. | This morning all three 40W lamps had failed in a single | ceiling fitting!

The lamps were probably all put in together, new, from the manufacturer's same batch of lamps, will have been on for identical length of time, and so can reasonably be expected to fail at the same time.

One advantage of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) is they tend not to fail suddenly, which has safety advantages.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

I had that once - changed the lampshade (!) and that fixed it. I suspect it was cold draughts from the outside door. There are a _lot_ of things that can cause early bulb failures; vibration, cold, spikes.

Try compact fluorescents - they're less susceptible to many of these problems. Whatever brand it is that Lidl are selling these days have a faster warmup than the others I've had before. I just bought one because I needed a replacement, then - I went round and changed all the others.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

The problem with 4000K is it actually produce light more similar to sunlight. Because we humans are used to the yellow light produced by incandescent lightbulbs, people complain that it is too cold or blue.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

If you try CFLs for the first time, buy a bunch of all different brands, then you'll know asap which ones are good and which arent. Some have bad warm up times or uninspired light quality.

NT

Reply to
N. Thornton

And it isn't always a case of getting what you pay for, either. I have some ultra-compact unbranded spiral bulbs that were dirt cheap in B&Q. Absolutely excellent colour spectrum, very bright and ideal for flush ceiling fittings. Some expensive branded equivalents had to go back, as the spectrum was awful and made cream paint go green.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.