Please Help - House Eats Lightbulbs

[Maria]

Moved in here (3 bed house) a year ago - since then I must have bought

200 light bulbs. They just last only a week or two. Upstairs is the worst case - we have two floors up there - the top bedroom has four wall lights and no ceiling light - the bulbs last a few days at most. Last week the fluorescent tube in the kitchen went. Today one upstairs light exploded when I switched it on, and a brand new energy-saving bulb on the ground floor broke after one week of use.

We have already have two electricians 'take a look', and neither could see any problem. At the time, the upper floors fuse in the mains fuse box would just trip off. Now it tends not to, but the bulbs still break right left and centre.

With the new laws coming in wrt energy saving bulbs, this could end up costing me a fortune!

I will obviously have to get someone in for a 'proper' look rather than a 'take a look', but I don't want to get ripped off as we are a bit broke at the moment. The mains fuse box looks new, so there could have been a problem for a while.

Anyone any idea what an electrician would have to do to see what the problem is? None of those so far have had any idea and were not overly concerned (yes they were all qualified!) . I don't want someone coming in here saying we need a rewire if we don't.

Thanks.

[Frank Erskine]

You could get the electricity company to come and measure the mains voltage. They ought not to charge for this if you explain the problem. They could even leave a recorder fitted for a period to see if there are any surges or other large variations. Are any other appliances affected, such as kettles?

[tony sayer]

In article , Maria scribeth thus

Have a go at your electricity supplier the one who looks after the distribution network i.e. the one you'd complain to if there was a power cut, not the one who you buy your leccy from although that could be the same company.

Ask then to pout a recording voltmeter on your mains supply to see if its in tolerance...

I very much doubt that any electrician would have one of those. I reckon many don't even have a multimeter!..

[Derek Geldard]

If you are not seeing anything abnormal (flickering or bulbs not coming on when they are switched on [dodgy switch] ) I'd doubt that it is the house wiring per-se.

If it was more than lightbulbs involved IE servers or disk drives with a few hundred thousand credit card records compromised, they might put a monitor/datalogger on the mains. You can rent these, they just plug into a socket, but I don't know how much it costs.

You can buy "rough service" or "triple life" lightbulbs for not much more than regular GLS bulbs.

At the moment. :-((

Fluorescent tubes (NB not HF semiconductor ballasts) are not unduly sensitive to over voltage).

I wonder myself if you are just seeing the general diminution of quality as production is shifted to China. BIBW.

DG

[dennis]

Some computer UPS system will record the input voltage if he happens to have one.

[Skipweasel]

Talking of which, ours is currently (!) 248V. Am I right in thinking that the meter integrates current over time, not power? If so we're gaining slightly since we get more Watts for our Amps.

[Maria]

I hadn't even thought of that - thanks!

I didn't think so, but looking back, since we have been here we have also lost a tv (tube blown, and it was a good quality tv) and a washing machine (would trip the downstairs socket circuit when switched on...I had just put it down to my typical bad luck!

[Maria]

They all seem to last the same amount of time...doesn't matter if they are cheapo rubbish bulbs or long-life ones.

Aye...:(

I did wonder, but this didn't happen in our last house (also a cruddy old Victorian terrace) and the the low energy one we just lost was supposed to go for 10,000 hours or something.

[R]

A friend had a similar thing a while ago, turns out there were 2 phases in the building oddly wired to each other. Surges caused similar problems to yours. Cock-up by a "builder" when the place was built

[Adrian C]

Your electricity meter in the cupboard measures "real" power. As a domestic customer, you can have some amps "free" if your devices have a bad power factor. Very naughty if you do that deliberately.

[Maria]

How would a leccy check something like that? Would it be obvious? Sorry...I'm really numpty about household electrics!

[tony sayer]

Are they true reading RMS meters though?..

[Dave Baker]

The new box could be the cause of the problem rather than the attempted solution.

In vehicles when bulbs blow too often it's always due to a bad earth somewhere. Of course that's DC electrickery not AC electrickery and frankly I know bugger all about either anyway but I understand a bad earth acts the same way in AC. Also over-voltage will drastically shorten bulb life but that's easy to check with a multimeter. Then there's power surges due to some sort of problem with the supply but I'd expect that to affect neighbours too. Have you asked them?

It wouldn't be hard to just go over all the main connections as the supply comes into the house and through the fusebox and check/clean/tighten everything. If the problem persists then you'd have to do the same on each circuit.

[tony sayer]

In article , Dave Baker scribeth thus

How do you reckon that then?..

[Grunff]

I don't see how a bad earth can ever cause bulbs to fail prematurely - care to expand on that Dave?

A faulty voltage regulator OTOH...

[Bob Smith]

Sounds interesting - tell me more!

Bob

[Dorothy Bradbury]

More correctly a bad earth connection at the battery... o The battery is a huge smoothing capacitor in a car charging system o Without a battery voltages can spike very high, causing damage

Other causes of car bulb blowing are bad diode (pack) or regulator, typically exhibited by bulbs appearing excessively bright. Battery terminals should be inspected & cleaned regularly - helps ignition.

I do not think an UPS is a good guide to house voltage since it may be at the end of a final circuit and subject to unknown error. Mine used to indicate 252-257V routinely, overly optimistic.

Lightbulbs whilst very sensitive to voltage are also sensitive to quality, handling, lamp fitting (plastic v brass) & height in room. GE bulbs I may suggest are engineered for maximum revenue :-) Fluorescent are objectionable re lumen degradation over time.

It is possible to change tappings at a sub-main. However in the first instance a REC would want to prove their is a problem. If you are in a heavy industrial area there may be other issues. A voltmeter or tester would need to be calibrated to be of use, I recall they make a small charge to supply a logger (£10-15-25?). That is unless your meter is 10yrs old where it may be free??

[Bob Eager]

I've heard that too...

I would guess that an intermittent connection, turning the thing on and off very rapidly and randomly, might shorten bulb life. Same applies here of course, as I think someone said.

[Andy Champ]

... which I have seen first hand...

Andy

[Harry Bloomfield]

It would show up on a measurement of voltage.

The 'c*ck up' was likely a poor neutral connection.

If you knew how to use a basic multimeter, you could check the voltage. A basic one, good enough for your purpose can be had for around £5 from Maplin. This set to am AC range higher than 250v and left on whilst you checked the reading occasionally, might show up a problem.

The dodgy part for someone of your limited experience is connecting it to the mains.