Has this ever happened to you?
On a trip to the hardware store today, I purchased a clamp-on light socket w/reflector and a ruff service bulb. Now, I'm at home and I install the bulb and clamp it the shelf near the lathe. Then I walk over to the workbench to do something else, when I hear a loud pop followed by a crash. That brand new bulb exploded. There was no moisture, fumes etc. like the package warns. GE Lighting is going to hear about this.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Joe
My experience is different. My GE worked even through hot drops ( death on a normal filament ) for three years of reasonably frequent use. Good stuff, one lemon, I'd say.
BTW, if you're going to use it while working on the lathe, be sure to vibration isolate the bulb so it won't be shaken to death when you turn those out-of-round pieces.
It may have not been the fault of GE. There are outside factors that can cause a bulb to explode. Rough handling in transit, improper handling in the store, a drop of something on the bulb that later overheated and caused the explosion, a drop of something cold onto the hot bulb in your shop.
GE will probably send you a coupon for a free bulb, but you don't know that it was their fault for sure. Ed snipped-for-privacy@snet.net
I have gone through many rough service bulbs and they are not normally good for constant vibration. I have good luck with garage door opener bulbs when mounted directly to the lathe.
It's clearly a sign that you have lathe gnomes. Gotta watch out for those guys.
Handling a bulb with bare hands will leave normal body oil on the bulb which can cause the glass of the bulb to break. Uneven heating of the glass? Lamps for stage and studio lighting come with a warning that they not be handled barehanded. Some come with protective wrappers over the bulb which is removed _after_ the lamp has been installed in the fixture. Just a paper towel is enough to protect the glass when installing it. Granted, these are much higher wattage lamps. I try to keep the bulbs I change at home covered as I install them.
I think you just got the one in a million/billion bulbs GE makes that was bad just out of the box.
DexAZ
Good bulbs for workshop with vibration - call an electrical distributor and ask for a traffic signal bulb. The most common are 69 watt but there are another sizes. They are designed for real vibration.
John
Bulb?
I can't remember the last time I've seen a signal here in CT that still uses bulbs. It seems that most of them are now LED.
Barry
It isn't an issue of wattage as such. The lamps you're referring to are halogen lamps. They run Significantly hotter than common tungsten filaments. Body oils on the envelope (glass) serve to concentrate the heat, and can result in the envelope cracking.
It croaked.......get over it.......;-)
Crap, I never new their was a garage door opener bulb!
Blair
Lot of them still use bulbs around here. LEDs are getting popular.
A lot of places up north have some kind of thing with a light source and a lens to focus it. I presume they look fine from the ground, but in a truck I can't tell what color the stupid things are until it's too late to do anything about it if it isn't green. They annoy me.
Bulb quality has gone down SO far over the last few years. About 25% of all bulbs I buy are either bad out of the box or die within a month -- it REALLY irks me when it is one of those damn $7.50 GE Reveal Indoor Flood bulbs. GE/Sylvania/Osram seem to be noticeably lower quality than Philips bulbs, but none of them are products the companies should be proud of. My advice is to buy the CHEAPEST crap you can find because THAT is what you are getting anyway.
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