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Hi – first time poster – sorry if this is a duplicate discussion …
I have a newer home (about 8 years old) that goes through light bulbs at an alarming rate in certain rooms. For instance, in the kitchen and dining rooms, we replace probably 10-15 bulbs a year. Most of the fixtures are antique fixtures with 4-5 bulbs per fixture. Most of the bulbs have shades. The bulbs within a fixture all seem to fail within a few weeks of each other. The fixtures with high rates of failure tend to be the ones that are on alot, but it still seems like we’re going through more than we should.
On the other hand, I have other bulbs that are still original to the house (unshaded laundry room bulbs in this case).
I wired the house myself, and to the best of my knowledge followed correct wiring practices.
One other thing is that when higher power appliances such as the AC or washing machine motor kick in, we get a slight flicker. Not sure if that’s normal, or related to the problem.
My initial suspicion is that we are using too high a wattage bulb (40-60) in the shaded fixtures, and that they are getting too hot.
Any insights would be appreciated.
Mark
Replies
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Mark - There are a number of things that can cause this condition. In no particular order they are:
(1) Your imagination (no offense) Click here for related information on lamp life expectancy verification and related issues.
(2) Poor neutral connections, particularly at the panel and possible at the pole (we had a corroded utility neutral cause this problem). An electrician should check the former, you need the utility to check the latter. Make sure that you don't have a hot neutral. A bad transformer can also cause problems with flickering and lamp life.
(3) Overvoltage conditions. You can check with a multimeter and/or the utility can check with a recording ammeter. Sometimes seasonal utility switches do not 'flip' causing potential voltage problems.
(4) Vibration. Are these fixtures under a room where kids are jumping up and down? Vibration will kill a filament.
(5) Cheap light bulbs - try another brand. I'm partial to GE - Wal-Mart practically gives them away. Try a 130V lamp (available at electrical supply houses) to see if you get longer life. Make sure you're not using 110V (rare).
(6) Were your antique fixtures rewired? They usually should be. How antique are they? It doesn't sound like the lamps are fully enclosed - if not it's probably not heat. If they are, you may be correct that lamp life is shortened by heat and you can verify this by trying a lower wattage.
Jeff
*One more, poor contact in the socket. With power off, bend up the contact in the bottom of the socket. With all the bulbs going in a fixture, don't reckon this would be the cause, but it's something to check should all else fail.
*MarkIt has been my experience in 9 out of 10 times, the socket is the culprit. Like Calvin stated, with the power off, look at the contact in the bottom of the socket, If it looks dark you are having some arc'ing. Clean the contact with a pencil erasure and bend the contact up. You may also want to check the connections under the screws. When I have to use stranded wire, I always solder the wires.Vince
*Vince --I used to tin stranded wire to put under screws, but no more. It turns out that in the long run this is a very bad thing to do. The solder oxidizes even under the pressure of the screw, and you get resistance and heat and a vicious cycle of more oxidation, resistance, and heat.... You could solder or crimp a lug to the stranded wire, but screwing it down bare is better than tinning it. I've found this problem on some things I've done in the past.-- J.S.
*I have the same problem with many fixtures in my house. I have checked the fixtures, and my neutrals. I wired many myself and am sure of my work. My last two theories are either my service is poor (it is closed to maxed out) or there is an Indian burial ground under my home.
*We have the same problem. Like several others, I also wired my house and Iam sure of my work. I think that a certain percentage of bulbs made today are junk. That's why WalMart can practically give them away.
*If your lights flicker when the high powered appliances come on, the power company need to be called. Constant voltage (within 5-7%) is what they are striving fore, however capacitors do fail. They can test the line voltage to your transformer with a high voltage recording meter. It is not unusual to find that one or two capacitors in a bank has gone out and the branch it is serving is experiencing voltage dipps when heavey loads are applied. If you are the only house on your transformer, both problems could be related to a loose ground lug there.Dave
*If your fixture had 365 bulbs in it, you would find yourself replacing at least one almost every day.This is a rather extreme illustration, but the point is that when you have a lot of them in service, it seems like you're always changing bulbs.
*Tom --That's why in things like old fashioned theater marquees where they have many hundreds of bulbs, they don't replace them individually, they replace them all at once.-- J.S.
*When I managed a movie theater, we had outside lights that we changed all at once since we had to use a big ladder. They were ordinary 130v light bulbs that cost about 50 cents. They lasted about a year at 8 to 12 hours a day, and when one burned out the rest would burn out within a week. Our projectors used incandesant bulbs. They cost about $20 each. We never started them at full voltage but brought them up gently from lower voltage. They were cooled with fans and the fans were allowed to run for a good while after the bulbs were off. We carefully logged all the hours on each bulb. Bulb life could vary by 400% from one bulb to the next.
*Incandescents for theatrical projectors are pretty rare. The portable JAN projectors from WWII used them.In the old days, we used carbon arcs, in the Peerless Magnarc lamp houses. Those were replaced in the '60's and '70's by xenon arcs. The xenon lamp houses have built-in hour meters. The xenons are up in the hundreds of dollars per globe.-- J.S.
*Funny thing happened to me recently. I wired my workshop a couple of years ago with six fixtures in a nice rectangular pattern. I bought six 100w bulbs at home depot at the same time as the fixtures and put them in when I was done. Last month, when I went in the shop and turned on the one switch that controls them, they all blew. They were exactly the same age and had seen the same service hours. Very consistent manufacturing!
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Hi - first time poster - sorry if this is a duplicate discussion ...
I have a newer home (about 8 years old) that goes through light bulbs at an alarming rate in certain rooms. For instance, in the kitchen and dining rooms, we replace probably 10-15 bulbs a year. Most of the fixtures are antique fixtures with 4-5 bulbs per fixture. Most of the bulbs have shades. The bulbs within a fixture all seem to fail within a few weeks of each other. The fixtures with high rates of failure tend to be the ones that are on alot, but it still seems like we're going through more than we should.
On the other hand, I have other bulbs that are still original to the house (unshaded laundry room bulbs in this case).
I wired the house myself, and to the best of my knowledge followed correct wiring practices.
One other thing is that when higher power appliances such as the AC or washing machine motor kick in, we get a slight flicker. Not sure if that's normal, or related to the problem.
My initial suspicion is that we are using too high a wattage bulb (40-60) in the shaded fixtures, and that they are getting too hot.
Any insights would be appreciated.
Mark