I have a bedroom fixture that eats bulbs. It’s a standard 2 bulb fixture, rated for 100 Watt bulbs. I always use two 75 Watt bulbs.
Typically within two months, the first bulb blows. Then about five months later the other one goes. Then it’s time for the ladder and replacements. I replaced the cheap Home Depot fixture last year with a better quality fixture from Progress Lighting. It has ceramic sockets instead of cheap plastic. Same result. lost the first bulb a couple months after changing the fixture. :smack:
I only use this light perhaps three hours a day. That’s 90 hours a month (1080 hours a year). I even resorted to purchasing 130V Bulbs from an electrical supply house. They are rated for 1950 Hours at 120V or 750 Hours at 130V. A friend told me the 130V bulbs can handle the occasional surge better.
All the other light fixtures get almost a full year (10 months on average) out of their bulbs. My house was built in the 1950’s and the circuits are two wire without a separate ground.
So, I guess it’s time to get in the attic and see what’s up with the wiring. I have a multimeter. I was going to check for any resistance to ground (after killing the power. ) to find any partial shorts. What other tests can I do? I know BB (black on Brass) is the standard for hooking up outlets. Maybe they’ve flipped the wires in a junction somewhere or on the switch? Would that cause bulbs to blow?
A reversed hot and neutral would still provide the correct voltage at the socket, and the bulb really doesn’t care.
IANAE, but I’m not sure what testing the resistance to ground is going to accomplish. If you have a small short to ground, that would cause either a breaker to blow or possibly an electrical fire, but I’m not sure it would cause the bulbs to burn out early. But it can’t hurt to check.
You already switched to 130V bulbs, which was my first suggestion.
I would check the voltage at the socket just for kicks, make sure it’s in the 110-130 range and not even higher for some odd reason. Beyond that, my only guess is that something else on the line is causing a problem. A fridge, AC, home theater receiver etc.
Does this socket vibrate at all? Is near a wall that butts up against something that has a motor like a garage door opener or window AC?
Overvoltage, surges, vibration and over temperature can shorten the light of a lamp. Resistance or ground leakage shouldn’t do anything (although a high resistance connection at the socket can increase the lamp’s base temperature).
You might try using Compact Fluorescents - they run much, much cooler, and aren’t very sensitive to vibrations.
Ok. I’ll look around for any junctions and check the voltage. No vibrations that I can think of. It’s a single story house.
Last resort, I may call an electrician. There’s a couple ads in the yellow pages for companies that have Master Electricians. I may even get this circuit rewired. My pc would probably appreciate a fully grounded circuit. The light and bedroom plugs are on the same breaker.
I am not an electrician and I probably don’t know what I am talking about, but…
My first inclination when looking at a simple device would be to check the moving parts. In this case, that would mean the switch. In my own house, just last week I went to flip on a light and sparks came shooting out of the wall. If a spring in the switch is weak, it could cause flicker when a truck drives by or something else causes vibration. Flicker is not good for a bulb (especially the electronics in a CFL).
I don’t know how you would test a switch, but a 20 amp commercial grade (Leviton now calls them “preferred”) is $2.84 at Home Depot. If you’ve got the original switches in a 1950s house, you’re going to need to replace them sooner or later anyway. (I had three separate switches go in a two week period last year.) Look for the switches in boxes, not in the bulk bin.
And there is the possibility of wire damage somewhere, probably caused by friction (for example, rubbing up against rodent teeth).
I doubt it’s anything like a “surge.”. Incandescent bulbs which die early generally do so due to either 1) vibration/shock or 2) the filament fatigues due to thermal cycling. Bathroom lights are turned off and on more frequently than, say, a family room lamp, and in my experience don’t last anywhere near as long. In short, your fixture’s not killing the bulbs, you are
ETA: 1) above is more of a concern for automotive bulbs and handheld lamps.
Are you, by any chance, using energy-saver bulbs in a ceiling fixture? That might be the problem. Some of them don’t do well in an enclosed space, but I don’t know what the “it depends” factors are. Test it by using an old-fashioned non-energy-efficient bulb.
) to find any partial shorts. What other tests can I do? I know BB (black on Brass) is the standard for hooking up outlets. Maybe they’ve flipped the wires in a junction somewhere or on the switch? Would that cause bulbs to blow?
The light and bedroom plugs are on the same breaker.