Bulb keeps Blowing

[RossJarvis]

We have a free standing uplighter wotsit, probably from Ikea. It uses one of those long bulb/lamp/light thingies with the filament held at each end. The bulb has blown yet again, after about 3 weeks, as usua l. This is the forty millionth lamp I've replaced in it. Does it sound like the thing is faulty or are they all like this? It has a dimmer built in and you have to dim the lamp to turn it off. I think the lamps used to last at least 6 weeks :x

 

[MMUK]

The filament is held at each end? Is this a halogen bulb then like on a floodlamp? If so, you need to make sure the glass is scrupulously clean, fingerprints leave trails of grease which heats up and cracks the tube.

 

[RossJarvis]

The filament is held at each end? Is this a halogen bulb then like on a floodlamp? If so, you need to make sure the glass is scrupulously clean, fingerprints leave trails of grease which heats up and cracks the tube.

Yep I think they're halogen, like flood lamps. I always use a cloth or something to hold them when fitting. I would have thought, even with finger-prints they'd last more than a few weeks. It's always the filament that goes.

 

[nev]

If your lamp is poorly designed (no vent and a small glass cover) like my old wall lamps were, they're possibly overheating? used to go through one a month

 

[AndyT]

There are some pretty poor cheap halogen lamps around. Were yours a proper brand? I don't think you can get LED replacements for these, but give it time, they will soon be available.

 

[n0legs]

LED replacements are available.
Here's one source :-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Replacement-Ene ... ight+bulbs

 

[John Brown]

Somebody once told me that it makes a difference which way up you install them, with the filament either below or above the supports. I can not vouch for the veracity of this, but I pass it along anyway.

 

[Gerry]

Check for loose connections in the lamp or it's supply. I usually find that if a fitting regularly blows bulbs then a loose electrical connection is to blame.

Gerry

 

[tekno.mage]

I have one of those halogen up-lighters with dimmer and my bulbs normally last for several months and I use the lamp every day. You should definitely not touch the glass when changing the bulb as this will shorten the life of the bulb. I change mine by using the small foam wrapper that comes around the new bulb to hold it by. I bought my bulbs (which are the 300W not the 500W variety) on ebay and they were very cheap. I usually find that when a bulb is on it's way out, the light output gets dimmer and dimmer for a few weeks, then the bulb fails and looks black inside when you remove it.

One thing to be careful of is not to move or jolt the light when it is on - as this can easily cause the filament to break. Take a look at your next blown bulb - is it all black inside (bulb has worn out with use) the glass or is the filament visible but obviously broken (mechanical damage)?

Another thing that might be the cause is if you only ever use your light dimmed quite a lot - I vaguely seem to remember someone telling me that those halogen bulbs do not last as long if run continually dimmed rather than at near full brightness most of the time.

 

[Brian½]

Somebody once told me that it makes a difference which way up you install them, with the filament either below or above the supports. I can not vouch for the veracity of this, but I pass it along anyway.

That's a damned good word to use on a Wednesday John

 

[RossJarvis]

Thanks for the replies guys. I think there could be an over-heating issue as the lamp has a close glass cover, additionally the electric supply here is very variable (lights dim frequently) and it's probably not all the way up most of the time. I'm not sure if the bulbs being Tesco's home brand may be at fault either.

The main difficulty as I see it is that I like to have useful things about the house which work and SWMBO likes pretty things, she bought the lamp :roll: . These appear to be mutually exclusive categories. E.g. I bought a b****y nice copper coal scuttle a few months back, made of brass, copper and hardwood, with a built in shovel for 15 quid. It was perfect for both storing coal and getting it on the fire. It lasted 3 hours before I had to sell it back and replace with a black wotsit which neither holds much coal nor has any effective means of moving coal from scuttle to fire. I see a similar problem occurring with this lamp. In the meantime it's proving very difficult to line the tone-arm up with my gramophone discs with no light in the parlour so I'd like to sort it out quickly.

 

[chipmunk]

+1 for Kym's comment on touching the bulbs. If you get the grease from your fingers on a halogne bulb it will fail prematurely.

HTH
Jon

 

[mind_the_goat]

Have you looked for LED replacements, you can get them for most fittings now, probably not cheap but they might last a bit longer.

 

[RossJarvis]

n0legs posted a link to LED replacements, unfortunately these are not dimmable so can't be used as the switch is a dimmer. I'm now in discussions with SWMBO with the idea of getting something which is both useful and works and also "pretty", assuming that some such thing exists.

Crumbs, if the worst comes to the worst I'm going to have to fix the pendant lamp and that's only just gone, (about two years ago).

 

[mind_the_goat]

There are dimmable versions available, however it is a bit of a risk as sometimes they only work with certain types of dimmer. A quick search found these from HK, you may be able to find a UK distributor.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/R7s-118mm-D...4340881?pt=US_Light_Bulbs&hash=item27dac92911