100w bulb into a 60w fitting

[TimmyP]

My mother. 92 and a bit senile has been putting 100w incandecent light bulbs into 60w fittings. After a few days the bulbs burn out. She asked where she was going wrong! As soon as she switched on the lights the bulb burned out and the switch in the fuse box switched to OFF and she replaced it with another 100w!. I replaced the 100w bulbs with 60w ones. How likely is it that she has done permanent damage to the light fitting and the electrics?

 

[telectrix]

not likely. the lighting circuit is/waS designed at 6A load, which equates to 240 x 6 = 1440 watts, or 14 100 watt lamps all on together. circuit is however capable of handling much more load. it's just the fuse/MCB rating that limits it. the 100 wat lamps burning out is probably due to cheap bulbs, as in tesco/b&q, etcc.

 

[Spoon]

Welcome to the forum mate.
The light fittings are only designed for 60W. A 100W light bulb will draw more current than the fitting is designed for.
The fitting may have been getting a bit hot. You could look for heat damage to the fitting. (When it's safe to do so)
Better still to get your mum some LED lights, and then that will save her money on her electricity bill as well.
Does she use a dimmer switch on the lights?

 

[TimmyP]

Welcome to the forum mate.
The light fittings are only designed for 60W. A 100W light bulb will draw more current than the fitting is designed for.
The fitting may have been getting a bit hot. You could look for heat damage to the fitting. (When it's safe to do so)
Better still to get your mum some LED lights, and then that will save her money on her electricity bill as well.
Does she use a dimmer switch on the lights?

Hi Spoon - thanks for the reply. If the fittings have experienced heat damage will that cause the new 60w not to work? The 60w bulbs are working fine - does that mean no heat damage has happened?

 

[Spoon]

Hi Spoon - thanks for the reply. If the fittings have experienced heat damage will that cause the new 60w not to work? The 60w bulbs are working fine - does that mean no heat damage has happened?

There may be minor heat damage and the 60W light will still work. All depends on the level of damage, if there is any at all.
As @telectrix says, its unlikely, but you can always check, just to be sure.

 

[Avo Mk8]

As said, the issue with putting higher power bulbs in fittings with shades is the build up of heat. That can cause the bulb to fail, and in my experience sometimes take out the MCB or fuse powering it.
If your mother needs the better illumination, you could provide her with some high power LED versions, as mentioned by Spoon.
I obtained some "200 Watt equivalent" LED bayonet bulbs, and been impressed with the light output. Not sure about the 'equivalence', but they are certainly brighter than a 100W filament bulb, and run cool. Prefer 'warm white' myself!

Not recommending any particular brand, and you take pot luck with how long they last, but they do chuck out the light:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LEXDEN-Bayonet-Replacement-Incandescent-Non-Dimmable/dp/B0868QG7DB/ref=sr_1_17_sspa?

 

[brianmoooore]

Where did she get the 100W bulbs? They haven't been readily available for years.
I had a customer complaining of new bulbs with a very short life, and it turned out she had been sold 110V rough service bulbs intended for site use.
The answer is definitely to change to LED bulbs.

 

[Avo Mk8]

Still loads of 100W bulbs on fleabay! I think RS filament bulbs are still legit?
I was under the impression it was legal to sell "existing stock", or at least that was the case for a long while, but one would have thought that was all used up by now

 

[brianmoooore]

In the OPs own words, the person with the failing bulbs is "92 and a bit senile".
Not really the kind of person that I'd expect to be buying goods of dubious legality from ebay. A ripe candidate for the kind of shyster that sold bulbs to my customer though.

 

[littlespark]

A 92 year old shouldn’t be changing their own lightbulbs.

Whether physically able to or not.

 

[Avo Mk8]

A 92 year old shouldn’t be changing their own lightbulbs.

Whether physically able to or not.

The determination and single-mindedness of a 92 (and above) year old is a force to be reckoned with!
Pretty difficult to 'make them' do, or not do, anything, even if you are there 24/7

 

[pc1966]

Heat damaged from 100W versus 60W rating is likely but only after a fairly long time, I suspect measured in weeks unless it is in a rather hot or poorly ventilated area. I suspect cheap or wrong-voltage 100W bulbs simply blowing and that used to be a common trigger for tripping the supply breaker.

If you can get LED lamps that are 15W = 100W equivalent (seen them in B&Q and similar) or even those 23W once mentioned above as "200W" (but a bit of a lie I suspect) they will be much better. Similar brightness and instant-on of filament, colour rendering is better than fluorescent as well (even if still not quite like halogen).

Also much longer lifetime (usually...) so need changed far less frequently.

 

[Zerax]

I suspect that the lamps have failed due to being old and having been moved around many times... or, they've already been used and the filaments have 'set' in a particular orientation.

As previously said... I'd just replace all the lamps with LED ones, and take away all the filament lamps, with strict instructions not to change any of them herself.

 

[7029 dave]

These 150W babys were hot.

 

[Avo Mk8]

These 150W babys were hot.

Smokin.....