Blowing light bulbs!

[gerard]

Hi,
I work as a Maintenance Electrician in a factory and when one of the guys there told me he has a problem with blowing bulbs, I had no answer for him! He told me a bulb will last about 2 days and then blow. Has anybody ever experienced such a problem and what may cause it? :banghead:

 

[ggf]

Whwhat type of lamp is it

 

[telectrix]

bbb.. broken

 

[gerard]

Ordinary 60W bulbs

 

[ggf]

I had something similar not so long ago, turned out to be cheap bad batch

 

[gerard]

That sounds like the possible cause.

 

[RomRobi]

Visual inspection, if not a cheap bulb, change the lamp holder, even a new one can play thricks on you

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Nearly always rubbish lamps.

 

[micknew]

Never found any other reason other than cheap (mainly obtained from supermarkets) poor quality lamps since 1962.

 

[Des 56]

I reckon so as well

I always used to tell people " dont get your lamps from Woolwoths"
Now that their shut, I need to find another fall guy

 

[mogga]

poundland with the gov moving away from gls lamps manufacturers are manufacturing all over the place using cheap keeeeeech

 

[RomRobi]

or one pound shops

 

[MarkieSparkie]

The main suspects are:
1) Poor quality lamps.
2) Over-voltage, +5% over-voltage will more than halve the life expectancy.
3) Loose connections.
4) Poor quality lamp holders, particularly batten fittings.
5) Power quality, surges, noise and harmonics all can shorten the life expectancy.

 

[platty1005]

Is it one particular light fitting or do the bulbs blow anywhere ??
Anywhere then bulbs are likely to be poor quality as previous posts explain.
Is it on one circuit IE up or down ?
One light fitting then it indicates a fault with that fitting replace or at least test for faults particularly Insulation resistance
Bulbs blowing on one circuit but not any other circuit indicates a circuit fault
If its a voltage problem consider fitting a dimmer switch

 

[Knobhead]

Do you order the lamps? What make are they?

One company I worked for the buying department got a great deal from a new supplier (cheap) but we were changing 3 times the number. A 20% saving cost 240% more! What finally clinched it I opened one box and spotted the solder connections had the internal wire protruding through it, then it became a H&S issue.
(Some of the older sparks may remember these cheap lamps coming in from Poland in the late 80’s)