Lightbulb madness

[jim_jimmy]

Went to a job last week with the client having a problem with her lights blowing. Thinking it would be a simple fault somewhere on the circuit off i went with my tester and knocked on the door. When i got there, no fault anywhere, however she goes through about 40 lamps/bulbs every month! Any idea why this is happening? Confusing me!

Cheers.

 

[Mr Mark Sparks]

other than the voltage being high which i doubt, or spot lights where the heat aint getting away, i think it can only be cheep lamps
what sort of fittings are they

 

[acat]

Is it the one lighting circuit only and is it the same bulb each time or anywhere on the circuit


Chris

 

[jim_jimmy]

Some are spots but most are pendants/chands. They say they have changed suppliers of the bulbs several times to no avail. The inline dimmers on the bedside lamps all went as well which lends me to the high voltage idea, never seen it before though! And whilst i was there testing the voltage was not excessivley high.

Every lighting circuit in the house. It's just random which ones will blow. Even plugged in lamps blow...

 

[baldsparkies]

Spots have tended to have lower life spans since the introduction of fire resistant fittings, mainly because the heat from the lamps cant dissapate so well. As far as pendants go I can only think it might be better if they tried lower wattage lamps, or even better quality commercial application lamps which have a longer life span and are rated in hours. It could even be down to there usage habits on off on off tends to put more punishment on the filament due to warm up and cool down along with inductive surge, every time they switch on. If the voltage is ok and to be fair it usally is from the suppliers side I can't really think where else you can go.
There are some clever sparkies on this site though so keep checking.

 

[electro]

Hi


Is the property near a local transformer of near factories as surges in the power supply could be causing this problem, SPDs aren't that expensive these days. And could save you a fortune on sensitive equipment.


regards

 

[jim_jimmy]

Rather near a train station, but no factories.Can you now get surge protection devices that could mount on the din rail in the consumer unit?

 

[Spudnik]

Any form of vibration WILL shorten the life of filament lamps.

If the property is remotely near a train track or even a main road with buses and trucks thundering past, then this would be the most likely cause.

 

[electro]

Hi Jim

The best way to tell is to ask the electrical supplier to provide an event recorder, if you tell them you are Concerned about your supply, they may do this free of charge. Is there gas supply in the street as having no gas in the street can cause surges in the supply.


Jason my misses uses a lot of vibrating equipment, like tumble dryer and electric tooth brush ect and our lamps are fine....


regards

 

[maddfridge]

hi there

we had this once see what the neutreal is pulling you may be surprised we got 57 amps |

next door lost there nuetral !

could also be transient voltage from the lighting transformers

have a poke around usually insulation breaking down

cheers

 

[Spudnik]

Jason my misses uses a lot of vibrating equipment, like tumble dryer and electric tooth brush ect and our lamps are fine....


regards

Appreciate what you are saying but its not the same as the house vibrating from external influences.

 

[electro]

hi there

we had this once see what the neutreal is pulling you may be surprised we got 57 amps |

next door lost there nuetral !

could also be transient voltage from the lighting transformers

have a poke around usually insulation breaking down

cheers

he has quoted "i went with my tester and knocked on the door. When i got there, no fault anywhere" which tell us this may be external to the installation....


just my observation after reading the post could be wrong..

regards

 

[DPG]

My dad's house used to go through a lot of bulbs (not 40 a month though, blimey!!). After years of this happening it got worse and the YEB found a bad joint under the pavement outside next doors house. Presumably loose neutral as per the previous post. Don't know if this helps? Daz

 

[jamesanthony]

could be cheap imported lamps

 

[jim_jimmy]

Thanks for your ideas guys, I'll let you know what the end result is!