Light bulbs blowing

[Simon Lee]

I have a Light fitment in my kitchen that takes 4 40 watt R50 Small Screw
Cap spotlight bulbs.
The problem is that I very rarely am able to have 4 bulbs all lit at once as
almost every week, a bulb or two will stop working.
Then, just a moment ago I walked into my kitchen and when I turned the light
on, a bang occured, a flash of white light across the kitchen and all the
other lights went out.
Once I reset the trip switch, I switched the lights back on again and found
another two blown, one of which was only replaced a few days ago.
I haven't a clue about electricals and wouldn't even attempt to mess with it
myself but can anybody tell me what the problem could be.
One last note, this only happens in my kitchen. I don't have this problem
with any other lights or light fitments.

Thanks For any Help.

Simon

 

[SQLit]

I have a Light fitment in my kitchen that takes 4 40 watt R50 Small Screw
Cap spotlight bulbs.
The problem is that I very rarely am able to have 4 bulbs all lit at once as
almost every week, a bulb or two will stop working.
Then, just a moment ago I walked into my kitchen and when I turned the light
on, a bang occured, a flash of white light across the kitchen and all the
other lights went out.
Once I reset the trip switch, I switched the lights back on again and found
another two blown, one of which was only replaced a few days ago.
I haven't a clue about electricals and wouldn't even attempt to mess with it
myself but can anybody tell me what the problem could be.
One last note, this only happens in my kitchen. I don't have this problem
with any other lights or light fitments.

Thanks For any Help.

Simon

Additional thought,

Have you checked all of the connection in/to and through the fixture?

 

[Simon Lee]

Have you checked all of the connection in/to and through the fixture?

No I haven't although I will do so when I have chance along with all the
other suggestions kindly made by Palindr?me.

Thanks for the help. When I check them I will report back.

 

[daestrom]

I have a Light fitment in my kitchen that takes 4 40 watt R50 Small Screw
Cap spotlight bulbs.
The problem is that I very rarely am able to have 4 bulbs all lit at once
as almost every week, a bulb or two will stop working.
Then, just a moment ago I walked into my kitchen and when I turned the
light on, a bang occured, a flash of white light across the kitchen and
all the other lights went out.
Once I reset the trip switch, I switched the lights back on again and
found another two blown, one of which was only replaced a few days ago.
I haven't a clue about electricals and wouldn't even attempt to mess with
it myself but can anybody tell me what the problem could be.
One last note, this only happens in my kitchen. I don't have this problem
with any other lights or light fitments.

Thanks For any Help.

One other thought. Lamp life is severely shortened if running overvoltage.
If you feel comfortable doing it, check the voltage at the lamp socket and
compare to the bulb rating. Even a modest overvoltage just 6% can cut bulb
life in half.

daestrom

 

[John Savage]

I have a Light fitment in my kitchen that takes 4 40 watt R50 Small Screw
Cap spotlight bulbs.
The problem is that I very rarely am able to have 4 bulbs all lit at once as
almost every week, a bulb or two will stop working.

Welcome to the mystery of short-lived light bulbs! In my apartment stairwell
there are 5 light fittings, and bulbs in the top one never last very long.
As the circuits are in parallel, there is no obvious reason why one circuit
should be harder on the globe than any other. I swapped to CF globes, and
still globes in that socket have shorter lives, about 75% shorter. (My
'solution' has been to not replace the globe in that socket, enough light
relects up the stairwell that we don't need a globe on every floor anyway.)

My Mum has two 4-globe light fittings. Like yours, a globe goes u/s every
couple of weeks. The electrician told her that he used to have a similar
fitting with multiple 40 watt globes, and was always replacing a blown
globe, and he said the only solution was to replace it with a fitting that
uses a single higher power globe. My conclusion is that the low wattage
incandescent globes are simply not electrically robust for regular, long
term use. (I can't comment on the halogen spot light bulbs.)

 

[daestrom]

Welcome to the mystery of short-lived light bulbs! In my apartment
stairwell
there are 5 light fittings, and bulbs in the top one never last very long.
As the circuits are in parallel, there is no obvious reason why one
circuit
should be harder on the globe than any other. I swapped to CF globes, and
still globes in that socket have shorter lives, about 75% shorter. (My
'solution' has been to not replace the globe in that socket, enough light
relects up the stairwell that we don't need a globe on every floor
anyway.)

My Mum has two 4-globe light fittings. Like yours, a globe goes u/s every
couple of weeks. The electrician told her that he used to have a similar
fitting with multiple 40 watt globes, and was always replacing a blown
globe, and he said the only solution was to replace it with a fitting that
uses a single higher power globe. My conclusion is that the low wattage
incandescent globes are simply not electrically robust for regular, long
term use. (I can't comment on the halogen spot light bulbs.)

There are two things that shorten the life of incandescent bulbs. Chances
are very good it is either high voltage, or vibration.

Even a modest overvoltage can cut bulb life in half or worse. Easy to
check/detect if you have a decent meter (and decent meters don't cost that
much anymore). Harder to fix though.

Vibration is sometimes harder to detect. Some places you can find a 'rough
service' bulb that has extra supports for the filaments that will last
longer in such cases. The extra supports built into the bulb help keep the
filament from resonating and causing failure.

daestrom