Blowing lightbulbs

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Help! We live in a newish house (7 years old) and have been having problems with lightbulbs blowing. They seem to blow regularly in the kitchen (they're concealed spot lights). MOre recently several plug in lamps' bulbs have blown - I've replaced the bulbs and the fuses but they still don't work, yet the socket still works. NO sign of anything odd in the fuse box but I'm not an expert.

Any help / advice greatly appreciated!

Thanks

JimC14
 
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Relax !!! This problem does not mean you have a major wiring fault. This is a never ending problem which has been looked into for donkeys years. A wiring fault in your circuit will be picked up by fuses and MCB's long before it gets to the bulb.

There are a few reasons bulbs can blow, the major one being cheaper bulbs. The elements in cheap bulbs are much thinner and any surge of power, however slight, simply breaks them. Always go for expensive light bulbs, its cheaper in the long run.

A loose connection in the lamp holder can also cause bulbs to blow. This is because the circuit is not completed as tightly as it could be and the electricity may have cause to "arc" or jump across the contact, rather than simply flowing through it. When this happens it produces more heat in the fitting than is expected or catered for by the bulb, and the bulb can blow.

The same can happen if the spring loaded connection in the bulb holder is slightly loose. This will cause electricity to arc across the contact, cause too much heat and blow the bulb. This can very often be diagnosed by looking at the contact on the bottom of the bulb to see if it is pitted. Arcing electricity effectively melts the metal it is arcing onto ( This is how arc welding works) so if the bulb contact is being subjected to arcing, tiny little indentations occur, called pitting.

It is sometimes possible, if the live connection in your light switch is a little loos, for this to happen here also. Heat will be generated and it is possible, though very very remote, for the bulb to blow as a result of this.

When a bulb blows, 99% of the time the fuse for the lighting circuit will blow or trip also. This makes the problem seem rather bigger than it actually is. The reason for a blowing lamp tripping an MCB is that the lamp element gets thinner during its life to the point where it breaks at the thinnest point, this point will melt just before failure. The resistance of the overheating element will momentarily be very low and a current surge is caused, this is picked up by MCB's but generally not fuses.

So, three things to look into if your bulbs keep blowing. Your bulb supplier, The wire connections inside your bulb holder, and if the spring loaded connectors are working properly inside the bulb holder. As a last resort you can also check the tightness of the connections in your switch.
 
Excess voltage can be a problem, especially if your lamps are rated at 230V.

But I say "Osram"!
 
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does that mean you rate Osram above other makes?

Reason I ask is because I work in lighting maintenance and we mostly use Philips.
 
Some people have an emotional attachment for certain electrical items bordering on perversion ;)


RCBOman
 

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