Random bulb question

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Can somebody tell me why a standard 60w bulb with bayonet type fitting can live in my house giving a lifespan of 5 years plus without a flicker but the bulbs in my lounge last about 2 months if I am lucky!!

They are 40w bulbs that look less bulbous than a normal bulb and more like a candle shape, they have a screw fitting at the base. (e14 type)

The lamps are wall mounted, I have changed all four lamps in the hope it might have been the lamps, changed brands of bulbs hoping for better results?

Is it just that these type of bulbs have less life?
 
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Can somebody tell me why a standard 60w bulb with bayonet type fitting can live in my house giving a lifespan of 5 years plus without a flicker but the bulbs in my lounge last about 2 months if I am lucky!! ... They are 40w bulbs that look less bulbous than a normal bulb and more like a candle shape, they have a screw fitting at the base. (e14 type) ... The lamps are wall mounted, I have changed all four lamps in the hope it might have been the lamps, changed brands of bulbs hoping for better results?
There are umpteen possible explanations, one being that "it is just one of those things"!

Lamp/bulb orientation is certainly one of the factors. What is the orientation of those in your wall-lights - 'vertically up', 'vertically down', horizontal or something in-between?

Kind Regards, John
 
Hmm... I haven't realised that incandescent lamps were still being sold in 40W. We have had low power replacements for everything here for a long time.

There are candle shaped bayonet replacement readily available, which should save money in the long run, and hopefully not blow so often.
 
Another factor is stress from vibration. Is there a room above, what's up there? Teenagers? The master bedroom ;) ?
 
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Another factor is stress from vibration. Is there a room above, what's up there? Teenagers? The master bedroom ;) ?
True, but, IMO, far less likely to be an issue with wall lights (such as the OP has) as compared with ceiling-mounted ones.

Kind Regards, John
 
I tend to find its the cheap mass produced ses holders that dont connect too good and cause heat build up and shortening lamplife that causes it
 
When your E14s stop working are you sure the filament has blown? Screw-in lamps are just as likely to suffer from bad connection as the terminals in the lamp holder lose their spring with age and no longer make sufficient contact with the lamp contacts.

PJ
 
We had the same problem for years (here and previous homes) with candle shaped bulbs, they rarely gave us 3 months use before dying.

At least a year ago replaced them all with cfl-type replacements and they are still going (tempting fate).
 
Bulbs mount vertically up, ie screw at the bottom. Certainly was aware of crappy fittings so went expensive fittings when we changed ( i think about £60 each for what is quite a simple lamp). I even pulled up the contact before installation as this solved the bulbs blowing in a previous house from poor contact.

Have looked at alternative lamps but all the ones that she likes have the same or similiar fancy little bulbs in so may well end up in the same boat.

Was tempted to go down the energy lamp route but experience of these in the extnesion we had fitted was the time delay in reaching full brightness, is there a way of avoiding this time delay?

Have today bought some mini fluorescent bulbs so will try these and report back.

Thanks
 
CFL warm up time has improved over the l5 years. I also have a feeling you may not need to turn the lamps on from cold many times a day.

CFLs will certainly fix the life problem.
 
Switching, number of hours used and crappiness of brand all come into play.

My worst enemy in the world of lamps is Status..... :evil:
 
In all but one room all the tungsten bulbs in my house have been replaced however when we did use them I found bulbs supplied from a dimmer switch where one has to turn it to switch on then increase brightness resulted in longer life from the bulbs. I will assume less stress to the bulbs when switching on and off!

In theory this will not be the case with quartz bulbs they should never be dimmed but with standard bulbs yes it did seem to help.

I have wondered about envelope size on the bulb there must be an optimum size which will vary with wattage but also standard bulbs have been withdrawn and only way to now buy them is to get commercial rough service types and clearly these will last longer than the old domestic type but give out less light per watt.

So to buy a BA22d or E27 (ES) standard bulb likely it is a rough service type but buy a candle E14 (SES) then likely it's old domestic stock so will not last as long.

The new compact florescent lamp (CFL) or light emitting diode (LED) type do last longer however the CFL does not seem to last as advertised on the packet not had LED long enough to comment.

The main reason for changing living and dinning room light fittings was the length of time a bulb lasted with 5 lights I was changing one a week. Once swapped to 16 CFL this dropped to 1 a month average not had any LED fail.

The change also meant removing all dimming switches which was really better anyway we never really used the lights dimmed anyway.

So your option is fit holders able to take rough service bulbs or move to CFL or LED.
 

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