I've used built-in electric ovens for decades and oven bulbs invariably blow long before their stated average lifespan, despite always having the lens cover fitted correctly, keeping oven and lens clean and limiting oven temperature to 220C max. I've never got 300 hours out of an oven bulb yet the average bulb life is often specified as 1000 hours. Perhaps I'm consistently unlucky? Checking out some older threads on this forum suggests many others are unlucky too.
My current built-in oven is a 7 year old Neff and I now need to replace bulb number 3. If it were simply a matter of twisting off the lens, unscrewing the bulb and fitting a new one, I wouldn't be whinging or creating this thread. But lenses get stuck and the entire bulb housing starts to twist (as happened with my last AEG oven which necessitated oven removal and some dismantling). When the lens is eventually freed, I find the bulb's metal threaded contact is detached from the glass and is jammed in the socket (happened twice now with current Neff oven). When finally removed, with pliers - tricky - I find the bulb's contact point has melted and left material on the bulb holder contact (second time this has happened - see photo). A 5 minute job becomes a half-day PITA.
I usually buy a Toolstation or Screwfix replacement bulb.
My question: is there a higher quality 240V, 40W, 300C, SES E14 oven bulb that has a chance of reaching the stated average life of 1000 hours, where the bulb glass and the threaded metal contact won't part company and the bulb's positive contact won't fuse to the holder? Am I expecting too much?
Or maybe I should just keep a torch by the oven instead.
My current built-in oven is a 7 year old Neff and I now need to replace bulb number 3. If it were simply a matter of twisting off the lens, unscrewing the bulb and fitting a new one, I wouldn't be whinging or creating this thread. But lenses get stuck and the entire bulb housing starts to twist (as happened with my last AEG oven which necessitated oven removal and some dismantling). When the lens is eventually freed, I find the bulb's metal threaded contact is detached from the glass and is jammed in the socket (happened twice now with current Neff oven). When finally removed, with pliers - tricky - I find the bulb's contact point has melted and left material on the bulb holder contact (second time this has happened - see photo). A 5 minute job becomes a half-day PITA.
I usually buy a Toolstation or Screwfix replacement bulb.
My question: is there a higher quality 240V, 40W, 300C, SES E14 oven bulb that has a chance of reaching the stated average life of 1000 hours, where the bulb glass and the threaded metal contact won't part company and the bulb's positive contact won't fuse to the holder? Am I expecting too much?
Or maybe I should just keep a torch by the oven instead.