Does anyone know what causes this, and would a whole house surge protector help?Whole house surge protectors?
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awomanwithahammer
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Whole house surge protectors?
This is not for my old house, but the house I live in. There are a few light fixtures in which we are constantly replacing the light bulbs. We've tried incandescent, CFL, LED, you name it. They all burn out within two or three months. Does anyone know what causes this, and would a whole house surge protector help?
Does anyone know what causes this, and would a whole house surge protector help?Bonnie
Re: Whole house surge protectors?
If it isn't one of these, I'd have it diagnosed by an electrician. https://energytoday.biz/blog/why-do-my-light-bulbs-burn-out-so-fast
Do you have access to a (decent) digital multimeter? I'd be curious to see what voltage you read on an outlet, if it is higher than the nominal 120V...some locales CAN have a bit higher voltage, which could be part of the problem!
Do you have access to a (decent) digital multimeter? I'd be curious to see what voltage you read on an outlet, if it is higher than the nominal 120V...some locales CAN have a bit higher voltage, which could be part of the problem!
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awomanwithahammer
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Re: Whole house surge protectors?
Thanks, Gibson. That was a helpful link. It could be overheating, as the ones that seem to burn out the fastest are my recessed lights and enclosed globe pendants.
Bonnie
Re: Whole house surge protectors?
Yup, makes sense. OR, but not as likely...panel could be wired so that a dropping load on one side = an increased surge on the other. Should've been there from day 1, tho...
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awomanwithahammer
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Re: Whole house surge protectors?
I don't know...we had the service upgraded to 200 amp when we bought it about 10 years ago. No idea what the electrician did.
Bonnie
Re: Whole house surge protectors?
That's something that I think would be noticed in < 6 mos...probably the basic (most things are!), enclosed = hot running....
The expected loads are balanced between both sides of the 240V busses in the box, so each side, at 120V, "sees" a similar load. Bad effects from imbalance would usually require some OTHER item to be running at the same time. Doesn't sound like what you have going on, just tossed it out there. Some houses DO have that issue, but it becomes clear pretty quickly
The expected loads are balanced between both sides of the 240V busses in the box, so each side, at 120V, "sees" a similar load. Bad effects from imbalance would usually require some OTHER item to be running at the same time. Doesn't sound like what you have going on, just tossed it out there. Some houses DO have that issue, but it becomes clear pretty quickly
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phil
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Re: Whole house surge protectors?
Try rough service bulbs?
I don't think it's a problem the electrician created. probably just the orientation of the bulbs. some are made for vertical , like the chandelier bulbs.
your power service is turned to 220 at the pole transformer or "pole pig" if you look up on your power lines you should see one close, it might service more than one house. it looks like a 20litre bucket, up on the hydro pole.
voltage is usually 118 in my house you can check that easily. surges can happen if you have factories and such nearby. In industry sometimes if we install complex machinery they do a pre-inspection by hiring a power monitoring service. they ship a box to the site and connect it then it makes definitive reports on surges etc. a bit much for the home user. some of the better hand held meters will have a feature to do some of that.
in my bathroom they were facing down and kind of held the heat in. I turned the fixture the other way. I think it's better.
if you look at light bulbs some are rated at 130 Volts, and are a bit sturdier. the problem is they cheapen them so that they fail. They can make them to last a lifetime if they wanted but then they wouldn't keep selling so many. Better standards would help the environment but it isn't in our control really. It's just a big fat consumer scam.
I don't think it's a problem the electrician created. probably just the orientation of the bulbs. some are made for vertical , like the chandelier bulbs.
your power service is turned to 220 at the pole transformer or "pole pig" if you look up on your power lines you should see one close, it might service more than one house. it looks like a 20litre bucket, up on the hydro pole.
voltage is usually 118 in my house you can check that easily. surges can happen if you have factories and such nearby. In industry sometimes if we install complex machinery they do a pre-inspection by hiring a power monitoring service. they ship a box to the site and connect it then it makes definitive reports on surges etc. a bit much for the home user. some of the better hand held meters will have a feature to do some of that.
in my bathroom they were facing down and kind of held the heat in. I turned the fixture the other way. I think it's better.
if you look at light bulbs some are rated at 130 Volts, and are a bit sturdier. the problem is they cheapen them so that they fail. They can make them to last a lifetime if they wanted but then they wouldn't keep selling so many. Better standards would help the environment but it isn't in our control really. It's just a big fat consumer scam.