ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area light bulbs

I know...age old question...but why are lightbulbs blowing left and right in 5 yr. old apartment bldg.?

p.s.....neutrals in subpanel and meter bank are tight

Might be a POWCO problem.

Can you put a recorder on it?

could you elaborate,Steve?

something to monitor for spikes?

A simple voltage recorder might show a problem, but won't pick up spikes.

The recorder you want is the more sophisticated (expensive) sort that records dips, spikes and what not. You can rent them, but in my area the POWCO will install one on a building free for a few days in response to a trouble report.

[This message has been edited by stevecheyenne (edited 01-12-2007).]

Thanks steve....I'm new here and I told my wife that might be my first question since she is constantly changing the bulbs{and I'm not getting them for free:{.....sitting for test this year and hope to learn alot from you knucklheads........

Vibration can cause the problem, as can high voltage problems. You can also look closely at your choice of bulbs, choose the bulbs with the 130 volt rating, they will last longer.
I had a problem with bulbs I used in my garage coach lights. The vibrations from the opener caused frequent bulb loss. I know it wasn't high voltage because the same bulbs would last forever in the keyless lampholders installed inside the garage. I changed them to edison base flourscent (compact) and solved the problem.

Overlamping in an enclosed fixture will also lead to early lamp failure.

One other suggestion would be to try a few 130 volt lamps in certain fixtures and take note of whether they last any longer than their 120 volt counter parts. This won't diagnose your problem but might help with the frequency of having to change the lamps

Roger