What is it with light bulbs these days? The incandescent filament types have been getting worse and worse over the years, with appalling life spans.
The latest, this morning was a R60 spot that exploded on switch on, showering the kitchen with broken glass, throwing the central glass support column complete with its glowing white filament onto the morning "I" paper scorching marks into it. Glad it didnt hit me.
|
|
And I thought it was just me - even cooker hood bulbs don't last the 1000 light years that they're supposed to.
|
>> And I thought it was just me - even cooker hood bulbs don't last the
>> 1000 light years that they're supposed to.
Nearly every time I go to my mother's (about once a month) she gives me a list of lightbulbs to change. The cooker hood items rarely last more than a couple of months.
Also had an R60ES lunch itself in same fashion as Z describes - in our case in The Lad's room. He and I then had to struggle with a ladder, pliers and headtorch with mains off to safely extract the remains.
|
>>Nearly every time I go to my mother's (about once a month) she gives me a list of lightbulbs to change. The cooker hood items rarely last more than a couple of months<<
They're not cheap either - the ones I use are GE Halogen 30w (=40w) 1000 hour life (ha!)
|
I didn't notice a broken fairy light bulb when I put up our Christmas tree this year. I plugged the lights in, switched them on, and went to adjust a couple of them to balance out the bulbs around the tree. Of course, Sod's Law being what it is, I grabbed the broken bulb and gave myself a bit of a shock. Smelt of burnt pork for a bit, I did.
Dining room main bulb failed as I switched the light on at 17.31 on Christmas Eve, just before the first big meal of the season. Approached my spare bulb stash with 99% certainty that I didn't have the right replacement in stock and that the shops would now be shut, or those that were open wouldn't have what I needed. Fortunately, as is so often the case, I was wrong and I had the right one on the cupboard. Phew.
First World problems, eh?
|
The wall-mounted lights in our refurbished house, specified by the architect (they always go for the expensive option, the carphounds), use tubular glass 'bulbs' with a filament down the middle and a contact at each end that fits into a sprung socket. They are supposed to be energy-efficient but they give out so much heat that I find that hard to believe. They are also stiff and fiddly to replace - a glass plate has to be removed to get at them and one always fears that they will break easily although none have yet - standing on a chair or step ladder, something one has to do often as they don't seem to last long.
One can quite understand that these things are all right in a public building with staff who can replace them for a taxpayer-funded £240 a time plus VAT, but they are a bit of a pain in a private house.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Thu 3 Jan 13 at 13:44
|
I think the incandescent filament type, in opaque guise for preference, still give the nicest light. They are still around in some shops. Not long ago, I even found some of the totally-non-kosher 150 watt type in Keswick. In fact, incandescents are still produced, in "rough usage" specification for business premises, but probably not retailed. Googlng this term will probably reveal a couple of online suppliers however. I imagine they are longer lasting than the domestic variety, considering the labour cost in replacing them, and more expensive.
I detest the mortuary lighting provided by the coiled fluorescent tube type but there is an acceptable version called (I believe) "compact fluoresecent", which is the same thing but in an opaque glass enevelope, giving a nice warm effect. Go for at least 2700 Kelvin.
Plain halolgen GLS (General Lighting Service) bulbs are also acceptably warm. I just bought a 70 watt one (100 watt equivalent) for £3.
|
>> What is it with light bulbs these days? The incandescent filament types have been getting
>> worse and worse over the years, with appalling life spans.
>>
As furstyferret would ask you, what do you expect from cheap shoddy goods being made in China? It is the price of Thatcherism, closing the factories here.
You need to listen to Nicole and replace your outdated kitchen [ :-) ], and with it the incandescent filament lights.
www.philips.co.uk/consumerfiles/pageitems/locales/en_GB/CONSUMER/categ
orypages/energysavers/pdf/replacement_guide_english(UK).pdf
|
And another thing ... I like a subdued soft-tone light bulb in my table lamps (especially when I'm skinning up)
I can still buy the peach/apricot critters on ebay, but do they charge for em!
I should have splashed out a few ₪1000 and sold em at 300% mark up on ebay myself.
|
150w is more like it! - I used to use the big 200w jobbies in my garage, brilliant light (literally)
|
|
My living room has two pendant fittings with large, opaque glass orbs around the bulb, the exact ones which John Lewis hang above their tills in some departments of their Reading shop. 200w bulbs in each. When we bought them, I actually didn't know you could get standard fitment bulbs more powerful than 100w. Darned good job we fitted a dimmer switch to them, it's like an interrogation chamber in there when they're on full pelt. Pretty much unbearable.
|
Yeah, I think I've seen your place Alanović.
www.avex-asso.org/dossiers/wordpress/?page_id=127
:-))
|
My father had filament strip lights in a cabinet - lasted no time at all. On my suggestion, he fed them from a dimmer at about 90% brightness. Lifetime increased many, many times.
Won't work for non-incandecent bulbs but is probably tied into the fact they'll almost certainly be designed for 220v and our mains is 240v. (Yes I know the legal situation, voltages changed and so did allowable tolerances).
|
|
I take it ordinary house lighting wiring will take up to 200 watts without risk?
|
I have absolutley no idea. But the professional electrician who installed them for us didn't question it, the fittings were sold across the counter at John Lewis with the bulbs in them for domestic use, and we haven't had a problem in the two years they've been up.
Genuine question - what should I be worried about?
|
Genuine question - what should I be worried about?
The wires getting so hot they melt their insulation, short causing sparks and set your gaff on fire. But if it hasn't happened yet you should be OK. Might not be so safe though in an old house with cat's-cradle wiring.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Thu 3 Jan 13 at 15:21
|
|
Ah. My house is 1971 built, and I've got a brand new consumer unit, if that makes a difference. All walls (internal and external) are solid block, no partition walls, so all cabling is surrounded by concrete of some kind. The lights themselves are rarely switched on, and when they are they are usually dimmed to near their lowest point. We have other peripheral lighting in the room which is more frequently used (two wall lights and a standard in a corner).
|
IIRC then a 200 watt bulb on a 240v circuit is around 1 amp.
i.e. you should put more effort into worrying about how you fail to realise I'm right about virtually everything and less thought into your lighting.
|
Sorry, NF, but I'm too dim to work that one out.
;-)
|
>> Sorry, NF, but I'm too dim to work that one out.
>>
>> ;-)
I'll come round and twiddle your knob then so you are less dimmer.
|
I kept the boxes which the bulbs (OK, I know, lamps is the correct term) were packed in, so that I would know the correct spec when the time came to change them. I dragged the boxes out of the kitchen bits drawer last night to check that I was right and that they were really 200w. Turns out I was wrong (of course). They are 230w.
Here's a picture of the box, along with some rubbish snaps of the new IKEA kitchen we had installed a bit before Christmas 2011. I remember some discussion on here about it at the time, and someone asked for some photos of the finished product, so here they are (we were making strawberry cake for my daughter's birthday yesterday evening), whoever you were. Well pleased with the job.
s1192.beta.photobucket.com/user/alanovich/library/Bulb%20and%20kitchen
Last edited by: Alanović on Fri 4 Jan 13 at 10:50
|
|
Looks very nice ... I take it the worktops are solid wood?
|
|
Nope. Can't be doing with the maintenance faff. Laminate it is, and only 200 quid for the entire run of material from IKEA. And there's a fair bit of it. Looked at all the naturals/composities/all that malarkey, and decided the cost and maintenance weren't worth it.
|
>>Nope. Can't be doing with the maintenance faff. Laminate it is<<
Yeah, I'd like some light oak block, but the maintenance puts me orf too.
What wood effect is yours then, cherry, teak, medium oak?
|
>> What wood effect is yours then, cherry, teak, medium oak?
>>
You know what? I can't remember. But it's quite dark and very nice. It's this one, I think:
www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/60153716/
|
>>I remember some discussion on here about it at the time
>> s1192.beta.photobucket.com/user/alanovich/library/Bulb%20and%20kitchen
Looks good, Alanovic. Do they have their own fitting teams or do they sub-contract?
I seem to recall that the job was done for a remarkably good price.
|
It was a sub contractor in my case. In think it probably always is. He was a lone English chap, London sort, working out of his marital home in Ireland. Told me he did a weekly commute via the Fishguard ferry in his Irish reg transit, and all of his jobs were Thames Valley/South West London. Really nice guy, really hard worker, and conscientious. Removed the old kitchen and installed the new within a week, single handed. We let him take our old kitchen units away to be used in his son's football clubhouse.
The only bits he didn't do were electrics (including 12 spot lights and many under pelmet lights), which were covered by another (again English) sub contractor out of London, but this bloke was a bit of a lazy, miserable twonk always looking for the short cuts. Had to keep a very close eye to make sure he put what we wanted where we wanted, and to the quality we expected. The whole job (except the tiling and underfloor heating, which we got done by a local company) was around 10k including appliances and installation (built in fridge freezer, washing machine, two ovens (one pyrolytic, one standard electric plus steam function, induction hob and built in microwave/grill, extra sink and drainer for the utility area), and we got it on 2 years interest free. The only thing we couldn't get in IKEA was an integrated tumble dryer, but I bought one elsewhere and the IKEA blokes installed it for us, including new ducting to the outside (non-condensing dryer).
|
|
Thanks for your response.
|
|
Integrated dishwasher in there too. Also, cooker hood and extractor. And a second integrated under counter fridge in the utility area for all my freshly pressed vegetable juice (usually supplied by Loddon Brewery of Dunsden Green, Oxfordshire).
|
With only the exception of the cooker hood lights and the oven light, every light in our house is of the energy saving kind.
Not that I give a stuff about saving anything other than money.
They are the type which give off a decent yellowish light rather than the harsh white light which LEDs tend to do.
SWMBO absolutely hates central lights on anywhere but the kitchen and then only by sufferance (yes - they are energy savers, not fluorescent), so it is rare indeed for our centre lights in the lounge/diner (energy saving candle shape - very expensive) to actually be used.
She frequently does leave the cooker hood lights on in the evening " it gives a nice feeling to the otherwise dark kitchen", even though they are 50watts each - more than the rest of the living/dining rooms combined.
Women!
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 7 Jan 13 at 00:43
|
Our longest-lasting lightbulb is in the pantry, and gets turned on and off dozens of times each day. I can't remember ever changing it in 27 years.
On the other hand more recent filament bulbs are for ever going.
I bought a lot of heavy-duty bulbs intended for inspection lamps etc and they are just as useless. A bulb lasts about one car job, and then a slight knock blows it.
Energy saving bulbs are ugly, heavy, don't last very long, and while working give a rapidly dimming light.
Oil lamps and a decent torch are the best option, I'm beginning to think.
|
i used to have a heavy duty car lamp with a 'tough' bulb do they still do them...mines broken
|
|
I bought a pack of six candle bulbs in the 99p shop last year. Talk about get what you pay for, nearly every one exploded in a shower of sparks - taking the fuse with them - after a very short life.
Last edited by: Robin Regal on Thu 3 Jan 13 at 16:38
|
You'd ave been better orf buying four candles m8.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaGpaj2nHIo
|
>> i used to have a heavy duty car lamp with a 'tough' bulb do they
>> still do them...mines broken
I now use low energy bulbs for inspection lamps, they seem more durable.
|
>>
>> I now use low energy bulbs for inspection lamps, they seem more durable.
>>
They are said to be dangerous, and illegal in industrial premises, because of the strobe effect making moving parts appear stationary.
I don't know whether that is really true - the noise of the car engine running would be another give-away.
|
|
Maybe so in a car workshop, but I vividly remember a demonstration at school, where a strobe borrowed from the physics department made an electric table saw appear stationary.
|
|
Im pretty sure we still have some 200w in stock where i work. Definitely plenty of 150w because a friend of mine who is having a house built put together a whole string of them for the builders last Monday.
|
>> >> I now use low energy bulbs for inspection lamps, they seem more durable.
>> They are said to be dangerous, and illegal in industrial premises, because of the strobe
>> effect making moving parts appear stationary.
I suggested that here (or t'other place) some time ago, but NC, IIRC, said they didn't have the same strobe effect as fluorescent tubes, so I tried one.
|
|
This thing will light a room and give off a lot of heat too! www.tilleylamp.co.uk/catalog/index.php
|
A Tilley lamp in good nick with a new mantle will put out the light equivalent of a mythical 80 watt incandescent bulb.
Our scout group has several, they're good with a bit of user experience.
I always keep a sharp look out at autojumbles and car boots, one can pick up a good secondhand one for about £10 and as they are £120 new, well worth it.
|
|
"Tilley lamp" - Memories of staying at Grandparents for Christmas when I were a kid - every evening a cry would go out from Grandma - "Arthur, the Tilley lamp!" and Grandad would troop out to the loo in the backyard and light the Tilley lamp. Gave necessary light and stopped the pipes freezing. Mind you, in the middle of a cold night one tended to use the "Guzunder" which was found in every bedroom!
|
Memories of childhood boating holidays. Tilley lamps came with two alternative attachments - one for purely light, the other with a reflector like a small satelight dish with a heating mantle instead of lighting. That gave a reduced but useful amount of light, and a directional beam of radiated heat.
We had an ancient Naval Tilley Searchlight in the shop a few years ago. It was much bigger than an ordinary Tilley, fully enclosed with a carrying handle, and a sort of headlamp attachment about 18" across. It would have been awesome to try it out, but it seemed to need a special very large mantle.
|
We retail lots, and I mean lots, of the 'Rough Service Lamps' in pearl. 40/60/100/150/200w sizes. £1.50 pack of 2, apart from the 2 larger wattages which we sell at £1.99
I am told that by labelling the box RSL, manufacture circumnavigates EU legislation, although the quality of materials suffers slightly in that many of the bulbs have surface rust around the bayonet fixing.This does not seem to affect longevity.
We now stock candle style energy saving LEDs, in warm white, which come with a 25 year warranty...not cheap at £8.95, dimmable at £12.95.
Old style GU10s are on their way out, being replaced by low energy LEDs.
|
Light Bulbs - Dog
