why do my lightbulbs keep exploding?

clv101 · 12 Jan 2007 at 15:49

Why are people still buying incandescent bulbs? They are expensive to run, blow ever 1,000 hours, generate more pollution and CO2... :confused:

Jez · 12 Jan 2007 at 15:51

clv101 said:
Why are people still buying incandescent bulbs? They are expensive to run, blow ever 1,000 hours, generate more pollution and CO2...

I run them because my house has around 100 incandescent fittings, all controlled by programmable dimmers. It'd cost a fortune to replace them all and maintain the control i currently have! I dont find my electricity bills particuarly high.

Zip · 12 Jan 2007 at 16:01

Ghostys?

-Laser- · 12 Jan 2007 at 16:36

VIRII said:
If it is just the one fitting then I'd suspect the fitting first.

yeah seems to be this one mainly. as for buying normal bulbs instead of energy saving, dunno really, as it's not my house i don't really buy things or have much of a say in things, might be a good idea though.

Zip · 12 Jan 2007 at 16:38

-Laser- said:
yeah seems to be this one mainly. as for buying normal bulbs instead of energy saving, dunno really, as it's not my house i don't really buy things or have much of a say in things, might be a good idea though.

What ever you do, dont get Energy saving bulbs :eek:

They will mess with your eyes and mess with your head

Real bulbs F.T.W!!!!! :cool:

Jez · 12 Jan 2007 at 16:38

Zip said:
What ever you do, dont get Energy saving bulbs

They will mess with your eyes and mess with your head

Real bulbs F.T.W!!!!!

Energy savings bulbs dont dim either do they? What use is that?

VIRII · 12 Jan 2007 at 16:41

clv101 said:
Why are people still buying incandescent bulbs? They are expensive to run, blow ever 1,000 hours, generate more pollution and CO2...

Out of interest (I have an Octy and a Fabia) how does the VRS perform in comparison to some of the less powerful engines in terms of CO2 and pollution as well as fuel economy and general running costs. The Fabia is on an 02 plate so we're thinking of a trade up.

clv101 · 12 Jan 2007 at 16:42

Jez said:
Energy savings bulbs dont dim either do they? What use is that?

There are energy saving bulbs that dim with regular switches. Say it's a 100W equivalent bulb. Click the switch once and it comes on at 100W, click it again 75W, again 50W, again 25W, another click back to 100W. So you can get dimming functionality from regular sockets.

Zip · 12 Jan 2007 at 16:43

clv101 said:
There are energy saving bulbs that dim with regular switches. Say it's a 100W equivalent bulb. Click the switch once and it comes on at 100W, click it again 75W, again 50W, again 25W, another click back to 100W. So you can get dimming functionality from regular sockets.

Why do you know so much about light bulbs?

Jez · 12 Jan 2007 at 16:44

clv101 said:
There are energy saving bulbs that dim with regular switches. Say it's a 100W equivalent bulb. Click the switch once and it comes on at 100W, click it again 75W, again 50W, again 25W, another click back to 100W. So you can get dimming functionality from regular sockets.

Out of interest what is the typical power consumption for a 60w equivalent?

Jez · 12 Jan 2007 at 16:44

Zip said:
Why do you know so much about light bulbs?

He obviously runs them, i guess he would have had to know all this detail before swapping his regular bulbs out

VIRII · 12 Jan 2007 at 16:45

clv101 said:
There are energy saving bulbs that dim with regular switches. Say it's a 100W equivalent bulb. Click the switch once and it comes on at 100W, click it again 75W, again 50W, again 25W, another click back to 100W. So you can get dimming functionality from regular sockets.

I bought some of those (2 settings) to use as nightlights for my daughter but both died quite quickly.

clv101 · 12 Jan 2007 at 16:52

VIRII said:
Out of interest (I have an Octy and a Fabia) how does the VRS perform in comparison to some of the less powerful engines in terms of CO2 and pollution as well as fuel economy and general running costs. The Fabia is on an 02 plate so we're thinking of a trade up.

The Fabia vRS uses the VAG 130PD engine which is pretty much the sweet spot in terms of power and efficiency. Anything more powerful will be less efficient and anything more efficient will be considerable less powerful. I get well over 50mpg on any trip over a few miles (it only gets ~35mpg before it's warm which takes a ~5 minutes depending on how fast you go). General running costs have been very reasonable – just had the 10k services which roughly alternate between £120 and £180 depending on major/minor. Only other costs over the 35k miles I’ve done have been rear tires after 30k and fronts twice after 15k. Insurance group 9, the official CO2 rating is 138g/km but from a company car point of view it’s not EURO IV. Can’t fault it to be honest, the seats are comfy, the build quality is great (I used to have a Clio!!), loads of head room, I’m 6’3” and don’t have the seat quite all the way back.

clv101 · 12 Jan 2007 at 16:59

Jez said:
Out of interest what is the typical power consumption for a 60w equivalent?

They are around 5 times less depending on whose numbers you believe. Typically a 100W equivalent bulb would be 20W. I run 125W - daylight equivalents (for nice colour) that I think are rated at 25W actual power in rooms with just a single main bulb.

My hall has two of those fittings that take 3 40W candle bulbs so I run 9W versions of these and it's a little bit brighter:

Jez · 12 Jan 2007 at 17:05

How are they controlled? You mention multiple power levels, how exactly would i apply this to those bulbs?

They sound as if they might be worth a look as a quarter power is quite a drop, however there are 2 problems.

1) They look weird, and would spoil the look of my rooms multiple spot lights.
2) I dont see how i am going to control them.

Thinking low voltage lighting might be a more sensible route.

triggerthat · 12 Jan 2007 at 17:06

This thread reminds of the 'OCUK Change lightbulb thread'

Anyone have a link to it?

chimaera · 12 Jan 2007 at 17:11

Not adding much to the thread but i have a similar fitting that does the same, except it really did explode on me, showering thousands of shards of broken glass over me, there was no piece bigger than half a cm.

But yeah the electrics are actually brand new so i know its not faulty as its been looked at, just a case of either power surges or temperature fluctuations as said previously.

VIRII · 12 Jan 2007 at 17:27

clv101 said:
General running costs have been very reasonable – just had the 10k services which roughly alternate between £120 and £180 depending on major/minor.

Did you consider the variable service oil? I'm on that on the Octy, 17k miles and no service lights so far.

clv101 · 12 Jan 2007 at 17:34

VIRII said:
Did you consider the variable service oil? I'm on that on the Octy, 17k miles and no service lights so far.

Apparently variable servicing is not available on the Fabia vRS - it's been a very long debate over at Briskoda but the upshot is that it can't be done even though the same engine in the Octy can be put on variable servicing.

clv101 · 12 Jan 2007 at 17:40

Jez said:
How are they controlled? You mention multiple power levels, how exactly would i apply this to those bulbs?

They sound as if they might be worth a look as a quarter power is quite a drop, however there are 2 problems.

1) They look weird, and would spoil the look of my rooms multiple spot lights.
2) I dont see how i am going to control them.

Thinking low voltage lighting might be a more sensible route.

Mine aren't anything fancy - just regular bulbs with regular switches. Spots are available that don't looks so weird but I don't think there are any with fancy controls:

I expect if you want a room with multiple, dimable spots you're not going to be able to do that with compact fluorescents. Low voltage/LED might offer some interesting options but it's not something I know much about.