Bulb Light
Why does a bulb in my light fixture keep burning out?
I have a relatively new (3 year old) 3-bulb light fixture. Lately, I have had problems with bulbs in one particular socket burning out very quickly. It's rated for 100-watt bulbs, but I've been using 75-watts. At one point I even switched to expensive compact flourescent bulbs, but the one in that particular socket burned out within a week, as did the second one I installed in its place. Bulbs in the other sockets seem so far to have a normal lifespan.
What is a likely cause for this, and how can I fix it? The fixture was just expensive enough that I don't want to replace it, but not quite valuable enough to warrant having it repaired professionally. I'm hoping there is some easy, obvious fix that I can do myself. Thanks!
Bulbs that are exposed to the air cool rapidly upon shutdown and destroy the metal to glass seal at the bottom. When that seal is broken, air enters, and the bulb then burns out.
Bulbs that are in enclosed fixtures last for years of usage, even switching them on and off several times a day, that is because these bulbs do not experience that rapid thermal change which destroys that glass to metal seal at the bottom end of the bulb.
You most probably have an open type fixture, so in your case the exposed bulb is the reason.
Point also to be made, is that Your fixtures socket for the bulb probably has a low "mass" right where the bulb screws into the fixture. This low mass or weight here allows that area to cool rapidly on shutoff and with that mass the lower end of the bulb also cools rapidly and destroys that glass metal seal. The old fixtures, had a very heavy mounting area compared to your new fixture. They got hotter down there and stayed hotter after shut off. They cooled down more slowly on shut off and heated less rapidly upon start up. This very point im making allowed the bulb to cool more slowly and heat less rapidly. That in itself contributed to the longer bulb life.
There is nothing wrong with wiring, grounds, voltage surges, and the like. None of this is contributing to any shortened bulb life.
In your case, examine that socket that is the culpret. Somehow that bulb is cooling down more rapidly on shut off at the metal to glass screw in connection. Perhaps that socket is of a lower mass. Perhaps a shield is missing from the socket. Anything that would make it cool more rapidily would cause this difference.
How a light bulb works
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