My House eats lightbulbs for breakfast...
 

Quick question for you guys...

As the title implies, my house consumes lightbulbs faster than any house I have ever seen. I've done pretty much everything I can think of - which wasn't much. But a typical lightbulb will last less than a month in my house. The curly-energy-efficient-last-for-20-year lightbulbs last slightly longer, but not by much and are much more expensive.

I can't even fathom a specific reason for this, but perhaps you folks have an idea.

When I purchased it, the inspector took a look at the wiring and what not, and everything is up to code. However, obviously something isn't right...

Any suggestions?

hum weird

Call a better electrition. Might want to try those energy saving florecent lights that screw into lamps like a normal light bulb. dont think a power surge could realy burn those out. If they cant find anything really wrong with the wireing you could call the power company and see what they have to say. could just be getting alot of bad power surges from something faulty in the lines on the way to your house.

Hum house haunted by a ghost afraid of the light? Call the ghostbusters maybe?

I'd check to see if everything is properly grounded. And I'd call the electric company - or another electrician. This is odd.

Power surges will cause this. Vibration also kills lightbulbs pretty quick.

I have the same problem and have had it for a long time. The place where I am on the system has the voltage too high. Your house voltage is supposed to be 110 volts up to about 117 volts at at regular plug. Mine runs as high as 128 volts. I started buying 130 volt light bulbs. I also call my rural electric company and complain, but if they turn it down it doesn't last long because then they get complaints further down the line about low voltage. You should check with them though, sometimes they can adjust it on the transformer that feeds your house. Any cheap multimeter from Radio Shack or something can tell you if it is a voltage problem. So can your power supplier and it should be for free.

Couldn't you get the power company to supply you with a regulator that keeps the power at 110 volts?

If it's a voltage issue you can sometimes find soft-start modules. They're simple little discs that sit between the socket and bulb that reduce startup voltage. Warmup is when the filament is most vulnerable.

There are also voltage regulator/reducer circuits that work full-time but the cost is a bit more. Also, if your voltage problem fluctuates, these generally drop the brightness too much when household voltage is normal.

You could try hologen bulbs. Or "long life" bulbs. They're less vulnerable.

Check with neighbors for their experiences. You might have better luck if several of you approach the power company at the same time.

Do you live next to a train or in a flight path? Both can cause vibration issues. I used to have an office near the San Jose airport and our outside light would pop once a week when the facade vibrated. Nice.

Yep, I've tried the halogen light bulbs, but they die nearly as quickly.

I'll give my local power company a call, but I imagine it may have more to do with the house than anything, as I do live within the city.

No vibrations that I'm aware of, I suppose a helicopter flies overhead relatively often (hell, one just crashed a couple blocks away a few weeks ago) but no trains or large aircraft...

I appreciate the input, folks :D

You'd be amazed how much voltage can fluctuate within neighborhoods. Give it a test. If that's it and the power company isn't responsive at least you can buy 130V bulbs.

Another possibility is that your neutral wiring is in poor repair. When that happens, each side of the 240 is allowed to float with respect to ground, one side can be 150, and the other 90, dependent upon load. This often happens when the outer sheath of older service entrance cable deteriorates, exposing the neutral conductors to air and moisture, and if aluminum, they will fail in short order.

the power company here is really responsive to voltage problems. I called in a complaint of frequent fluctuations once and they brought out a laptop and meter, left it on some of the outlets i was having problems with to record data over time, then agreed that it was a service issue and fixed some stuff on their end which solved the problem. I wasnt having problems with lightbulbs... comp equipment was dying, even through good surge suppression. there was a good 20-30 volt swing tho in the line which was causing it.

We had the same problem at my old office. Turns out, the vibration from the air conditioning system was the cause. The solution was 130V bulbs.

I have had similar problems and have yet to replace one of the screw in florecent lights. We have been using the oldest ones about 3 years.
A friend who is an electrician said I should by a higher voltage bulb. I can't remember the exact voltage but he said the discount stores would stock them.

Not sure if it matters or not, but my house is relatively new, so I am not sure if it has anything to do with my equipment/wiring being old. It's only 12 years old.

I'll swing by an electronics store soon and let you guys know what the readings are :D

It sure can't hurt to call the power company.

Look within your lamp base itself after you have the bulb out. In most cases you'll see a tab that is bent slightly out, that is intended to have contact with the bottom of the light bulb. If this is bent too far in, it CAN in some cases cause a short and will burn out your bulb. It should be at around a quarter of an inch of elevation.

As well you need to know if the circuit that your lights is on is on any high amperage circuits. Your microwave? washing machine? are any appliances on the same circuit? Switching these items off will cause a wattage fluctuation in the circuit and will burn your bulb out quicker.

I need a new rule. No responding to posts before my first coffee.

Yep had the same problem on and in my garage, bulbs went out once a week I switched to Flourent bulbs and have'nt changed a bulb since Aug 1998.(yes I wrote the date on the back of the package and saved it)
I found it was vibrations from the electrical garage door opener it would vibrate the walls and ceiling to kill the bulbs.
Check your voltage and buy bulbs accordinly.

Good luck