What to Do When a Light Bulb Keeps Blowing
Have you ever had a fixture that kept blowing your bulbs every other week? This can be incredibly frustrating and costly depending on how often you have to buy a new bulb. While most people claim that bulbs blow because of faulty wiring, it turns out that your installation may have nothing to do with that annoying occurrence. So what exactly causes bulb burnouts and what can you do to change that?
Cheap Bulbs
The number-one cause of burn out is low-quality filament bulbs. The construction of these bulbs is inferior, and their filament is thinner, so their lifespan is short even under normal conditions. Any situation that is out of the ordinary will, therefore, cause any low-quality bulb to blow without warning. The solution to this issue is to replace cheap bulbs with high-quality LEDs.
Over Tightening
Most people don't know that you should not force your bulb into a socket because just a simple click will suffice. If you push the bulb in too hard, the bottom will bend a brass tab that sits at the bottom of the socket and cause electric arcing. As a result, excess heat is generated, and that causes the bulb to burn out. An electrician can fix that problem for you and also teach you how to set the bulb correctly.
Excess Voltage
Though people believe that electricity gets into a home at 120 volts, most houses get more than that. Unfortunately, a lot of bulbs cannot handle the excess energy, and, consequently, they burn out after overheating. You can use an electric meter to read the voltage in your house or that particular room with a problem. If it's more than 120V, the best solution is to buy 130-volt long-life bulbs.
Vibration
One of the significant causes of bulb burnouts that people don't know about is vibration. This can be caused by nearby appliances, foot traffic from kids playing in the room above, sound waves or living near a mill. When vibration happens over an extended period, cheap bulbs will burn out, and the only way to prevent that is to replace all bulbs with higher quality bulbs as they can handle the stress.
If you have tried all these measures and you are still losing bulbs by the day, it may be time to call an electrician to check out the wiring behind the fixture. It may be something as simple as a loose wire, or something significant, and only trained electricians can be able to tell what the problem is and fix it.