Light bulbs, premature burnout

[StevenT]

I inspected a house today that had about 30% of the lightbulbs burnt out. All were recessed ceiling fixtures, some were located inside, some were located outside.

My initial thoughts are over sized bulbs (overheating), moisture, or cheap bulbs. SInce it's a one story structure, I am ruling out vibration.

Is there a more "frequent" explanation?

[John Dirks Jr]

Will bulbs burn out sooner due to the heat containment of the recessed fixture?

[Bill Kibbel]

- Wrong type and wattage listed by the manufacturer.

- Excess line voltage - common in certain areas here.

- Dollar store or off-brand bulk bulbs.

[Richard Moore]

Home has been vacant and on the market for many months with the lights left on for "security"(?)...plus what Bill said.

[StevenT]

I agree with you, and am also considering moisture. If it were excessive line voltage, would it be like that all of the time? Or would it be a surge problem? I would like to test it.

[Scottpat]

Well, if you had your crystal ball polished up you could tell what was wrong! []

Now if this was a newer home and still had the bulbs that the builder installed, I would just chuck it up to the bulbs just burning out. They were all installed at the same time so it would be logical to think that they will start to burnout around the same time, depending on usage.

[StevenT]

This is a home that was renovated by the owner/builder. Although the house has ""pretty" floors and some other items, when looked at closely, it's a hodgepodge of faults. The house has new service, but there are a few things that bother me about the over all job. Like no GFIs, improperly identified conductors. He tells me he did the wiring.

[Billy_Bob]

When I was a kid, light bulbs lasted a very long time. In the last 15 years or so, suddenly they stopped lasting so long.

I think there are some greedy big corporations which decided that light bulbs which do not last as long will make their bottom line bigger.

Some very old light bulbs are still working today...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest-la ... ight_bulbs