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| Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, April 13 2013 @ 12:22 AM EDT |
I am pretty sure it is the bulbs. It could, of course, be slightly high voltage,
but any time I have had a reason to check with my volt-meter, the voltage from
the mains seems to have been within spec.
Of course, your suspicions are natural, and some kind of heavy-duty bulbs might
possibly alleviate the problem. Many years ago, I did experience the problem of
short-lived light bulbs when I lived for a year in Dhahran. Since the local grid
had been built to US spec, it was supposed to be 110 volts at 60 hz. But in all
likelihood there were surges and other such problems. I found out, there, that
bulbs which were rated for 125 volts instead of the standard 110 would last
much, much longer. But those 125 volt bulbs were of the now-defunct Narva brand,
imported to Saudi Arabia from the GDR. I have never seen a bulb rated for 125
volts here in the US; I don't think that such exist here.
For a long time, some good brands were locally available where I live now. The
last good brand that I knew of was Tungsram. There is a chain of
lumber-hardware-building materials stores in the southeastern US which used to
carry them, Lowe's. Those bulbs were cheap, and the quality was quite good. That
stopped, though, soon after General Electric bought Tungsram in 1989. When, in
the course of time, all of the Tungsram bulbs in my house burned out one by one,
I had to look for other brands. I have tried GE, Philips, Sylvania, and various
house brands. It doesn't seem to make any difference. The lifetime of the bulbs
is practically never what it is advertised to be. To have a bulb blow out the
first time it is installed and turned on is not so common, but it does happen.
IMHO if something like that happens, say, once every three or four months, it is
is still a bit too often and thus those events tend to breed mistrust in the
products. My impression is that quality has been going downward for
approximately the last 20 years or so, that the manufacturers have been trying
to cut corners as close as they can cut them, trying to make light bulbs as
cheaply as they can get away with, and, if possible, even more cheaply. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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