Premature lamp burnout

Several people have complained to me about lamps burning out after just a few days in recessed lights. I always ask them if they are using the reccomended wattage lamp for the fixture/ trim combo & if this is a re-occuring problem. This seems to be anot to uncommon problem , any thuoghts?

Several people where ?
Houses...Apts....buying bulbs in a store ?
Same type of bulbs...recessed fixtures...?
CFL's...incandescents....other ?

Poor quality bulbs. Return them for a refund!

When I was a kid, light bulbs used to last a long time. About the last 10 years they have been getting worse and worse. Corporate greed if you ask me.

I think this has a lot to do with the power source (ocassional electrical spikes) and the home wiring.
When I bought a rural home, there were many electrical problem. Bad or sloppy electrical connections that were often exposed and not in a junction box. It took me several weeks to correct the problems and during this time, I blew many light bulbs. I might add that several of these blown bulbs were in recessed fixtures that were covered with insulation. I replaced all the recessed fixtures with celing fans and other type fixtures.
After correcting all the problems I could find, I blew about four regular light bulbs in a year.
I have no other explination.

Giles said:

blew about four regular light bulbs in a year.
I have no other explination.

Click to expand...

Assuming a bulb is on 4 hrs/day for 90 days gives a 360 hr avg. life for the sample size of four bulbs.

What rated life was marked on their package? If it was 1000 hrs, and 120v bulbs, the voltage to your house over the 90 days should have averaged
x = 120{[360/1000]^[-(1/14)]}
=129v.
Some people use 12 or 16 for the 14 exponent.

In MD they are not allowed to go over 126v but some areas allow 132v.

Take the recessed can down and check the junctions in the j-box, espically the neutral connections. If you have one that is not made up properly they have been known to blow bulbs with spikes.

Very simple solution

I had the same problem with my bulbs blowing out after only a few days, some times after only a few hours. Try a very thin coating of Vaseline/ or conductive lubricant, on the threads. It will solve the problem. My bulbs in the problem fixtures now last years instead of hours. Sounds to simple, but it worked for me.