Ceiling Fan blowing out bulbs?

R Q

R Q

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Location
Charlotte
In my kitchen I have a ceiling fan/light that I installed several months ago. It has candelabra base bulbs and it blows them out weekly. The old fan/light did not blow out bulbs like this one but did occasionally but they were the regular type bases.
We've bought heavy duty bulbs, cheap ones, expensive ones and it doesn't matter. The fan always runs and is very balanced so vibration isn't an issue.
Why are the bulbs blowing out constantly?
 
Global warming is causing the problem.
All i got...
:beer:
 
Make sure that your bulbs arent rated for MORE wattage than the fixture.

Had a similar problem at my aunts.
She was running 60W bulbs in a 15W rated fan fixture (why the hell that fan was 15w rated Ill never know)..but lots of folks think "as long as the bulb is big enough for the fixture it will be good" in fact if the bulb is ay oversized the filament is larger as well and it actually doesnt "vibrate" fast enough and fatigue snaps.

Thats a shitty thumb tap explanation...but its the easiest thing.

Then we can talk about making sure its wired/installed right
 
you could have a loose connection on the wires going from the fan to the light kit. should be a couple small screws holding the light to the fan remove them (careful not to drop the light, a helping hand at this point makes it an easier job). inspect the wire nuts to make sure there are tight. you might want the fan an light off while doing this.
 
Ron said:
Make sure that your bulbs arent rated for MORE wattage than the fixture.

Had a similar problem at my aunts.
She was running 60W bulbs in a 15W rated fan fixture (why the hell that fan was 15w rated Ill never know)..but lots of folks think "as long as the bulb is big enough for the fixture it will be good" in fact if the bulb is ay oversized the filament is larger as well and it actually doesnt "vibrate" fast enough and fatigue snaps.
Click to expand...

The higher bulb wattage thing is usually from overheating, as the fixture can't dissipate heat from the higher wattage bulb and the bulb gets killed. Bulbs don't like too much heat.

Your resonant frequency and fatigue explanation is hurting my head.o_O

What you're trying to say is that the heavier filament may have a lower natural frequency, which must be resonating at around the same frequency range of the fan's vibration. A lighter filament may have a higher natural frequency and would not be excited by the relatively low frequency fan vibration. I say "may" in both cases, because there is a "k" term in the natural frequency equation, which (in this case) is the spring stiffness of the filament, and you don't really know how that actually compares between the bulbs. Mass is only part of that equation.
That's how fan-rated bulbs solve the vibration problem; they increase the "k" term by using a stiffer (heavier duty) filament with more support so the natural frequency is much higher.

This drinking in the middle of the week thing is fun. Makes me ramble even more about useless things.
 
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I've never heard of this before, but I just did some Google work, and people kept talking about screwing in the bulbs too tight was making poor contact and killing bulbs from arc stress. That never would have occurred to me. Unbending the flattened contact in the socket sounds like the solution to that.
 
Very much thought in those posts. Guarantee it's one of the above mentioned problems. If it was on a car, I'd say throw dielectric grease in it.

Or reinstall old fixture....
 
R Q said:
In my kitchen I have a ceiling fan/light that I installed several months ago. It has candelabra base bulbs and it blows them out weekly. The old fan/light did not blow out bulbs like this one but did occasionally but they were the regular type bases.
We've bought heavy duty bulbs, cheap ones, expensive ones and it doesn't matter. The fan always runs and is very balanced so vibration isn't an issue.
Why are the bulbs blowing out constantly?
Click to expand...

Sounds like you and I bought the same fan.. I started buying the "twice the life" bulbs and they have seemed to hold up for twice as long, 1 year instead of 6 months :rolleyes:

I, just last month, bought some LEDs to go in it. Lowes had a pack of 6 for $12. So far so good...
 
You need light bulb grease.
 
something else to check is your voltage at the socket. i once saw where a rural transformer was running on the high side (about 128V) and for some reason the kitchen bulbs would burn out quickly at the house. the owner purchased some bulbs that were rated for 130V and the bulbs no longer suffered a quick death.
 
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