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What keeps burning out heat lamp bulbs?

4K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  dwilliams35 
#1 ·
I've got a little set up in my garage for my sulcata tortoise and use ceramic lamps for heat bulbs and UV bulbs. In the last few months my heat lamp bulb will go out in only a month or two where they used to last 6 months. Anybody have a clue as to why? The only thing I changed was installing a power bar to connect the lamps where as before they went directly into the wall.

Seabass
 
#2 ·
Somebody gave the turtle a BB gun. It's hidden under that rock over in the right back corner...




Meanwhile, it could be that "power bar": heat lamps use a lot of amps, and a lot of "consumer electronics" stuff like that "power bar" aren't built for it: that can get translated into failures downstream. Hook it up with a for-real extension cord, like 12 gauge or so, and see if the problem doesn't go away...
 
#3 ·
Somebody gave the turtle a BB gun. It's hidden under that rock over in the right back corner...

Meanwhile, it could be that "power bar": heat lamps use a lot of amps, and a lot of "consumer electronics" stuff like that "power bar" aren't built for it: that can get translated into failures downstream. Hook it up with a for-real extension cord, like 12 gauge or so, and see if the problem doesn't go away...
X2

when your wires get hotter, that extra heat can be transferred to the filament and shorten the life of your bulbs.
 
#6 ·
The whole circuit is the issue, not the filament... When the wire's too small, you end up with higher resistance in the whole circuit: it gets worse as the higher amperage required builds heat... A lot of what fails ISN'T the filament, but rather the connections in the bulb socket and the rest of the circuit: if the socket overheats, you can actually have a sealing failure at the bottom of the bulb, allowing oxygen into the bulb and the filament burns out.. This is exacerbated if the bulb is mounted in a socket-up configuration... Bigger wire in the whole circuit would cool down the problem quite considerably IMHO..
 
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