HelpLife2.net: any electricians in the house?

[DreamThrall]

I've got track lighting in my kitchen with these kinds of light bulbs:

http://www.buylightfixtures.com/browseproducts/Twistline-GU10-MR16.html

Now, the bulb packaging, depending on which ones you buy, say they're guaranteed for anywhere between 2-8 years. We consistently have to replace all of ours (we have 2 fixtures with 4 bulbs each) every 4 months or so.

The fixtures were installed by an electrician hired by the woman who sold us the house, and we've since discovered that she's a bit of a tightwad. Is it likely that she the guy she hired installed the fixtures improperly?

 

[CyberPitz]

You could have a short in the wires with that description. Out of safety sake, I'd say get it checked out by a real electrician before something worse than blown bulbs occurs.

 

[Saturos]

You could have a short in the wires with that description. Out of safety sake, I'd say get it checked out by a real electrician before something worse than blown bulbs occurs.

I agree. Not something you should mess around with.

 

[VirusType2]

Not sure if this is helpful in your case, but in my father's house, he has recessed lighting, and the electrician had covered the fixtures in insulation in the attic.

Luckily the fixtures had a safety switch that would shut them off if they got too hot. Maybe you could try lower wattage bulbs. When the lights were constantly shutting off, I went in the attic to take a look, removed the insulation covering them to reveal a sticker that said, "Fire Hazard - do not cover in insulation." D:

It could also be from vibrations. For example, if someone is upstairs and stomps their feet, it can burn out a light bulb downstairs if it's on. A stereo system with a lot of bass could also be a problem in some cases.

 

[Baal]

Along the same lines of Mr. VirusType's sentiment; have you noticed the bulbs get hotter than you would expect them to get when run for a reasonable amount of time?

I honestly don't know anything, I'm just throwing out general trouble shooting tips.

 

[Tagaziel]

The safest way to check out these types of installation is placing some kind of organic matter inside and see if it starts burning. I assume it's installed improperly, so you should be safe just by checking it with your finger or tongue if you can reach it. Improper montage can't result in a shock, trust me.

I know what I'm talking about.

 

[DreamThrall]

The bulbs do get really frickin hot... like hot enough that I can't touch them without burning myself. But I thought halogen was supposed to get really hot?

 

[Saturos]

The bulbs do get really frickin hot... like hot enough that I can't touch them without burning myself. But I thought halogen was supposed to get really hot?

Mikael Grizzly is a professional electrician. Listen to his advice.

 

[DreamThrall]

Oh ok

 

[Azner]

Yeah, Daft Punk is awesome.
Oh you mean the non musical electric.

 

[Baal]

The bulbs do get really frickin hot... like hot enough that I can't touch them without burning myself. But I thought halogen was supposed to get really hot?

Apparently so! At least I put in a disclaimer stating that I, in fact, know nothing. See below:

...and because the quartz envelope is so close to the filament, it is extremely hot compared to a normal light bulb...

http://home.howstuffworks.com/question151.htm

And well, to me, a normal light bulb does still get pretty damn hot, typically.

 

[DreamThrall]

Haha no I knew that from beforehand.

 

[Mr Stabby]

We had those lights installed and the heat off them melted the transformers. Since using longer wiring to separate the bulb for the transformers they haven't broken.

 

[<RJMC>]

cover yourself whit water and put your feet into a pot full of water,and touch that stuff

 

[Sanada]

Halogen lights are meant to run hot. It's possible that the guy doing the job didn't properly remove anything that could insulate the light if it's only specific fixtures where the bulbs blow frequently. Heat could be building up and thus shorten the bulbs operating life. You could look yourself but if you don't know how to disconnect the lights from the mains then get a professional to look.

Personelly, Halogen bulbs are bad anyway and consume a lot of energy. We switched most of ours to LED bulbs which admittedly aren't as bright but consume like 1-2% the energy and won't get hot at all. You could try one or a lower wattage bulb in the problematic fixture and see how long it lasts.

 

[No Limit]

MR-16 aren't notorious for getting hot. I really doubt there is something wrong with your wiring just based on the fact that your bulbs are going out after 4 months. If there was a short you would know by your breaker going off.

There is a chance there is too much load going in to the bulbs. As sanada suggested try lower wattage bulbs. If you have a volt meter you can check to make sure you are getting proper 115V-120V on the outputs. If you continue to have problems I'd hire an electrician to check it out, you don't want to be messing with it; not worth losing your house in a fire.

Sanada, what led bulbs did you go with? Our company did a lot with LED lighting back in the day and we could not find a suitable led mr-16 replacement that wasn't insanely expensive. Most would burn from the heat.

 

[Sanada]

It's these ones I think.

http://www.lightbulbs-direct.com/product/2048/gu10-led-240v-2w-white/