Recently fitted halogen downlighters but they keep fusing?

[6BMW]

Had an electrician install 15x50 watt Halogen down lighters to one of our rooms recently. The bulbs keep blowing out, have been through around 5 bulbs in 5 days and different ones blow out.

The electrician wants another call out charge to see whats gone wrong but I reckon it could be a case of rogue traders where he's deliberately funked something up to make a quick buck.

Any ideas what he's done wrong?

[6BMW]

Not sure why that tumbsup has come on my post lol

[anonymous-user]

Eh? Is it the same electrician that fitted them that wants paid to check what he's ballsed up with his own installation?

Sounds fishy to me.

[tonym911]

Sounds normal to me, the downlighter bulbs in our kitchen pop with alarming regularity, ironic as they're meant to be all green and efficient etc. Suspect it is nothing more than crap quality products and a sign of the times.

[Jonnas]

Weirdly, after we finished our conversion the halogens used to go fairly regularly then over time they started to go less frequently. It wasn't a bulb issue as I bought a job lot at the beginning. Now they very rarely go. It definately got better over time and I put it down to smaller temperature fluctuations as the new house warmed up.

[tonym911]

That's interesting as our conversion is now three years old and the pop rate does seem to be coming down. LOTS of insulation in the roof space above.

[anonymous-user]

Re: problems due to it being a new build - my house was new 5 years ago, has 10 x 50w halogens in the upper hall, 8 in the kitchen, 6 in the lower hall, 3 outside and so on! I've replaced 1 bulb in total in 5 years, I hear nightmare stories of halogens but mine have been fine - I suggest they're not fitted properly or aren't great quality fittings/cable/bulbs if they blow that frequently!

[DavidY]

12v 50W halogens usually last a long time, 240v GU10 halogens don't seem to.

[Eggman]

Do they also turn themselves off, only to come back on later? I upgraded the transformers in my mother's kitchen some years ago to cure this, and seem to remember that it had also been getting through a lot of bulbs.

The kitchen company had supplied cheapo ones that weren't up to supplying the amount of power required.

[freecar]

One of the reasons we switched to LED in the kitchen was tht the GU10 bulbs were blowing at least one a week!

[Raverbaby]

Can you get above the lights to ensure there is no insulation over the lights and there is enough space to lose any heat build up.
You could always buy a couple of branded lamps to see if they last any longer.

[odyssey2200]

tonym911 said:

Sounds normal to me, the downlighter bulbs in our kitchen pop with alarming regularity, ironic as they're meant to be all green and efficient etc. Suspect it is nothing more than crap quality products and a sign of the times.

Same here!

8 halogens in the Kitchen and there are probably 3 gone at ant given time.

The more expensive ones do last longer though.

Oddly we have a load in the ensuite too and despite living in a damp atmosphere (shower etc) only 1 has gone in 8 years.

[DanGPR]

There is not much that the sparks could have done whilst fitting the lights to cause the lamps to blow.

Did he supply the lights? Are they 12v or 230v? If 12v, 1 transformer for each fitting or 1 for whole room?

[anonymous-user]

Raverbaby said:

Can you get above the lights to ensure there is no insulation over the lights and there is enough space to lose any heat build up.

I'd second this. As above I've had no probs with my halogens, and this may be as the spark that fitted them cut away a good square of insulation around each fitting in the loftspace, so plenty of room for heat to disperse.

[NorthEast]

Could the cause be finger marks on the lamps when they were fitted?. We also have downlighters in the kitchen (40w I think) and no real problems with them blowing.

[6BMW]

So do finger marks make so much difference!? I think it could be this - so what are you supposed to do use latex gloves???

[Road2Ruin]

Firstly there is nothing green or efficient about halogen bulbs, far from it. Secondly, if you have a lot on one switch it could the the surge of power when they are turned on causing them to blow. Try putting lower wattage ones in and see if it makes a difference (other than making the room darker).

[netherfield]

6BMW said:

So do finger marks make so much difference!? I think it could be this - so what are you supposed to do use latex gloves???

Yes they can,there are oils on your hands which can damage the lamp,we had a lot of problems with 500w outside Halogens blowing.

Use a piece of tissue,kitchen roll to fit the lamp.

I wouldn't use latex gloves as some are coated,that could be as bad as your fingers.

[jhfozzy]

I had major problems with blowing lamps in my kitchen when I installed two fancy lamps with 5 arms each giving 10 bulbs in total. I used different makes / wattages and it made no difference. I must have gone through about 20 bulbs in two months. More annoyingly, every time one blew, it knocked the trip off too for the lights.

Luckily enough, the lamps were shaped in such a way that I could get mini-spiral energy savers in the same space inside the globe and since then [about 5 years] IIRC, I've had three bulbs go in total with no trips.

[Jonnas]

A friend of mine has tried the Phillips LED replacements for these and he reckons they are great. Mind you, I have 50 halogens and the Phillips LED's are a touch over £25 each!!!