Dagnabbit - why does my brooder light keep burning out every blessed day?

[PearlGrey]

I have a porcelain fixture. I use a 250 watt red light. The first one lasted about three days. The second one lasted from yesterday evening until this evening. Is this normal? I thought they were good for 2000 hours! In my case, that's a couple of orders of magnitude short. Anyone have any idea what could be causing this?

 

[lismarc]

No, its definitely not normal. I would suggest to double check the fixture. Is it capable of handling 250 watts? Is It an older fixture? Maybe the metal connector on the inside isn't touching the bulb consistently and causing an arc which will burn the filaments. Just some thoughts. Hope that helps some.

 

[donrae]

Definitely abnormal, and sounds like you're courting a fire hazard. Get a new fixture.

 

[PearlGrey]

I have a plastic and aluminum fixture, but I thought that might be dangerous since the bulb gets so hot. Should I switch to that for tonight do you think?

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Sounds like you have a loose connection in the fixture, switch, or somewhere in that circuit.

 

[gunnysmom611]

At wal-mart they sell fixtures that have a ceramic cup that holds the bulb so you dont have plastic getting hot. I think they are like $14

 

[PearlGrey]

At wal-mart they sell fixtures that have a ceramic cup that holds the bulb so you dont have plastic getting hot. I think they are like $14

That's what I got - though not from wal-mart, bought it from my feed store - because I thought it would be safer than the plastic one I already had. So far it's safe for us as it just stops working and goes cold but for the chicks not so much.

 

[gunnysmom611]

It could just be bad wiring or connections in the fixture then. I use one on a chinese water dragon and have had no issues