Warning about 100 Watt light bulbs

[rhodiegal]

I just had to tell this story b/c alot of people give warning about using infrared heat lamps in brooders due to fire hazard. It turns out that a plain old 100 watt light bulb can also cause a fire.

About 5 years ago, I had a batch of 2 or 3 week old chicks under a normal 100 watt light bulb. We took a trip to Disney and had relatives taking care of our 7 chicks. Apparently, one of them got frisky and knocked the lightbulb down. The bulb stayed on and burned a hole through the wood floor and was hanging by the cord into the basement (still on). Luckily, we had Brinks and when the smoke alarm went off the fire department came out. They looked in the windows and saw the house full of smoke, so they broke into the window. Low and behold, all 7 chicks were trapped in the slow burning brooder. Amazingly, the fire department rescued them and all 7 lived. You can imagine our horror to have just walked into Magic Kingdom and received a phone call that our house was on fire and the chickens started it!

Well, looking back, it was pretty irresponsible of us to have left the chicks with someone only coming by once a day. Now, I can tell you the brooder light is SUPER secured by several wires!

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

Yikes! That story is scarier than the haunted mansion at Disneyland!

There wa a thread on here recently about making sure heat lamps are doubly secured. Guess your story is a good illustration as to why that's a good idea!

 

[jthayerkatz]

Thanks for the info, I know it must have been tough to live through that experience, but we can all gain wisdom from your story.

 

[Uzuri]

Without telling a whole huge story, even CHRISTMAS LIGHTS used improperly can cause a fire. Anything that makes heat can be dangerous if it falls in the wrong spot.

But you folks are incredibly lucky to have only ended up with a hole in your floor!

I'd eat the chickens, though -- they're obviously plotting against you

 

[rhodiegal]

Yes - we were lucky. The fire department took the bulb with them and were going to send it to a testing lab. They thought that a bulb like that should not have been able to do what it did - that maybe it was faulty. Anyway, we never heard anything back about it.

 

[Uzuri]

Really, it surprised the firefighters?

I couldn't find surface temperature numbers for a 100-watt bulb, but here's for others at an ambient temperature of 77F:

25W - 110F
40W - 252F
60W - 260F

Wood burns without flame at 390F (http://www.woodsdrummer.com/ml05.html) Easy-bake ovens with 100W bulbs have been measured at 600 (which will burn your cookies!) if left long enough, though you've got to remember that that's an enclosed area. I wouldn't think that it would be far off the mark for a 100W bulb to reach the wood charring temp, especially if there were any bedding material or things with a lower charring temperature than wood in there to help things along.