Bulbs Blowing

Hi,

We have a problem with bulbs blowing all over the house. I rang the ESB and they told me that they upgraded the network to supply 240V to all houses. He explained that we are probably using 230V bulbs and should replace them with 240V bulbs. We decided to get energy conscious and replaced all our bulbs with CFL bulbs. But these bulbs are not very bright and I ended up going back to ordinary bulbs in most rooms, especially the kitchen. But recently, they've starting blowing again. I can't find 240V bulbs. Can they be sourced? Or is there anything we can do to lower the voltage coming into the house?

Regards
FiveFingers

Sounds like incorrect info from the ESB, the mains voltage has increased from 220v to 230v. UK is going from 240v to 230v.
You can't do anything about the voltage coming in to the house.

Usually bulbs blow because they are cheapies. The larger ones like 150w dont' seem to last as long anyway, even good ones.
Sometimes they blow if they get too hot, i.e. in an enclosed fitting.

Putting dimmer switches on the lights helps.

Hmm, what is considered a cheap bulb? We use Solus and Philips - are they cheap brands? What brand would be better?

None of the bulbs are in enclosed fittings, some of them are the special "golf ball" bulbs for particular fittings.

I was really disappointed with the CFL bulbs. The 100w bulb seems to be only as bright as a 75w ordinary bulb. Why is this?

FiveFingers said:

I was really disappointed with the CFL bulbs. The 100w bulb seems to be only as bright as a 75w ordinary bulb. Why is this?

Click to expand...

Most CFL bulbs emit light which has a strong horizontal component and a weak vertical component, so if you put them in a ceiling pendant with a regular lampshade they are definitely dull.
The ordinary GLS lamp throws light in all directions.