Bulbs Burning Out

For some reason my CFL bulbs keep burning out and I can't figure out for the life of me why. I thought CFL was supposed to last longer and be more durable then incandescents. The lights aren't getting wet. There may be *SLIGHT* vibration since they are hanging and the fan blows them a little. The bulbs I'm using aren't over-rated for the fixture. They are Sylvania 150W bulbs (2700k / 2600 lumens) that I picked up at Lowes.

Anyone have any ideas or am I just having some serious bad luck with a bad batch of bulbs? Pisses me off because they are like $10 a pop, and they have been blowing in under a week of being installed. I've gone through like 5 bulbs!

Just figured it out... took a look at the box looking for a number to call and found out the bulbs are only supposed to be used "base up"... Damn them!

I had a problem with that brand of bulb. One day I heard a strange "click" noise. Turned out the light burned out and it was smoking so bad the room filled up. The smell was horrible! I took them back to Menards and got different ones. Its bad if the fire department finds your garden!

hmm.. wow i've never heard of that

I just had a sylvania 42w 6500K Daylight CFL just go on me today only after running it for about 15 hours or so... No mention of base up, down, or horizontal on the packaging.

I've gone to almost every store in my city and they all seem to be out of the 42W Daylight CFLs, anyone know of a good online retailer for us canucks? Right now I'm paying just under $15 CDN per bulb... So I'd like to find something equally priced or less of course.

Are you running them in those home depot reflectors that hold in the heat and don't let the built in ballasts get enough airflow?

Those reflectors don't even help give more light.

OregonMeds said:

Are you running them in those home depot reflectors that hold in the heat and don't let the built in ballasts get enough airflow?

Those reflectors don't even help give more light.

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No reflectors what so ever... I have a 100 CFM fan in a small pc case, temps in the pc case are no more than 86 F at any given time. So I don't think it has to do with heat. Those bulbs have an operating rage up to 120 F, so I'm at a loss here.

Ok, well you just got a crappy batch. When I replaced all the lights in my house some of them didn't last like they should have either. Just called the 1-800 and got warranty replacements.

OregonMeds said:

Ok, well you just got a crappy batch. When I replaced all the lights in my house some of them didn't last like they should have either. Just called the 1-800 and got warranty replacements.

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Well I've tried to exchange for replacement in store but every home depot is out of stock as well as any other CDN retailer that carries 42W daylight CFLs. I sent a nasty email yesterday to sylvania so hopefully they'll send me a new one, if not I'll be calling the 1-800 #

The light that started smoking had no hood and plenty of ventilation. I even keep a thermometer probe near the lights to keep track of the temps. They stay around 70*

MoonGrower said:

Just figured it out... the bulbs are only supposed to be used "base up"... Damn them!

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fuck dude! hey man, by "base-up" do you mean fixture pointing down with teh bulb hanging, or vice versa? i'd fukken hate to go thru that shit.

thanks in advance.

serialchillah88 said:

fuck dude! hey man, by "base-up" do you mean fixture pointing down with teh bulb hanging, or vice versa? i'd fukken hate to go thru that shit.

thanks in advance.

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By "base-up" I mean not hanging - like you can only use them in something like a lamp, with the scre part down. Says it right on the box with a picture.