Lighting/electric problem, maybe?

[stomachmonkey]

House is new construction 4+ years old.

4 recessed fixtures in kitchen ceiling.

One of them chews thru bulbs at a much faster rate than the other fixtures. Bulbs last 6 months. Type of bulb, regular incandescent or CFL, makes no difference.

Obviously there is a problem but how to narrow it down.

Recessed cans are pretty basic but I guess it could be defective? Or is it the wiring in the ceiling.

Any thoughts on how to chase it down?

I guess I could just replace the can and wait.

[Rick V]

My house was built in 1943 and the original light fixtures eat bulbs like a kid with gumdrops, the fixtures I have replaced are not ravenous at all.
Just a thought but I would suspect the fixture based on my issue.

[carambola]

is the light under a hallway?

[941MXVET]

Some potential issues:

Improper grounding system in your house, although probably not due to its age.
Harmonic currents generated by other devices in your house such as lighting ballasts, computers, UPS's, added load to you grounded conductor system, neutral wires.
Vibration.
Too low of a voltage due to poorly installed wiring, or you houses location on the local grid.
Low voltage will cause an recriprical increase in amperage causing your lamps to fail faster.

Most electricians who work in residential construction will probably not be able to troubleshoot this issue.

[Bill Douglas]

I plug a multimeter into such things and just watch the voltage on the meter for five minutes. And get someone to switch things on and off elsewhere in the house. Mainly the big power user things like hot water or air con. Also try it at times when there may be low power in the area due to everyone having come home from work and switching things on.

As mentioned above poor grounding can cause weird things to happen.

[matt f]

Had a similar problem with one recessed can blowing bulbs. All cans were on the same line.
I turned the kitchen breaker off and un-wired(is that a word?) and rewired the fixture with the same wires.
Worked for me.
At the least, a good first step.

[Zeke]

Higher heat retention in that fixture?

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by 941MXVET

Some potential issues:


Low voltage will cause an recriprical increase in amperage causing your lamps to fail faster.

Oh? Do you think this is true?

[fanaudical]

+1 on checking voltage and then rewiring connections. I had a couple of recessed cans with the same issue. I measured voltage on those at <110 VAC. When I disassembled the cans/wire nuts I found some poor connections. I re-stripped wires, re-did connections, and it's been great since.

[rick-l]

Does the bulb burn out or do the contacts fail (corrode and burn)?

Is it high vibration?

[gshase]

Try an LED bulb, No heat issue.

[stomachmonkey]

Thanks for the replies.

The light is one of four that form a square ~ 9 x 6.

The space above them/the kitchen is loft area.

Not sure it's heat related.

The bulbs blow when turned one.

I'll pull and rewire the fixture first and go from there. They are cheap enough so maybe I'll just replace it.

[Zeke]

Hopefully you can access the connection box. Most of the cans are able to be removed so that only the bracket and wiring box are left. If you try to pull that, you will end up doing drywall work.

You're going to need a pair of skinny hands.