Ever had a lightbulb that wont burn out?

[Mark Davis]

I have a lightbulb in my kitchen that gets turned on at least 20 times a day and is left on sometimes for 15-20 mins while Im cooking.

Its been in there since April 15th 1998.

The reason I can remember the date is a roomate moved out that day and she helped hold the stepladder so I wouldnt fall.

So watch it burn out now that Im talking about it! LOL

Its not any special lightbulb just a regular 100 watt soft white.

[geddins]

Just kidding you. But I have to admit that when I saw you knew the date you put that bulb in the first thought I had was "Now here's a cadidate for a rock polishing kit!"

[TheGoodTexan]

There's some world record for that....like...there's some light that's been on in a basement in Chicago since ...like...The Depression or something crazy like that....

I'll look for a link.

Edit - Here's the Wikipedia link.

[TheGoodTexan]

Originally Posted by geddins

you need another hobby

Originally Posted by TheGoodTexan

So do I...

Ok...at least there are some people that apparently have MUCH more time on their hands than we do....quotes from the Wikipedia article:

"In 2001, the bulb's 100th birthday was celebrated with a community barbecue and live music."

...ok...not too bad...(any reason to throw a party, huh?)...but then this:

The bulb is cared for by the Centennial Light Bulb Committee, a partnership of the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department, Livermore Heritage Guild, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, and Sandia National Laboratories.

and finally, from the people that brought you the Roger Clemens trial....

The bulb has received letters acknowledging and celebrating its longevity from the city of Shelby, Ohio, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, the California State Assembly, the California State Senate, Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, Senator Barbara Boxer, and President George W. Bush.

[morroben]

http://www.centennialbulb.org/articles.htm

[woodman]

i once read that what creates wear and tear (and early death) in a light bulb filament is not leaving it on for long periods of time, but turning it off and on often, when the power surge hits it as it lights up.

Mark's experience seems to defy that conventional wisdom! but i couldn't help but wonder if the same principle might apply to amp tubes (i know, that's a completely different thread!)

[Telelicious]

Yeah, but when I take notice and think about it...it burns out.

[Mark Davis]

I have a light that stays on the whole time Im awake. Usually from around 9-10am till 2-3am. It lasts about 2 months usually before I have to replace the bulb.

[blacklinefish]

Originally Posted by Mark Davis

I have a light that stays on the whole time Im awake. Usually from around 9-10am till 2-3am. It lasts about 2 months usually before I have to replace the bulb.

Since bulbs last 700-1000 hours, that sounds about right:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=2*750hours+in+days

(Is there anything Google can't do?)

--gh

[BillyG]

I have a motion detector in a bedroom closet and sometimes it will activate in the middle of the night. It scares the hell out of me. What anomaly could cause such a thing? Am I being punished? :)

[CharlieO]

My father has a Tiffany-style lamp on the lanai in his condo. He made the lamp himself in 1981, and it has been used every day since then. The bulb has never been changed. He figures that it has lasted this long because it is on a dimmer switch, and has never been operated under full voltage.

[beep.click]

Originally Posted by BillyG

I have a motion detector in a bedroom closet and sometimes it will activate in the middle of the night. It scares the hell out of me. What anomaly could cause such a thing?

Oh, probably just demonic possession... or, y'know, something.

[BellyBoy]

I saw a TV show once about a lightbulb that had been burning in a fire dept for over a hundred years, they have only turned it off once for 15 minutes or something... the Firefighters see it as a good luck charm.
As I recall (and I could be wrong) it was one of the first lightbulbs ever made....

[ROADMAN]

Originally Posted by BillyG

I have a motion detector in a bedroom closet and sometimes it will activate in the middle of the night. It scares the hell out of me. What anomaly could cause such a thing? Am I being punished? :)

don't know about you guys but we get some pretty big moths

[Jakedog]

Originally Posted by BillyG

I have a motion detector in a bedroom closet and sometimes it will activate in the middle of the night. It scares the hell out of me. What anomaly could cause such a thing? Am I being punished? :)

Do you leave the door closed? If the door is open, it could be something as simple as a shadow from outside your window falling across it. Car drives by, tree branch swaying, etc. Do you have any pets? Cats have been known to wreak havoc in these situations. If the door is closed, and none of these factors apply, I'd chalk it up to garden variety haunting.


Jake

[Cassidy]

You guys realize that bulbs have been redesigned to burn out? There was a time when the norm was that a light bulb wouldn't burn out for 20-30 years. When people sold their house they took the light bulbs with. But the bulb companies weren't making any money, so they redesigned them so they'd last a specific number of hours.

My grandma used to talk about this. She said they'd buy their bulbs at the fire department, because the hardware store didn't want to waste shelf space for something that never sold.

I hope she was right because it's a great story...

Cassidy

[CharlieO]

Originally Posted by Cassidy

You guys realize that bulbs have been redesigned to burn out? There was a time when the norm was that a light bulb wouldn't burn out for 20-30 years. When people sold their house they took the light bulbs with.

You're right about people taking the lightbulbs with them when they sell a house. I'm a Realtor, and I've seen it a couple of times. It's usually elderly sellers who do that.

[Jackson Jackson]

Originally Posted by BellyBoy

I saw a TV show once about a lightbulb that had been burning in a fire dept for over a hundred years, they have only turned it off once for 15 minutes or something... the Firefighters see it as a good luck charm.
As I recall (and I could be wrong) it was one of the first lightbulbs ever made....

Yeah, it's in Livermore, California. A friend of mine works out of that station from time-to-time. They have a web cam that you can watch the bulb from...

http://www.centennialbulb.org/cam.htm

[TheGoodTexan]

Originally Posted by BellyBoy

I saw a TV show once about a lightbulb that had been burning in a fire dept for over a hundred years, they have only turned it off once for 15 minutes or something... the Firefighters see it as a good luck charm.

As I recall (and I could be wrong) it was one of the first lightbulbs ever made....

Originally Posted by Jackson Jackson

Yeah, it's in Livermore, California. A friend of mine works out of that station from time-to-time. They have a web cam that you can watch the bulb from...

http://www.centennialbulb.org/cam.htm

That's what my Wikipeadia link from above is about....

[Doug Ferguson]

Originally Posted by Cassidy

You guys realize that bulbs have been redesigned to burn out? There was a time when the norm was that a light bulb wouldn't burn out for 20-30 years. When people sold their house they took the light bulbs with. But the bulb companies weren't making any money, so they redesigned them so they'd last a specific number of hours.

My grandma used to talk about this. She said they'd buy their bulbs at the fire department, because the hardware store didn't want to waste shelf space for something that never sold.

I hope she was right because it's a great story...

Cassidy

I don't doubt this at all. This past week, I've replaced 5 blubs that burned out, 3 of which were only about a month old. Don't know about the rest of you, but I hate it when you flip the switch and BAM! there's this small pop and flash of blue light as thing blows. It may not be in the same league as a bomb going of, but vicerally it feels like that.

[reverbbb]

There are two major things that cause incandescent lamps to fail. Physical shock and oxygen. The better the vacuum, the better the chance of it lasting longer. A thin fillement simply provides less material for the oxygen to consume. A manufacturer can make a lamp that lasts a long time by providing a good vacuum and heavier gage wire. But then they wouldn't sell many would they?

The third thing that can cause a lamp to fail is the stress of expanding and contracting. This fatigues the fillement and it eventually breaks. As mentioned above, that is caused from turning the lamp on and off. If left on, the lamp will not expand then contract constantly.

Oddly enough, the tide has turned. Manufacturers are now marketing the CFLs. They last longer for a different reason. But the longer lasting lamp has become one of the two primary marketing parameters of CFLs.

[bo]

My aunt and uncle lived in an 1860s era house near York Pa. that was wired for electricity around 1900. The bulb in the light over the porch was put in when they wired it and as of 1988 when they moved it was still working. Perhaps even stranger is I have an eight year old Acqua Indiglo (a water resistant Timex) that's still running on its original battery. I usually change my cheap watches when the battery dies as they get pretty beat up. That's usually a year, maybe year and a half. This thing looks bad at this point.

[jwsamuel]

Originally Posted by BillyG

I have a motion detector in a bedroom closet and sometimes it will activate in the middle of the night. It scares the hell out of me. What anomaly could cause such a thing? Am I being punished? :)

It's just the monster in the closet.

Jim