Why do my heat bulbs keep going out within a week?

I bought two Nightlight Red Heat Bulbs and within a week both of them burned out. Seriously it is really getting on my nerves. Any particular reason this can be happening?

Not sure why it is happening but you could get a heat emitter instead because I heard they last awhile.

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Originally Posted by Boanerges

Not sure why it is happening but you could get a heat emitter instead because I heard they last awhile.

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CHE will last a while. I bought a 60 watt zoo med CHE, ran 24/7 for a year straight except during hot days in the summer and it's still going strong. I suggest getting a large clamp lamp that's as large at the lid on your tank. I had a 8.5 inch flukers clamp lamp, but switched to a brooder clamp lamp from Tractor supply. The kind used for keeping chicken peeps warm. Its 10 inches wide- as wide as my screen top. Heats way better than the fluker lamp did. I think the heat would rise up, out and around the fluker lamp. Keep and eye on humidity though CHE's dry things out fast.

check your wattage on the bulbs you are buying and the lamp you are using... it sounds like you might be buying high watt bulbs than what your lamp can hold... hope this helps....

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Originally Posted by bobmurffy

check your wattage on the bulbs you are buying and the lamp you are using... it sounds like you might be buying high watt bulbs than what your lamp can hold... hope this helps....

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+1... That was my first thought also. Check the wattage of the bulbs and check the rating on the lamp...

I too use emmiters.

I know this is way out there, but are your hands/fingers oily? Its not out of the question that it could create hotspots or just rough handling of the bulb. If you getting them from the same place maybe even a bad batch of bulbs by the manufacture.

Red bulbs just suck in general. Stop buying those and go with a small Che on a rheo or tstat. I have some ches here that I've had going on 4 years. They last forever. The only ones I've lost were ones I damaged by breaking it.

Same thing was happening to me until I bought a new lamp. Make sure yours has a ceramic top, and that it is rated for the wattage you are using. Also, get a lamp that has a larger diameter. The smaller ones seem to burn out bulbs. I prefer silver ones as supposed to black, as they don't seem to break as many bulbs.

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Originally Posted by bobmurffy

check your wattage on the bulbs you are buying and the lamp you are using... it sounds like you might be buying high watt bulbs than what your lamp can hold... hope this helps....

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I thought along these lines as well, however I have a 150 Watt Lamp and use 100 W bulbs.

The fixture wattage doesn't have much to do with the bulb burning out.

Lightbulbs work by passing electricity through tungsten, alot of things can happen to the tungsten over time, but a week....unless your beating your lightbulbs up, I'd say your just buying crap/defective bulbs.

make sure your not screwing the bulb in to tight.... i forget the name of the gas that is put in the bulbs to stop the filiment from burning out. sometimes when screwing in to tight you can break the seal slightly and the gas slowly escapes and finaly burned out bulb. also make sure your lamp is plugged into a surge protector .. in older homes there can be micro power surges that can over heat the tungsten burn it out. i have had this happen so many times / also worked in a reptile shop and had bulbs returned all the time for the same reasons ... zoo med bulbs are bad for blowing out.. but they are awsome when you get a good batch

CHE! Make the switch! Plus your BP won't look like a "lady of the night" under that red glow!

I am using the ZooMed Nightlight Red bulbs, and yes J-Crash, it does look like quite the Brothel!