Betty,
My understanding (I read this someplace a long time ago) is that
there are several voltage standards in the USA, and that bulbs are
made for those different standards. Find out what the ACTUAL voltage
is at your house, and what it's supposed to be, and the voltage
rating of the bulbs, and find out where you can get a similar bulb in
a higher voltage rating.
As has been discussed, bulb life is EXTREMELY sensitive to voltage.
When a bulb is dimmed, the lower voltage should LENGTHEN the life of
the bulb. However, the solid state dimmers work by changing the wave
form of the current, and there is a sudden turn-off (or is it
turn-on? I forgot.) which shocks the filament. You may notice that
dimmed bulbs sometimes "sing" whereas undimmed bulbs do not. I think
that this is because the much higher change of current with respect
to time creates a much higher change of the magnetic field in the
filament, and that this field interacts with the earth's magnetic
field and causes the bulb to vibrate. This can't be good for the life
of the filament.
Alvin
The bulbs in our dining room light that's on a dimmer regularly
burns out after a few months. I'd use a fluorescent bulb, but ones
that work on dimmers are hard to find.
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