Himalayan Salt Lamp 15 watt Colored Bulb Assortment

BulbS & Cords

Read more in our FAQs

Why are my bulbs blowing? 

Lifespan for a typical incandescent home use bulb is around 1,000 hours, but usually ranges between 700 and 2000 hours. Heat, vibration, mechanical shock, over voltage conditions, and on/off cycles are all a factor in bulb life.  If you leave your lamp on 24/7, that is about 700 hours in a typical month.  So if you’re getting a couple of months or more out of your bulbs, that’s pretty good indeed.

There are bulbs for high heat applications (oven bulbs) and/or or applications that experience vibration or mechanical shock (fan bulbs), but they are more expensive by a multiple. Most people will not need these special application bulbs, and so we’ve found that the inexpensive bulbs we sell are the best value for your salt lamp.  Now that you understand the issues, you can experiment with more costly bulbs for different applications if you feel that you would benefit from that extra expense.

The incandescent bulbs used in Himalayan salt lamps are meant to be in a stationary position. If they are moved suddenly or are exposed to vibration, they can blow or have a diminished life  Consider what happens to a flashlight bulb when the flashlight is dropped? (many now use LED bulbs to combat this type of failure)

High humidity can also cause bulbs to blow.  This happens by creating corrosion on the contacts, which then creates higher resistance in the circuit, causing them to blow or wear out prematurely. All of this is also a factor in your dimmer or on/off cord circuits and bulb holder that is part of the power supply cord.

Power spikes or surges through your circuits in your home or office occur constantly.  Your electric items are manufactured to tolerate this to some degree.  But spikes mean problems for any electric item, and the cords & bulbs used in Himalayan salt lamps are sensitive to this as well.  Dimmer cords are definitely sensitive to these spikes and over voltage situations.

The natural insulation of a salt cavity is also a factor in the life of bulbs.  Salt naturally absorbs energy, whether heat or cold, and retains it very well.  This can build up to be a very hot area, and that heat can lower the life of bulbs.  Heat removes the coating on the filament, which creates more resistance, which causes more thinning of the coating, and quicker failure.

If you have bulbs popping or blowing regularly, here are some things to take into consideration:

• The bulb is not quite screwed in firmly enough to create a good connection between both contacts. This causes more resistance which can wear the bulb & cord out prematurely.
• There is condensation on the bulb or electrics of the dimmer causing them to corrode and create higher resistance.
• The bulb is touching the inside surface of the lamp, or after a bulb has been changed, the cord and bulb has been pushed too far to the top of lamp and is touching the salt. This creates hot spots that concentrate too much heat on the bulb.
• The lamp is moved while or after the lamp has been on long enough to heat it.
• There is a large current drawing appliance on the same circuit that is turned on/off and there is a momentary power spike or fluctuation that reaches the bulb and dimmer cord electric components.
• There is excessive ‘micro vibration’ nearby ie: too close to a TV, refrigerators, etc.
• If the lamp has been turned off and has sweated, salt may have leaked onto the bulb which will cause it to blow.

What about my dimmer cord? Why did it fail?

It would be difficult to say in any particular case, considering all the factors that are involved. Sometimes a visual inspection can reveal damage or wear to parts of the cord or dimmer components itself and it’s worthwhile to take a look the cord in detail if you suspect there is a problem.

The dimmers we sell are an electronic item – they incorporate a printed circuit board as well as mechanical controls to tell the electronic circuit board to vary the voltage supplied to the bulb.  The electronics essentially turn the light on and off very rapidly by cutting the voltage, and you adjust the level of that activity with the rotary knob.  Those electronics can be damaged by excess resistance and voltage spikes (even small spikes), just like bulbs.  The current passes through the dimmer by traveling through a silicone semiconductor and these can be quickly affected by overloads (spikes) in the ordinary course of use.

Dimmers can also be affected by constant high voltage conditions – meaning your electricity is flowing in your environment above the standard 120 volts.  This is more common that you might think, although not typical.  It creates wear on the parts prematurely, and enough of it can create quick failures.

Over time, the dimmers can be subjected to lots of small spikes, or one very large one.  They could subjected to high resistance loads or fluctuations because the bulb or socket has corrosion, or the filament on the bulb has failed.

It could also be something as simple as being pinched, stepped on, or spilled on.

The dimmers we offer are a value product – i.e., they could be engineered to tolerate all kinds of conditions, but the very vast majority of people will not need this, and we can’t justify incorporating that super engineered cost into the lamps, or the replacement cord products we offer.  Out of 1000 lamps, we typically hear from 2 to 3 people that have a problem with their cord.  We offer reasonably priced replacement cords for those that need them, and we replace them at no charge if they fail in the first 6 months.