Originally Posted By: jcampbell This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Gents…
House i did for my niece today puzzled me...
The electrical panel appeared clean and in good shape, the home was built in 2001 by a reputable contractor... not sure who was the electrician... all the outlets appeared ok...
HERE is my issue...
nearly half of the light bulbs were blown... all incandescent bulbs in basement blown... only the flourescent worked...
Every once in a while... maybe 4-6 times in the 2.50 hours we were there, the hard wired, battery back up smoke detectors chirped through out the home...
Any theories to this??? 
Originally Posted By: rcooke This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Yes it happened to me had a big argument with the supplier . If it had been a lady or some one who did not stand up for their rights they would have lost . the voltage was to high I am a retired sparky and would not stand for any of their BS. They finally lowered the voltage and no bulbs burnt out in three years , We lost at least 2 or more a month Going from memory the voltage should have been 120/240 plus or minus 5% I think ( it might have been more ) I think I was a136 b134 and 270 across. They tried to talk about voltage drop down the street and how I should but 130 lamps Took them 6 minutes to raise the boom drop the fuse turn the tap put in the fuse and drop the bucket. Just maybe because it was snowing they did not take long.
Originally Posted By: jcampbell This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
So it appears it may be a power company issue eh? That was what I was thinking… the realtor was immediately calling on an electrician, which was my recommendation to get the ball rolling…
Originally Posted By: lgoodman This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
This was not my first thought but if the home was vacant then the previous tenants probably took the good bulbs and filled the sockets with their derelicts. ( I guess I’m only half serious though)
My first thought ; If its only basement bulbs and the lamps are mounted on the underside of of the floor joists then I suspect rough-housing by children ;or heavy plodding by adults. Vibration is hard on filament bulbs.
Bulbs on upper floors could suffer same abuse if the ceiling joists telegraph the vibration from the floor joists above. Or worse if the ceiling joists and floor joists are one and the same.
This is pure speculation and gets thrown out the window if table lamps also shoot their bulbs.
I think the detector needs battery. It has got to alert you some how when it is low and all it knows how to do is chirp. (another speculation)