I have been here at my new house for about 1.5 years and my light bulbs go bad about as often as I change my underware. What could be causing this? When I was my parents house light bulbs would hardly ever go bad.

 

Couple of things can cause this.

First off, cheap light bulbs.
Second, could be unbalanced loads.
Does this happen throughout the house or just specific fixtures?
Could also be a bad Neutral or heavily load neutral.
Your Neutral at the panel should be grounded to a ground rod outside the house.
Is this a new house or and older house?
Lots of things can be happening....we need to narrow down the problem as much as possible to isolate what is causing it.

Mike

 

ditto...
to many possibilties...
little more info please...

 

damn you electrians and your options lol

 

Yep what they said. too bad you dont have a amp clamp meter.

 

Thanks for the input guys. This is a new house.. It was built in 04 and there is a ground rod outside the house. This happens throught the house not just a certain location. I am thinking the problem is me using cheap Wal Mart light bulb since none of the more expensive recess lights have gone out since the house was finished in mid 04.

 

Well the truth comes out, get the cheap light bulbs so you can spend the money on the truck right? lol

 

If you had a volt meter you could check from each hot leg coming into your fuse/breaker box to ground and make sure they are both reading about the same ~220v. I had a problem with my legs swinging due to a bad ground. I had to get the utility company to disconnect at the pole so we could pull my meter and where the ground rod ties to ground the terminal lug was rusted all to hell causing the problem. I noticed I had a prob when the lights would change intensity for no reason and the wife running her blowdryer would do the same.

 

....

 

Buying 130v (aka more expensive) bulbs instead of 120's will be the cheapest route. They last signifcantly longer in less than ideal wiring systems. Otherwise, prepare for the worst.