# how long should ceramic heat lamps last?



## dindandin

Got beardie on Thursday (set up on Wednesday). All heat / light / timers working fine. Went out for the day today (Sat) and heat lamp not working when we got back - rattles a bit like a broken incandescent bulb.How long should these bulbs last? Please tell me it's more than 3 days...Should we keep a spare in the house?Should I expect the shop to replace it?It's a Komodo 200W radiant heat, ceramic heat lamp. Outside glaze looks crazed - is this normal? Are they susceptible to higher voltages? (we're in a small village, so we get 247V, and it fluctuates a bit...lights flicker...)We didn't touch it to put it in (used a hanky to hold it).Any and all ideas welcome!


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## truncheon1973

*help*

how much did you pay? we use bulbs from tesco and theyre only a few pounds for 3

they are called r63 and they are more than enough heat for them

they do still go a lot though, some last weeks but some last a few months so best to keep a few spare yes


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## truncheon1973

*help*

i use ceramic heat lamps with all my snakes and i have only had to replace one!

are you sure its the ceramic and not something else?


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## rantasam

What type of thermostat are you using? On/off thermostats will decrease the life of the bulb marginally. Pulse proportional thermostats are designed to get the most bulb life - but even so bulb life is usually measured in years and not days!

I would think that unfortunately you ended up with a dud bulb and I can't see any reason why the replacement one would break again so quickly.


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## dindandin

Thanks!
Will probably buy another ceramic - hopefully the next one will last longer!
It's an on-off thermostat, and we've replaced the bulb with an incandescent in the short term (until the shop is open later today!) - so I'm sure the rest of the circuit is fine!


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## Pendragon

dindandin said:


> Thanks!
> Will probably buy another ceramic - hopefully the next one will last longer!
> It's an on-off thermostat, and we've replaced the bulb with an incandescent in the short term (until the shop is open later today!) - so I'm sure the rest of the circuit is fine!


Hi mate, you don't want a ceramic, these are used for night time heat, or for animals that don't like light.

Beardies come from a desert, they are "sun worshipers" they are equiped with a "pariatal eye", this is an organ on the top of there head to detect light, to a beardie, where there is light, there is heat :2thumb:

A spot light is all you want, they cost about £2 for a pack of three from asda or B&Q, ceramics cost about £20. "you pays your money, you makes your choice"

This is a pic of mine to give you an idea;












Good luck


Jay


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## Adam98150

To the above, a lot of us use a spot/ceramic bulb combination. 

My ceramic bulb was still going after 7 years, and it's on an on/off stat. So yes, they should last more than 3 days. : victory:


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## dindandin

*Not again...!*

We've now gone through 3 off 200W bulbs which lasted about 4 days each, a 150W bulb that didn't fit the holder, and 100W bulb that is going strong but struggling to get up to temperature. and a poorly beardie who needs a bit more heat.

Thinking of getting an additional spot, and leave the ceramic on the thermostat.

Advice from other posts seems to be that a heat mat is not a good idea to give Doris those few extra degrees of heat?

Many thanks for all comments!


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## kaleluk31

dindandin said:


> Got beardie on Thursday (set up on Wednesday). All heat / light / timers working fine. Went out for the day today (Sat) and heat lamp not working when we got back - rattles a bit like a broken incandescent bulb.How long should these bulbs last? Please tell me it's more than 3 days...Should we keep a spare in the house?Should I expect the shop to replace it?It's a Komodo 200W radiant heat, ceramic heat lamp. Outside glaze looks crazed - is this normal? Are they susceptible to higher voltages? (we're in a small village, so we get 247V, and it fluctuates a bit...lights flicker...)We didn't touch it to put it in (used a hanky to hold it).Any and all ideas welcome!


a ceramic heat bulb/lamp? i was quoted 5000 hours another said 10000 hours in anyway id expect it to run for about 5 months non stop


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## tallandy90

i had spent £30 on a cermanic for my boa it had lasted less then 4 weeks so went got another that did the same so after throwing away alot of money i went onto normal heat bulbs cost me like £3-6 each which i thort oh they will not last long at that price so got four of them the first lasted nearly 8 months only just put the second one in so my advice is go for normal heat bulbs then if they do brake/stop working its less on the old wallet


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## treeboa

never used ceramic bulbs but i have used the troughs, all mine were still working after 10 years, having said that i had them on pulse proportional stats, sounds more like your supplier is buying in seconds and charging full price, not a garden center with the name starting with an R is it ??, they tried to pass off one to me as new box was damaged, drawn on by kids and the middle contact showed it had been screwed in


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## reptiles-ink

As far as the ceramic, there is a very common problem.
The center contact on ceramics is not as proud as normal type bulbs.
Turn the electric off, then pull the middle pin of the ceramic socket outwards a bit.
This will then give a better contact to the ceramic bulb and it should then work fine.
Most ceramics will make a noise if you shake them, that is normal.


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