Re: Light bulbs as a heater

James Sweet wrote:
"Bob Urz" <sound@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:1196004617_5103@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I am looking to whip up a cheap heater to cover a smaller enclosed area where some pipes are. What i thought of doing was using two 100 watt lights and maybe a surplus muffin fan or such. Now, my thought was to
connect the two 100 watt bulbs in series. My theory on this (fact or
not) is that normally the incandescent bulbs are good for 1000/1500
hours or so. putting them in series should increase the life hours
due to derating and burning the tungsten less bright. I don't care about
the light output, just that they generate some heat. ANy thoughts?

BOB

It'll work, bulb life increases exponentially as voltage drops, along with a corresponding drop in efficiency of producing visible light, but that's to your benefit in this case.

It does seem like pipe heating tape would work better, but I haven't seen your situation so maybe the bulbs are a better option.


When I was growing up on the farm 50 years ago, we built a small 'house' about 6'x6' by 4' high to contain our wellhead, pressure tank and associated plumbing and wiring. The entire affair was well insulated and contained a 300(?) watt heat lamp, which we turned on when the temps got too low. We should have used some sort of thermostat solution, but the low tech method was sufficient to keep anything from freezing.

Heat tape would have been a mess with all that plumbing, and wouldn't have protected the tank, anyway. Going inside of the structure required unbolting one entire end of it, but whenever we did, it was toasty in the coldest weather.

jak
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