Heat light fittings - ones that aren't dangerous??

[JessTL]

Hello, couldn't see a more appropriate place for this...

I bought ceramic heat lamp fittings, supposedly made for the purpose. Since October, we have gone through quite a few globes - not sure if that's normal. A month or so ago when the last one blew, I found the globe had actually come loose in it's housing & I had to remove the whole fitting & smash the glass out, in order to get the screw end out, to replace the globe! But I found the plastic sleeve around the ceramic was brown & crumbly(cooked!) and when I had to disconnect the wires, the plastic coating of the wires was also cooked!

So... thought maybe a faulty globe. Threw away the fitting & replaced it with a ceramic with metal 'sleeve' bit. But now the other light has blown & I went to replace the globe & found exact same thing - plastic sleeve has some brown crumbly bits, plastic on wires cooked where they connect to ceramic, globe has come loose of it's housing...

This looks a wee bit dangerous to me - like it is very close to starting a fire! I'm not replacing the second globe, but need some advice on what comprises & where to get SAFE fittings??

 

[dragonlover1]

first up DO NOT USE PLASTIC FITTINGS! they can't take the heat!!! all fittings in reptile enclosures should be made of ceramic with no plastic at all. I have been replacing all my fittings lately with the flat plate ceramics because of burnouts with the other type

 

[nuttylizardguy]

If it's heavy , it's ceramic , if it's light , it's plastic .

Avoid the plastic one unless you want to mount something like a household compact fluoro .

The plastic ones are a fire hazard and WILL FAIL.

And what ever do , don't use those plastic GU10 to E27 converters sold by a certain big ebay reptile shop based in Sydney. Those things are downright hazardous and not fit for purpose , I don't know they insist on selling them for use with GU10 halogens and dichrotics.

 

[dragonlover1]

If it's heavy , it's ceramic , if it's light , it's plastic .

Avoid the plastic one unless you want to mount something like a household compact fluoro .

The plastic ones are a fire hazard and WILL FAIL.

And what ever do , don't use those plastic GU10 to E27 converters sold by a certain big ebay reptile shop based in Sydney. Those things are downright hazardous and not fit for purpose , I don't know they insist on selling them for use with GU10 halogens and dichrotics.

Even that is too simplistic, if you use a plastic fitting for a compact,the heat from the other lamp will melt it. Simple answer is NO PLASTIC in reptile enclosures.
The Govt is quick to ban crappy plastic toys they deem dangerous to children so why don't they ban these plastic adaptors too