Exploding heat lamp

[saintanger]

nah they were not on to tight and they were not to lose either i had an electrician come out and he said the ceramic light fittings were faulty.

 

[Cypher69]

nah they were not on to tight and they were not to lose either i had an electrician come out and he said the ceramic light fittings were faulty.

Juz wondering how a fitting can be faulty?
Did the electrician explain the fault?

 

[lizardwhisperer]

Mercury has a melting point of -38 degrees so the metal would not be that but it would more than likely be nickel-chromium which has a melting point of 1400 degrees hence the cracked ceramic.

Wont be ni-chrom , you'll never get 1400degC in an enclosure unless you put in oxy torch in there, more likely lead solder or copper melted.

 

[andynic07]

Wont be ni-chrom , you'll never get 1400degC in an enclosure unless you put in oxy torch in there, more likely lead solder or copper melted.

You would be surprised at what instantaneous temperatures are reach with a short circuit. Copper would be a different colour and melts at about 1000 degrees. I have had first hand experience of copper getting to melting point and then vapour point which is around 5000 degrees in a very short electrical fault. Lead on the other hand melts a lot lower , around 350 degrees but I can not see why it would be in there. The usual metal used in ceramic heating elements is ni-chrom but I could be wrong.

 

[saintanger]

Juz wondering how a fitting can be faulty?
Did the electrician explain the fault?

ceramic light fittings have the wiring on them and anything that is eletrical can be faulty, especialy wen using cheap materials to make it.

 

[user 30368]

Mercury has a melting point of -38 degrees so the metal would not be that but it would more than likely be nickel-chromium which has a melting point of 1400 degrees hence the cracked ceramic.

so are you saying it got that hot in there!?!? :shock:

 

[andynic07]

so are you saying it got that hot in there!?!? :shock:

Not sure on the exact metal or blend of metal but it would have got reasonably hot for a very short time. Even solder melts at about 180 degrees. The whole enclosure or even the whole ceramic would not heat up to that temperature because of the thermal mass and short time frame that the fault probably existed.