3/17/2024 0 Comments Lumen apartments hampton vaI remember the first time my brother’s wife bought a couple back in their pre-pyro peak, and noticing the halogen bulbs were exactly the same as the ones we used to use in our stat camera in the days before desk top publishing (Stat camera? Yeah, that’s how old I am). Hopefully, these new lamps live up to their new safety features! Now, had they just continued making the sturdy $50 ones, we’d have spent the same amount of money yet not had to deal with the hastle of running to Home Depot or Target all the time and hauling off the dead lamps. By the end of the year, we had almost a dozen to haul off to the dumpster. The broken ones ended up there, sometimes to be harvested for parts that would prolong the life of another for another few weeks. So we ended up with what we called the “lamp farm” in the dining area. With those weighted bases, it’d have cost more than the initial cost of the lamp. But the never lasted more than like 3-4 months! And while they had a 1-year warranty, they had to be mailed back to the manufacturer for replacement. By this time, there were everywhere for $12-15. When I moved into an apartment, my roommates and I added a number to the apartment. Off at college, I had one because the ceiling-mounted flourescent fixtures in the dorm sucked. I had one in my bedroom when in high school. I remember when these halogen torchaires first came ont the market, they seemed pretty sturdy and cost about $50. I’m taking the Holmes company at their word since they are a reputable manufacturer, but if my condo or the Newsvine offices catch fire and kill me, somebody please hack into my server and delete this blog post. I don’t blame her.Īnd so with that, I proceeded to the checkout to purchase my death torches. I went on to explain that these new lamps were safer than the ones from the past but she didn’t seem impressed. “Sorry to interrupt you, but my entire house burned down because of one of those lamps.” No sooner do I run into Keith’s wife and start talking about how Disneyland beats the crap out of Disneyworld, than a woman interrupts our conversation and politely says the following (pointing to the torchieres in my cart): So I threw two of them in the cart and went over to the food section for some groceries. According to the packaging, its “new technology and design exceeds new 1999 UL 153 Safety Standards”… whatever that means. Sure enough, I spotted a Holmes 300 Watt Halogen Torchiere with full-range dimmer!!! And better yet, it seemed to have all sorts of new safety features built in like auto-off and a cage around the bulb. Fred Meyer is a combination hardware store/grocery store and they have a ton of stuff. Hmmmm, seems like a reasonable cause for alarm, but my halogen of 15 years just went out and I need a new one! How prevalent could this safety hazard really be?Īfter work today, I went down to the last place I knew of which carried something resembling my current model: Fred Meyer in Ballard. Apparently, the bulbs burn extremely hot and if the fixture tips over or some moron throws a shirt on top of it, a fire can start. I went into my local Lowe’s Hardware Store to find out.Īs it turns out, there have been a rash of accidents over the last several years resulting from the use of these lamps. Has anybody noticed, though, how difficult it is to find one of these badboys today? Everywhere you go, it seems this bastion of illumination has been replaced by either an awful flourescent bulb version or a weak incandescent model, both usually with the dreaded “three-way switch” instead of the full-range dimmer. Available for not much more than $15 at any home and hardware store during the height of its popularity, this ultra-soft source of light was a staple of urban living. It was the portable upright lamp seen in every living room, dorm room, and bedroom during most of the 1990s.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |