# Heat lamp blowing fuse



## Louise76 (Mar 14, 2020)

Looking for advice please 
We inherited a Hermann tortoise who is 10 years old, he was in a vivarium however we decided to upgrade this to a larger one, kept to the vivarium as he was used to this, we are in the UK so he has an outside enclosure we can only use in the summer. 
The vivarium is not quite 1 year old, all equipment was bought new, yesterday the bulb blew and it tripped the fuse in the heat lamp plug, we changed the fuse and bulb, it was OK for about an hour then happened again. 
Current temperature is 21' so he's hiding in his little cave which he likes to sleep in, I've filled it with hay. 
Can anyone please suggest what might be going on with the lamp and any other ideas how to keep him warm whilst trying to fix this please.


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## Maro2Bear (Mar 14, 2020)

Is the bulb surrounded by a metal type cone protector/shade/diffuser? Depending on the size, sometimes the bulb you have is producing too much heat & trapped by the shade & overheats. 

Try getting a smaller wattage bulb. Regular incandescent (NOT LED)) bulbs put out a good amount of heat along with light. You might have to lower the light a bit to ensure it’s warming up the area.

Try to upload a pix of your enclosure / lighting issue. 

Good luck


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## Izzistomper (Mar 18, 2020)

Hey there, not sure what type of lamp you use but we had a similar problem with the exoterra solar glow it kept blowing the fuse or blowing the bulb we bought a new one and it did the same in the end we just completely swapped lamps and that hat one has been fine now for 2 years


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## ZEROPILOT (Mar 18, 2020)

Izzistomper said:


> Hey there, not sure what type of lamp you use but we had a similar problem with the exoterra solar glow it kept blowing the fuse or blowing the bulb we bought a new one and it did the same in the end we just completely swapped lamps and that hat one has been fine now for 2 years


That Exo terra is just a plain, horrible bulb. (For several reasons)


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## Izzistomper (Mar 19, 2020)

We used the Arcadia d3 bulb with the exo terra holder, it was the holder that was the problem in the end. Luckily the bulbs kept blowing within their 6 month guarantee so we got free bulbs but still every 2-3 months of blowing bulbs was demoralising


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## Tom (Mar 19, 2020)

Louise76 said:


> Looking for advice please
> We inherited a Hermann tortoise who is 10 years old, he was in a vivarium however we decided to upgrade this to a larger one, kept to the vivarium as he was used to this, we are in the UK so he has an outside enclosure we can only use in the summer.
> The vivarium is not quite 1 year old, all equipment was bought new, yesterday the bulb blew and it tripped the fuse in the heat lamp plug, we changed the fuse and bulb, it was OK for about an hour then happened again.
> Current temperature is 21' so he's hiding in his little cave which he likes to sleep in, I've filled it with hay.
> Can anyone please suggest what might be going on with the lamp and any other ideas how to keep him warm whilst trying to fix this please.


I'm not an electrician, but I see three possibilities for you to consider:
1. You are over loading that circuit. I don't know what else is on that circuit or how old your house wiring is, so this is something to investigate one breaker at a time.
2. Your bulb is using more wattage than your fixture is rated for. Also related to this possibility, you may be using the wrong type of fixture. You should be using a ceramic based fixture rated for 300 watts or more. Because our heat lamps are on all day every day, our fixtures should be rated for a lot more than what we will use in them.
3. If you are using a mercury vapor bulb, these have built in safeties that will cut them off when they over heat, are used in incorrect fixtures, or when they get jostled around. They aren't good bulbs to use over tortoises in most cases anyway.

If one of these three is not your issue, then I think you ought to have a real electrician come and check it out. I'm all for offering help on the internet, but receiving and following the wrong internet advice could burn your whole house down. I'd bring in a paid professional to prevent that.


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## jaizei (Mar 19, 2020)

Just an FYI, electrical is done differently in the UK. I believe most of their 'plugs' have fuses in them, and it sounds like its that fuse thats blowing vs the fuse/breaker in the panel, which may narrow down where the problem might be occurring. I'd try a different light fixture. If the bulb and fuse have been replaced then it leaves the fixture. 

Fixture cords are usually lighter gauge wire and surprisingly easy to damage which is why yanking cords or hanging fixtures by cord is discouraged. Without getting to far into hypotheticals, if something happened to the cord at some point that damaged the conductor(s) I can see that as allowing the cord to work for some time but then blowing the fuse.


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