Guide
The odd bulb wall
Appliance bulbs, night lights, circline, bi-pin and candelabra. The bulbs the big stores stopped carrying.
4 min read · First Ave Supply, 1587 First Avenue
The bulb nobody else has
Every hardware store sells A19s. The reason people walk to 1st Avenue is the other wall, the one with the bulb that went out in the range hood, the one in the hallway night light, the ring bulb in the kitchen ceiling fixture that has been there since 1974.
| What went out | What it takes |
|---|---|
| Oven, range hood, refrigerator | 40 watt A15 appliance bulb, clear or frosted |
| Plug in night light, some clocks | C7 night light bulb |
| Round ceiling fixture in an old kitchen | Circline fluorescent, 22 watt FC8T9 or 32 watt FC12T9 |
| Under cabinet puck, some vanity strips | Bi-pin halogen T3 |
| Chandelier, sconce, ceiling fan | Candelabra base torpedo, LED, 3 to 5.5 watt |
| Track head, recessed spot | MR16 or GU10 LED |
| Halogen work light or torchiere | 118mm quartz T3 |
Appliance bulbs are not regular bulbs
An appliance bulb is built to take heat and vibration a normal bulb will not. Put a standard A19 in an oven and it cracks. The A15 is also physically shorter, which is why the regular bulb you tried did not fit behind the cover. Forty watt, clear or frosted, and we keep both.
Circline, the ring bulb
If the kitchen ceiling fixture is round and the light flickers or will not start, it is almost always the bulb first and the ballast second. The two common sizes are the 8 inch, a 22 watt FC8T9, and the 12 inch, a 32 watt FC12T9. Measure the ring across, or bring it in. Cool white and daylight both exist and they do not look the same in a kitchen, so note which one is in there now.
Candelabra, and the thing people get wrong
The small screw base is called candelabra, E12. The number people get wrong is not the base, it is the shape and the color. Torpedo is the pointed one, turn tip is the twisted flame, and 2700K is the warm color that matches a dining room. Buy 3000K by accident and the chandelier suddenly looks like an office.
Buy the whole fixture at once. Six matched LED torpedoes look right. Five old ones and one new one look wrong, and you will be back in a month for the next.
Bi-pin and quartz
T3 bi-pin halogens are the small tube with two pins, usually 20 watt, in under cabinet pucks and some bath bars. The 118mm quartz is the long thin tube in a work light or an old torchiere. Both run extremely hot, so let them cool before you pull one, and do not touch the glass with bare fingers. Skin oil on quartz makes a hot spot and shortens the life.
Bring the old bulb
This is the whole trick and it takes thirty seconds. Pull the dead bulb, put it in your pocket, bring it to 1587 First Avenue. We match the base, the shape and the color and you walk out with the right one. Describing it over the phone almost never works, because there are nine bulbs that look like the one you are describing.
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