Halogen vs. house bulb?!?!?!?

Ok guys, I'm lost now. I've purchased the 75 watt reptile basking bulbs for my little guy. I can imagine that it'll up my electric bill substantially being that it's on all day. I've been reading mixed reviews on whether or not you can also use just a everyday house bulb. Is this safe and/or effective?? If so, what's the comparable wattage required compared to the 75 watt basking bulb?

Well I wouldn't know what the comparisons would be but 75w halogen is fairly high and I imagine you would need an even higher household bulb to compete. Where do you live? I'm in the uk and I use a 120w halogen because anything smaller doesn't get the temps up enough. I even struggle to hit 75 in the middle of the cage with that. I'm going to make some changes and have 2 50w halogens one at one end of uv an the other separate and see if that helps.

The two different types of bulbs create heat differently as halogen is a isolated spot and household isn't. Just play about with what works best for you really.

TwinMomma said:

Ok guys, I'm lost now. I've purchased the 75 watt reptile basking bulbs for my little guy. I can imagine that it'll up my electric bill substantially being that it's on all day. I've been reading mixed reviews on whether or not you can also use just a everyday house bulb. Is this safe and/or effective?? If so, what's the comparable wattage required compared to the 75 watt basking bulb?

Click to expand...

Hi TwinMomma

ahhh...
it all boils down to
watts are watts ...

and if it takes a 75w halogen bulb to heat the enclosure, then it takes 75 watts.
So switching to a house bulb, you will still need a bulb in that range/wattage to give the same heat.
There's nothing to trade off that would be much easier on the electric bill.

no matter if it is a halogen bulb, incandescent (house) bulb or even ceramic heater.

There will be no huge gain switching to anything different, unfortunately.

now true, there are some differences between the dome light bulb/heat stuff...
but it all boils down to being pretty minor.
Even the cost is minor.
A halogen bulb costs 2-3x as much, but can last 2 to 3 times longer.
so it is no biggie there either.

halogens do throw off a tad bit more heat than an incandescent bulb... but it is not an earth shattering difference imho.

Some folks use screw in ceramic heaters as an alternative.
especially those that need "night heat". (most don't need night heat, but some folks who get really cold do.)

And all the electricity used by those screw in ceramic heaters is converted to heat, none to light... so they give off more heat and no light.
But they are still no big deal or huge gain since the BULK of the heat all rises upward and is wasted anyway.

Now:
a halogen *spotlight* bulb or incandescent spotlight bulb that focuses the light more "downward" are ALSO focusing more heat downward.
so, you could get a spotlight bulb if you want the heat to project downward and be more concentrated.
but that means it is spread over a smaller area...
so it still ends up being "a dozen of one, half dozen of the other" as they say.

all in all,
if the temperature is correct as it is and the animal likes it-Just stick with the bulb you have.
And yes, it will add to your electric bill.
There is no way around that!
And there is not going to be any simple option that is cost effective and save you significantly on the electric bill.

believe me...
in 36 years I would not even want to wager a guess how much I have paid in electricity for reptiles.
(I live in Maine)
I bet easily in the tens of thousands eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! *sigh* I could have been "rich" without reptiles! LOL



ps.
you DO have a fluorescent fixture too... right? ... with a UV bulb.
that is also an absolute "must have".

Cheers
Todd

TwinMomma said:

I can imagine that it'll up my electric bill substantially being that it's on all day.

Click to expand...

Personally I prefer halogen spot lights especially in the winter, because they concentrate the basking area.

Barely noticeable on the electric bill, maybe a buck or two. Lights don't cost much until you start using thousands of watts. At one time I was using over 10,000 watts of light for 12 hours a day. My bill was $500 a month but that was in the 90's. Probably be triple that now.

Oh yeah, and the DEA busted my door down in the middle of the night..............

Todd pretty much gave the reason why I use halogens from Lowe's for my heat lights, they just last longer. I used to use incandescents and these were fine but they'd burn out fairly often, and while it wasn't expensive to correct it was definitely more unreliable. I couldn't be sure they wouldn't burn out if I was on vacation or something.

I switched to halogen bulbs in the same wattage last year and I'm pretty happy with them. Incandescents work just as well as far as heat, they're just more delicate.