Commercial Lamp Supplies News

We have come back from shut down to find that Amtrak have gone into administration.

We are in communication with Business Post who have taken over their customers and should hopefully still be able to dispatch today.

If you are concerned about the whereabouts of a delivery then please get in touch with us, preferably by email (so we can easily reply to you as soon as we have information) at sales@commercial-lamps.co.uk or using the contact tab on the top of each page. You can of course also call us if you wish on 01822 860 110

Please bear with us while we get things back up and running, we will make sure that all our deliveries arrive.

Commercial Lamp Supplies will be closed next week, we will reopen on Monday 1st September.
Orders can still be placed while we are closed but delivery will be delayed by a few days.
If you need to contact us urgently e.mail is the best option or the telphone system will take voice messages.

David - we’ve got most of the twin flourescents up and the light seems to be perfect - as soon as it si all completed and the shop is open I’ll send you a couple of photos - meantime thank you for your advice on the type of lights - much appreciated.

Paul

Not only are the higher wattages being phased out but also the ordinary household bulbs are being changed in size, they have always been 60mm in diameter it’s what you are used to.
Now they have been changed by Osram. Philips, GE, Crompton and Sylvania and this means all of the major manufacturers have decided to make them smaller.
From now on they will be 50mm which doesn’t sound a lot but when you get them in your hand it is very noticeable.
It also means that we can no longer supply coloured lamps in 60 watt as the lamps are too small and will get too hot and the paint will peel.
The good news is that we still have one manufacturer who can supply us with normal sized ordinary light bulbs but they are the only one they are not a name you would instantly recognise but we have supplied their coloured lamps for many years and so we are happy with the quality.
Please let us know if you are ordering normal light bulbs if you need to have the big ones just note it in the additional information slot on the checkout page otherwise you will get the new compact type.
We are also holding large stocks of the higher wattage light bulbs in 150 watts and 200 watts so that when the factories stop making them then we will still be able supply them

The really short answer? No - unless you have a fitting you know to be working

The simplest way to test tubes is to put them in a fitting that definately works and see if they light.

A continuity test of either end of the tube doesnt mean it will work as that only checks if the filaments are intact. The clever bit of a fluorescent tube is the gas mixture inside it and if this is wrong or a bit has leaked out the tube will not light even if the filaments at either end are intact.

If the tube rattles when you tip it it doesnt always mean it is broken as there are sometimes loose bits of mercury in them - this doesnt stop them from working.

If you have bought a smilight replacement tube from us and it doesnt light in your fitting then please try it in another fitting you know to be working as we test each and every one that leaves us. Often it turns out the fitting is actually at fault and not the tube. The good news is that your smilight tube will go in one of our (much cheaper) fittings so you havent lost out even if it does turn out to be the fitting.

Generally fluorescent tubes are very reliable and once they are running they tend to stay that way for a long time!

A handy thing to note:

If you use a germicidal or UV (its actually UVC to be specific) lamp to clean drinking water from a bore hole you MUST change it on calendar (i.e change it in January every year for example.)
With UVC tubes the UVC output drops off even though the tube still lights so it becomes less and less effective at sterilising the water over time. After about a year it will not be protecting you properly. If you arent sure which tube you need then give us a call or hit the contact us button and we will help you identify it. We can get hold of pretty much any UV lamp that exists!

This is currently a hot topic with the BBC but it is always foremost in our minds.
Your card details are only kept on the secure SSl server, they never get put onto our own computers.
We record them from the SSL server, which is hack proof ,onto a paper form, which is shredded once the transaction is complete and we know the goods have arrived and you are happy.
In this way we can be certain that no one can obtain your details from our systems.

The unfortunate thing is that the people who steal your cards details will never be caught, because no one persues them, the Police don’t want to know, the banks aren’t interested because they take the money back from the retailer, and so nothing is done.
It is the perfect crime in that repect, no chance of being caught.

Because people live busy lives and are often not at home during the day we are often asked if the parcels can be left without any one signing for them, such as behind the wheelie bin or through the cat flap.

Much as we would like to be able to do this it is very difficult for the following reasons.

They might be at the wrong house, or flat.
The parcel may go missing, and we would have no way of proving it was ever delivered.
The contents could be damaged, but we would not know when they were damaged, was it before or after delivery?
The package could be damaged by rain if left outdoors; they are light bulbs after all.

To overcome this we offer both EVENING AND SATURDAY deliveries they are a little more expensive but still offer excellent value and mean that you don’t have to make special arrangements or stay in all day waiting for your delivery.

It never fails to amaze us how many of you have the Smilight lights fitted in your kitchens. Not a day goes by when we do not have several customers contacting us all very frustrated and angry but relieved that the y have finally found a source of replacement lamps.
We can supply all three sizes of replacement tubes the 8 watt the 13 watt and the 24 watt you will find the sizes written on the end of the tubes.
We often find when we send out replacement tubes and the customer finds it is the light fitting itself that has gone. We test every tube before we send it so if they don’t work we can be pretty certain it is the fitting that has failed.
We can provide exact replacements for the 8 watt and 24 watt Smilight fittings, they replace them very easily and you can even use the same wiring and plugs.
We do not have an exact replacement for the 13 watt we can either go a bit smaller or a bit longer if you have the space.
If you are not sure please call us and we will do our best to help.

Finally it is up there, the web site update has just been finished and we shall be adding lots of new and improved products over the next few weeks.
Many will be related to energy saving lighting as this is the hot topic, maybe not so much during the summer, but come the autumn it will be very serious as energy prices are far more likely to rise than to fall.
We also have a great set of garden lights we have to offer, they are low voltage and so very safe have many LED options for subtly low energy lighting which can be mixed with Halogen where you need more brightness a brilliant combination.
They come in Kits which you can link together as you get more ambitious.

We think we have caught up with everything we missed last week, we had one or two apologies to make for things that didn’t happen quite right.
The web site has been updated today, If you choose a combination of lamps that does not exist it will now tell you right away on the front page rather than only telling you when you have pressed the buy button.
We hope it helps.
As soon as we are certain that all is well with the new system we will be adding new products.