Beardies’ 100W heat bulbs keep blowing on two 40 gallon tanks

[kdcoldsnow]

I have two bearded dragons in 40 gallon breeder tanks and the bulbs keep blowing. Each of these tanks have a UVB bulb and a basking bulb. The heat bulbs, in either tank, rarely last longer than a few months. In tank 2, I have went through 4 heat bulbs in the last 2 months with one blowing out in 2 days. It is getting expensive and the pet stores are starting to not like me, since lately I have been returning the burnt bulbs. At first I thought it was the brand or maybe a bad bulb, but now I have no clue. I have tried some things (see below) but nothing has worked yet.

They are set up as follows:
Tank 1: Fixture 1 - All living things rated for 150 W with an Exo terra UVB 150
Fixture 2 - All living things rated for 150 W with a ZooMed Repti basking 100 W

Tank 2: Fixture 1 - All living things rated for 150 W with an Exo terra UVB 150
Fixture 2 - All living things rated for 100 W with an Exo terra Infrared basking 75W at the moment

These are all new fixtures and are plugged into a surge protector that is plugged into a timer. This timer turns the lights on every day at 6 am and off every day at 8 pm.

What I have tried:
New fixtures - Replaced an old fixture.

Lower watt bulb - Recently after the bulb blew 3 times on tank 2, I decided to leave a 75 watt back up bulb in to see if that blew. It is still going, but on 2/15 the bulb on tank 1 blew.

Brands - I have tried two different brands of bulbs - Exo terra and ZooMed.

Different outlets - I have used two different outlets (but on the same wall).

Different plugging - I tried plugging one heat lamp directly into the timer and the other three fixtures into the surge protector and then into the timer.

Current thoughts:

#1 - Could it be the jolt of energy sent when they are turned on by the timer?
Issue with this - they sometimes blow right away when turned on and sometimes in the middle of the day.

#2 - Could it be the 100W fixture?
*One concern I have is that the 100W fixture is being overpowered by the 100W bulb. Possibly from crappy wiring in my apartment or the timer flicking them on.

Any thoughts on what could be happening OR recommendations for cheaper household bulbs would be greatly appreciated. I don’t know enough about household bulbs and a lot of them seem to be LEDs.

Thanks

 

[Yvonne G]

Are they hanging straight down or are you using the clamp that positions them at an angle?

Are the bulbs in a 10" or larger dome or are they in a small dome?

a picture of your set ups would help.

 

[Robert 245]

What type of timer is it? I heard that zoo med ones can be dodgy

 

[JasperMoon]

I recently learned on one of the Bearded Dragon FB groups, that the ZooMed heat lights tend to be flaky. I wouldn't be surprised if the ExoTerra ones are flaky as well. So one of the members gave a piece of really helpful advice... he, as well as several other members, said they use halogen flood lights. The OP said he has a 40 gallon breeder tank and he's got a Philips 90 watt halogen flood light. You can buy a 2 pack of them for about $10. I know I'm gonna try this idea out when I need to restock my heating bulbs.