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Discussion Forum

GREASE that lamp – with what?

toolbear | Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on December 23, 2006 04:04am

GREASE those threads…

We are replacing 75 outdoor area lights and would like to lube the threads on the medium base lamps so they do not corrode in the socket in the weather.

I believe there is a grease made for this application.  Which is _______?

Or, can I use a dab of Never Seize?

(We would like to use commercial PL 13 fixtures, but when the board saw $300/head cost, that idea when down in flames.  The same thing in medium base, 60W incandescent was $100.)

The ToolBear

“Never met a man who couldn’t teach me something.” Anon.

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Replies

  1. dovetail97128 | Dec 23, 2006 04:35am | #1

    WD 40

  2. DanH | Dec 23, 2006 04:58am | #2

    Plane old Vaseline will work (it's what's in many types of contact grease). But silicone stuff is probably a hair better. Buy something like "Type Z5 Silicone Compound" (GC brand) at an auto parts place. They'll likely call it "high voltage grease" or some such.

    DON'T use "conductive" grease (or CU/AL compound), unless you're VERY careful how you apply it. The grease does not need to be conductive.

    People never lie so much as before an election, during a war, or after a hunt. --Otto von Bismarck
  3. User avater
    Sphere | Dec 23, 2006 05:34am | #3

    White Lithium, if you use wd-40, you will be "wantin death @ 40 yrs old"..it is NOT what ya need. So many folks believe in the properties of WD it is not funny..it has it's place, but this ain't it.

    Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

    I have irriatable Vowel syndrome.

    1. dovetail97128 | Dec 23, 2006 05:55am | #5

      Apparently I am the possessor of bad advice which I then passed out.
      My Apologies (and I now hope he didn't follow it!).
      I got the advice from an electrician yrs ago. Can you explain why it doesn't work. I ain't arguing, just want to know the why.

      1. alwaysoverbudget | Dec 23, 2006 06:12am | #6

        i'll take a stab at one of the reasons. wd is mainly a solvent,that will work into tight areas to free something up. but after a short while [ a day a week?] it's lubrication properties are gone. just spray a little wd forty on  a pc of metal and beside it put a dab of grease,leave it for a week and see what you think. now if you had a light bulb stuck in a fixture,i think it would be great to help get some lub up into the threads and loosen it up. now you got more advice to pass on! larryhand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.

      2. User avater
        Sphere | Dec 23, 2006 06:43am | #7

        Partially because WD-40 offers NO long term lubricity, it quells the friction for about as long as it takes to evap.  Which is it's call to glory at times dispelling moisture , quickly. But any dessicant ( ability to absorb, vs, displace) h20 can be a better choice.

        Wd-40 is  repellant and a slight dessicant by using alcohol as a vehicle, masked under the guise of a lubricant ( which would by the definition, need more than 2 mols of H) a surfactant would employ 3. Ionization of  "O" begins with the first available hydrocarbon witha  mol heavier than it self, hydrogen is next in slipperey, when in cojunction w/ ox...

        This is why we can't ( yet make) Ho4 as a fuel, but it can be done under vacuume and very scary  controlled kelvin temps..cold fusion is in my back yard, so it is in yours..

        Oh, you wanted to know about wd-40...it burns. It also has no long term hydro carbons that don't oxidize quickly, thats why you keep buying it, over and over again, it don't have the life of lithium nor graphite, just the hype..ask NASA.

        Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

        I have irriatable Vowel syndrome.

        1. dovetail97128 | Dec 23, 2006 08:31am | #10

          Thanks.. I think, still trying to digest all of your message. ;-)

          1. DanH | Dec 23, 2006 08:33am | #11

            I betcha it give you heartburn.
            People never lie so much as before an election, during a war, or after a hunt. --Otto von Bismarck

      3. DanH | Dec 23, 2006 07:50am | #9

        Well, WD-40 contains relatively little actual lubricant -- it's mostly solvent -- and both the lubricant and solvent are petroleum products, which it's best to avoid around plastic.
        People never lie so much as before an election, during a war, or after a hunt. --Otto von Bismarck

        1. VaGentinMI | Dec 23, 2006 05:48pm | #26

          i heard the heart of wd-40 is fish oil. dont know tho. can does say petroleum on it. 

          1. User avater
            BruceT999 | Dec 27, 2006 08:03am | #41

            "
            i heard the heart of wd-40 is fish oil. dont know tho. can does say petroleum on it."Rustoleum is the product with fish oil in the formula.BruceT

  4. FastEddie | Dec 23, 2006 05:37am | #4

    HD and Lowes and any electricasl supply house sells spray cans of elecrical; grade lube.

     

     

    "When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it."  T. Roosevelt

    1. toolbear | Dec 23, 2006 07:46am | #8

      HD and Lowes and any electrical supply house sells spray cans of elecrical; grade lube.

      I'll check them out and see what Walter's Electrical has in stock.  No WD 40, eh?

      (Was not considering that stuff.)The ToolBear

      "Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.

  5. Ozlander | Dec 23, 2006 08:49am | #12

    Dielectric grease. Same thing you use on automobile bulbs and connections. Get it at an auto parts store.

    1. segundo | Dec 23, 2006 05:35pm | #25

      is that not the same thing that you goob up on the battery teminal connections to keep out the air and thus prevent corrosion?

  6. User avater
    maddog3 | Dec 23, 2006 01:37pm | #13

    one guy was crazy for Kopr-Shield ¯ from Thomas & Betts,

    another sparks liked Molybdenum Disulfide, but had to wait for it to dry,

    another guy had found some graphite powder and mixed it with a dab of oil......

    I use a carpenters pencil

    .

    .

    .

    .Wer ist jetzt der Idiot

    ?

    1. User avater
      BruceT999 | Dec 27, 2006 07:57am | #40

      "another guy had found some graphite powder and mixed it with a dab of oil......I use a carpenters pencil"You are deliberately introducing graphite - ie: carbon, a conductive material - into a light socket?BruceT

      1. User avater
        maddog3 | Dec 27, 2006 12:38pm | #42

        been using a pencil to lube the threads for about 35 years ....never coated the entire base with the stuff.why ?years ago, I think it was GE that sprayed a dot of something on their mogul based discharge lamps
        .

        .

        .

        .Wer ist jetzt der Idiot

        ?

        1. DanH | Dec 27, 2006 04:23pm | #43

          With whatever grease is used, it's generally only necessary to use a small dab. On regular bulbs I put a tiny dab on the center contact and another slightly larger dab (matchhead sized) on the threads, near the end closest to the center contact. The stuff is spread around as you screw it in.
          People never lie so much as before an election, during a war, or after a hunt. --Otto von Bismarck

          1. User avater
            maddog3 | Dec 28, 2006 03:00am | #44

            I just run the pencil across the threads several times , twist the lamp into the socket a few times, and then button'er up.

            .

            .

            .Wer ist jetzt der Idiot

            ?

  7. User avater
    MarkH | Dec 23, 2006 03:56pm | #14

    Never sieze may be conductive, which sounds like a bad Idea, but in reality probably has no real effect. On the other hand, it's messy. I'd use bulb grease by AGA (american grease stick), or permatex dielectric lube.

    1. User avater
      Sphere | Dec 23, 2006 04:09pm | #15

      Did you know a black carpenters keel is almost pure graphite ina wax base? I stabbed a hot wire in one end and a ground in the other once just to see what happens..try it some time, wear goggles and running shoes...BOOM!

      It went off like detcord, scared the begeezus outta me.

      Oh wait..mebbe it was carbon rod back then..I think they altered the matrix since..lemme go see.

      Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

      I have irriatable Vowel syndrome.

      Edited 12/23/2006 8:11 am ET by Sphere

      1. User avater
        MarkH | Dec 23, 2006 04:13pm | #16

        Lemme know how that works out for you.

        1. User avater
          Sphere | Dec 23, 2006 04:25pm | #18

          I just did..nada. Why do Ihave bare wires just hanging out waiting for me to play with them?

          I flipped the breaker and it fizzeled the keel into a hot wax melt, then the breaker popped. Not what I expected at all..damm, I was all gussied up with googles and shid...what a let down.

          shucks, I wanted a serious boom.

          Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

          I have irriatable Vowel syndrome.

          1. User avater
            MarkH | Dec 23, 2006 04:27pm | #19

            Probably saved an eye injury.  Merry Christmas.  Save the booms for New Years Eve.

          2. toolbear | Dec 23, 2006 07:45pm | #36

            Googling on a tip from rwjiduice ... the magic phrase ...

            DIELECTRIC CONNECTOR GREASE

            We get

             VERSACHEM DIELECTRIC CONNECTOR GREASE (15339)   6.99, Midway Auto Supply.

            Another positive outcome for Ask Breaktime.

            @@@  DECK THEM HALLS...

            Y'all have a fine Solstice, now.  (My Solstice had a lot of extra daylight vs. The Island (8 hrs: 18 minutes of light vs.  9 hrs: 55 minutes down here.)

            Rest up - the sales start next week.  Pillage and Poverty! 

             The ToolBear

            "Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.

          3. User avater
            MarkH | Dec 23, 2006 04:33pm | #20

            I really shouldnt tell you this.  I have heard tha if you take Ivory soap bars, make them into powder and dry them, they become explosive.  Never tried that.  Maybe add a little diesel fuel.

      2. User avater
        MarkH | Dec 23, 2006 04:23pm | #17

        Some of my stories are somewhat unbelievable, but they are true.  Granny lived at the foot of Pine Mountain in Letcher County Kentucky.  There is a rock quarry, and possibly some working coal mines left on the mountain at the time.  Well, anyway, a flash flood comes and nearly washes her house away, did take out the old outhouse and smokehouse that had been there for MANY years.  Also wiped out the clothes line.  But granny spied a pretty new coil of (you got it, detcord) laying in a pile of debris.  So she strung it up and hung out the clothes. (She never owned a clothes dryer).  Someone pointed it out, so it was removed and somehow later detonated with a rather impressed Granny watching the show. 

        1. User avater
          Sphere | Dec 23, 2006 04:48pm | #21

          LOL..I was NAS after HS, a buddy went to FT Hood ( ranger type) Army...we had a party, volley ball and beer..LOTS of beer..well at 2 am it got pretty dark...so Ranger ( the names have been changed to protect the infractors) sends up a Parachute flare...awesome to the extreme, we can now see the ball field..

          I lived in Mil houseing, had a freaky neighbor, who threatend to call te law..Then Ranger takes flight on his Harley..went a few miles away and POOF! a red flare....Cops come to my place , you know the drill..drooling mad neighbor, beer kegs flaoting in Ice water, 36 drunk airmen and wives..a volly ball still somehow in the air..and the weed stink.

          Poof! another flare..waaaaaaayyyyy over there..Barney Fife and sons get in the cruiser....POOF! another flare waaaaaayyyy over THERE...these guys went nuts on the CB trying to find a Freaking Army Ranger, with a back pack full of flares..over two counties..

          LOL , Ranger comes back dead stick on the Harley so as to be quiet..like. and Arms off a white parachute..let the games begin, again..and the whole scene was REAPEATED again.

          We did finish the game of a win over the brats..21/17..4 half kegs later. And a few got away.

          Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

          I have irriatable Vowel syndrome.

          1. User avater
            MarkH | Dec 23, 2006 05:00pm | #22

            Ah, the good ole days.

            I actually own a military house.  1945 prefab cape with real 2x4 etc.  Strange construction though.  It was off base officer housing during WWII.  My street is named Bataan after the Bataan death march.

          2. User avater
            Sphere | Dec 23, 2006 05:18pm | #23

            yer scaring me now

            Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

            I have irriatable Vowel syndrome.

          3. User avater
            MarkH | Dec 23, 2006 05:55pm | #27

            I think it really was named for the battle of Bataan, although some houses on this street were completed in 1943.

          4. User avater
            Sphere | Dec 23, 2006 06:14pm | #29

            Rust belt, WWII, its all the same at that point...one war machine after another...and another.

            This ain't a military op, that supplies work force, this is a conundrum of pollution that we as a country spew about the planet..good news is, there aint none.

            Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

            I have irriatable Vowel syndrome.

  8. rwjiudice | Dec 23, 2006 05:32pm | #24

    I use (have a tube sitting in front of me) a tube of DIELECTRIC CONNECTOR GREASE>

    + Prevents corrosion

    +Eases Disassembly

    +Resists Arcing

    +Waterproofs

    Its made by 'VersaChem", part # 15339, and says "100% silicone". About the size of a med tube of toothpaste.

    Pretty sure I got it at a car parts store since the instructions specify how to lube // spread on spark plugs and spark plug boots / ignition coils etc to insure good connections.

    I use it on auto bulbls etc to waterproof, can lights in my kitchen (cause they get hot and hard to remove) and bulbs in my garage which also get hot and hard to remove after they burn out in a couple years.... you know the symptom..... hard, scratchy, resist turning out? This works great....

    Dick j

    1. toolbear | Dec 23, 2006 07:33pm | #35

      hot and hard to remove after they burn out in a couple years.... you know the symptom..... hard, scratchy, resist turning out? This works great....

      Yes, followed by some work with a needle nose on a broken lamp.  Breaker off, of course.  Me on ladder on soft dirt.  Teeter.  Teeter.

      OK, I will eschew the Never Seize in this application and get the purpose-built stuff. 

      (Another great substance, but not for this, is anyhdrous lanolin.  Can still open the shackle key on my anchor after 30 yrs in service.  But never try it on your thru-hull valves.  Stiffens up in cold water.  Never seize on the shaft/prop.)

       The ToolBear

      "Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.

  9. Piffin | Dec 23, 2006 06:13pm | #28

    Di-electric grease

    fromthe auto parts store

    or

    use Genie grease and dream of Jeannie

     

     

    Welcome to the
    Taunton University of
    Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
     where ...
    Excellence is its own reward!

  10. User avater
    rjw | Dec 23, 2006 06:22pm | #30

    Anti-oxident fromyour electrical supplier.


    The "War on Terrorism" has failed - in part by narrowing our options to only the option of last resort.

    I propose we start a worldwide Partnership Against Terror, in which the reasonable people of the world work together to oppose terrorism and the conditions which lead people to that desperate condition.

    "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."


    1. DanH | Dec 23, 2006 06:26pm | #31

      Anti-oxidants often contain metal powder. Not a big hazard, but an enough of one to be wary.
      People never lie so much as before an election, during a war, or after a hunt. --Otto von Bismarck

      1. User avater
        rjw | Dec 23, 2006 06:57pm | #32

        >>Anti-oxidants often contain metal powder. Not a big hazard, but an enough of one to be wary.Thx - what should one be wary of?

        The "War on Terrorism" has failed - in part by narrowing our options to only the option of last resort.

        I propose we start a worldwide Partnership Against Terror, in which the reasonable people of the world work together to oppose terrorism and the conditions which lead people to that desperate condition.

        "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

        1. DanH | Dec 23, 2006 07:19pm | #34

          Well, too heavy a coat could produce a short over time, or more like a "trail" that current would follow and overheat the fixture. A light coat that's kept only on the contacts would be OK, if you were confident that it wouldn't "run".
          People never lie so much as before an election, during a war, or after a hunt. --Otto von Bismarck

          1. User avater
            rjw | Dec 23, 2006 08:27pm | #37

            Thanks.It is pretty common for me to see it gobbed on at the main breaker (often at the top[ of the box, with the anti-ox above the breaker.)Obviously, we're not talking about the sort of heat issues there would be with a lamp, but is it wrong to gob it on like that?

            The "War on Terrorism" has failed - in part by narrowing our options to only the option of last resort.

            I propose we start a worldwide Partnership Against Terror, in which the reasonable people of the world work together to oppose terrorism and the conditions which lead people to that desperate condition.

            "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

          2. DanH | Dec 27, 2006 02:42am | #38

            It's a question of the specific composition of the grease, plus the distance between conductors (across an insulating surface). If the grease is at all conductive and is layed across a conductive surface from one conductor to another (or to ground), sooner or later the particles in the grease (if there's enough of it) will tend to "align" themselves and produce a conductive trace pronounced enough to produce heat. It can snowball from there.
            People never lie so much as before an election, during a war, or after a hunt. --Otto von Bismarck

          3. User avater
            rjw | Dec 27, 2006 07:18am | #39

            Interesting.; I'll have to start watching for that.

            "Law reflects but in no sense determines the moral worth of a society. The values of a reasonably just society will reflect themselves in a reasonably just law. The better the society, the less law there will be. In Heaven, there will be no law, and the lion shall lie down with the lamb. The values of an unjust society will reflect themselves in an unjust law. The worse the society, the more law there will be, In Hell, there will be nothing but law, and due process will be meticulously observed." Grant Gilmore "Ages of American Law"

  11. townail | Dec 23, 2006 07:04pm | #33

     

    TB,

    I've used this for same application you talking about...plus its intended use (auto electrical...great for trailer wiring/lighting)

    http://grote.com/cgi-bin/goc/goc.cgi?product_number=99170

    BTW, PL 13 vs incand.... I have lots of these in service.... I would go 26w quad if possible on compact fluorescent for ground lighting.

    I have one set (200+ P.O.S. fixtures) of PL13/ PL9 exterior converted from incand. in mid 90's, now being redone again - complete junk.... costing them more to replace than they saved in 10 yrs of electricity "savings"

    TN  

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