7 Top Tips to Prolong Your Projector's Life By Kimberlie Hutson

A projector lamp can normally last between 1,000 and 2,000 hours depending upon manufacturer, but when it reaches the end of its useful life it will cease to function at its normal capacity and should be replaced. This safety feature exists on most projectors because running a high-pressure lamp past its intended life will run the risk of it exploding inside the projector. If this happens, you will wish you had replaced the lamp when you were supposed to.

However, many projector lamps do not reach their expected life due to poor treatment. Below is a list of some of the things you should do to get the best use from your lamp:

- Always switch off the projector using the remote control and not by disconnecting the power. The projector will invariably go into a cool down mode where the image is turned off and the fan accelerates to cool the lamp in a controlled manner.

- The temperature of an operating lamp is many thousands of degrees, so if you disconnect the power to the projector, prior to the above process, the glass in the lamp will cool unevenly and will result in stress fracture, causing early lamp failure.

- It is good practice that once you turn on your projector, to wait at least five minutes before turning it off to allow the fan to properly cool the unit.

- Do not move your projector until the lamp has cooled (about five minutes), because lamp failure can also be due to mechanical shock and vibration. Some of the later projection models support fast cool down where the projector is ready to be moved in a shorter time period.

- Do not obstruct the air intake or exhaust vent. Paper should not be placed on top of a projector, or where vents are located, as blocked filters will cause the lamp to overheat. Keep the exhaust vent at least two feet from any object.

- If the projector is built into a compartment, wall, ceiling or shelf mount, the minimum distance requirement (usually at least two feet) stated in your owners manual must be maintained.

- Clean the projector's air intake filter every three to six months, or more frequently based on your operating environment. If you are not comfortable with doing this it would be advisable to employ a recommended company to do this for you - it will be a lot cheaper than having to replace the whole unit too prematurely.

Kimberlie Hutson

Reflex offers one of the most extensive ranges of projector lamps you're likely to find. We stock lamps for virtually every projector ever manufactured - at the last count, that's over 7000 lamps from 135 different companies! Every time we supply you with a lamp we will send out a label to return the original lamp to recycling house and pay the costs of recycling.

http://www.reflexlamps.co.uk/default.aspx

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