# Changing the house lights



## Alwaysryu (Sep 19, 2012)

I am the technician for a Highschool theater in Massachusetts. Our school theater is now a little over 13 years old. The house lighting was not the best but we made due, but now we have a lot of fixtures that are burned out and need replacement. The schools facility manager is having a hard time finding a company that is willing to come in and do the job. We have a little over 120 fixtures 7% grade in the orchestra seating stadium style seating in the mezzanine section. The celing height is 25+ feet. my question is if anyone knows of a company that can come in and do this type of job?


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## gafftaper (Sep 19, 2012)

This is typically done by district maintenance people in most schools. You rent some sort of Genie lift sometimes one with a long boom arm. Sometimes the maintenance department creates a heavy duty wedge platform that creates a flat surface for the lift to be placed on. In other situations, with the right lift, that doesn't matter. They just drive the boom into the stage or pit area and swing the long out over the house. Around here it's usually done by building custodial staff during a vacation break or maybe district electricians. 

You could call your local theater shop and see if they will do it for you, but that's just not how it's typically done and it'll cost you a lot. 

Are you sure there isn't a way to access the lights from up in the ceiling somewhere? I've seen lights that are changed from the top or that have some sort of a mechanism to lower them from inside the ceiling.


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## Aerial (Sep 19, 2012)

Granted here we don't have too many house fixtures (12). We get a construction company to come out with scaffolding. They can hit the whole row before deconstructing/constructing again. It usually takes a couple hours and we replace them all at once. If lucky, the aisle ones can be reached by our genie.


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## gafftaper (Sep 19, 2012)

Scaffold is a great idea. You could call a home handyman/contractor company with scaffolding and get them to do it. I would definitely replace them with LED lights if I were you. The $60 or so per lamp would well be worth it if you have to pay for someone to bring in a scaffold or a genie lift. The LED lamp would last 50,000 hours.


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## Alwaysryu (Sep 19, 2012)

gafftaper said:


> This is typically done by district maintenance people in most schools. You rent some sort of Genie lift sometimes one with a long boom arm. Sometimes the maintenance department creates a heavy duty wedge platform that creates a flat surface for the lift to be placed on. In other situations, with the right lift, that doesn't matter. They just drive the boom into the stage or pit area and swing the long out over the house. Around here it's usually done by building custodial staff during a vacation break or maybe district electricians.
> 
> You could call your local theater shop and see if they will do it for you, but that's just not how it's typically done and it'll cost you a lot.
> 
> Are you sure there isn't a way to access the lights from up in the ceiling somewhere? I've seen lights that are changed from the top or that have some sort of a mechanism to lower them from inside the ceiling.



the head of the maintenance dpt. is the one that asked me to find someone to do it. I did call one of our local theater shops and they gave me the name of the electrician that they work with. so thanks for the advice. cant wait to see what hes going to quote us


gafftaper said:


> I would definitely replace them with LED lights if I were you. The $60 or so per lamp would well be worth it if you have to pay for someone to bring in a scaffold or a genie lift. The LED lamp would last 50,000 hours.



thats exactly what we are doing. Can't wait for this to happen its getting kind of dark with in our preforming arts center with all the burned out fixtures.

Thanks for the help guys.


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## derekleffew (Sep 19, 2012)

gafftaper said:


> ... I would definitely replace them with LED lights if I were you. ...


Really? Considering all the discussion in this thread http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/lighting-electrics/29448-led-house-light-retro-fit.html regarding dimmer curve s and performance?

Alwaysryu, have your Facilities Manager look for an equipment rental company in your area that carries the Genie Super Straddle. 



Genie - AWP Super Series Standard Base | Genie-Lift.com (Click on the "Available Options tab.)

More in this thread: http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...get-genie-lift-super-straddle-some-steps.html .

Then it's just a matter of finding personnel trained (possibly by the rental company) and comfortable doing the work, probably a district maintenance person. 

I second the suggestion above of replacing ALL the bulbs, burned out or not, at one time. I'd also look into if there's a way to limit your dimmers' output voltage to 95% to increase lamp life. OR, see if 130V lamps are available with suitable output at 120V.


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## gafftaper (Sep 19, 2012)

LED's are not ideal and you've seen my opinion on CFL's. But if you are in a school and they have to hire a crew to come change their lights, it's probably the best solution. Schools have a habit of running out of money and putting stuff off forever. I would rather have lights that don't look spectacular but work than be told, "I don't care how dark it is, you have to wait another year until we have the budget to replace your house lights."


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## JohnD (Sep 19, 2012)

In the original post it is stated that the "fixtures are burned out". Is it just the lamps that are burned out, or the fixtures.


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## techieman33 (Sep 19, 2012)

gafftaper said:


> LED's are not ideal and you've seen my opinion on CFL's. But if you are in a school and they have to hire a crew to come change their lights, it's probably the best solution. Schools have a habit of running out of money and putting stuff off forever. I would rather have lights that don't look spectacular but work than be told, "I don't care how dark it is, you have to wait another year until we have the budget to replace your house lights."



I completely agree with you, better to give up a little dimming quality then to have patrons sitting in a to dark house, especially in the case of an emergency.


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## Sony (Sep 19, 2012)

derekleffew said:


> Really? Considering all the discussion in this thread http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/lighting-electrics/29448-led-house-light-retro-fit.html regarding dimmer curve s and performance?
> 
> Alwaysryu, have your Facilities Manager look for an equipment rental company in your area that carries the Genie Super Straddle.
> View attachment 7764
> ...



Both NES and United Rentals carry super straddles here. 

alwaysryu there are plenty of companies would would most likely be willing to come out and change your lamps for a fee. The problem is most of the companies your facilities manager is calling are maintenance companies and not companies used to dealing with theatres. Try contacting Advanced Lighting and Production Services in Randolph, MA. If they are not able to help you then contact me and we can work something out with your facilities manager. I have plenty of experience with super straddles and would be more than willing to change the lights out for you for a fee.


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## gafftaper (Sep 20, 2012)

Sony said:


> If they are not able to help you then contact me and we can work something out with your facilities manager. I have plenty of experience with super straddles and would be more than willing to change the lights out for you for a fee.



(Speaking as just myself and not an official CB staff endorsement). 
I smell a great solution here. What about AlwaysRyu's school rents the super straddle, then hires Sony to come in and do the work with school maintenance staff so that they are trained to do it in the future? When your school maintenance people know how to use the super straddle they won't have to pay someone else to do it next time so you can stay with incandescent a few more years until LED/CFL's get more appealing for theatrical use. I bet you can do the whole thing for $400-$500 depending on how much Sony wants. 

...and with that you guys should take any further discussion to PM.


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## josh88 (Sep 20, 2012)

Sony said:


> Try contacting Advanced Lighting and Production Services in Randolph, MA. If they are not able to help you then contact me and we can work something out with your facilities manager.



I will note, that Kathleen is out of the Office till Monday at ETC training and they've got some work to do once she gets back. Not that you could kick a school administration into gear to do something by then anyway. Though that's a job either of their other two guys could probably come out and do fine.


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## Sony (Sep 20, 2012)

gafftaper said:


> (Speaking as just myself and not an official CB staff endorsement).
> I smell a great solution here. What about AlwaysRyu's school rents the super straddle, then hires Sony to come in and do the work with school maintenance staff so that they are trained to do it in the future? When your school maintenance people know how to use the super straddle they won't have to pay someone else to do it next time so you can stay with incandescent a few more years until LED/CFL's get more appealing for theatrical use. I bet you can do the whole thing for $400-$500 depending on how much Sony wants.
> 
> ...and with that you guys should take any further discussion to PM.



This is also an option, PM me and we can work something out. I am probably one of the few people in Mass who knows how to use a straddle.

-Trev


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## gafftapegreenia (Sep 20, 2012)

I know of a space here in Atlanta where, when it comes time to change out their house light lamps, the cheapest and most effective way of doing so is to hire a bunch of riggers to come in with their ascending ropes and to do all the lights in mid air!


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## Sony (Sep 20, 2012)

gafftapegreenia said:


> I know of a space here in Atlanta where, when it comes time to change out their house light lamps, the cheapest and most effective way of doing so is to hire a bunch of riggers to come in with their ascending ropes and to do all the lights in mid air!



Sounds awesome


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## cpf (Sep 20, 2012)

gafftapegreenia said:


> I know of a space here in Atlanta where, when it comes time to change out their house light lamps, the cheapest and most effective way of doing so is to hire a bunch of riggers to come in with their ascending ropes and to do all the lights in mid air!



That's what we do - the attached agricultural college has an arboriculture program, so whenever we need something fixed or changed "yesterday," one of their instructors gets the call.


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## DrPinto (Sep 20, 2012)

Just curious if anyone has ever tried a Flood Sucker or similar tool to change house lamps. I've heard of them, but never used one. Is this worth a try or is it best to just go the Genie lift route?


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## Sony (Sep 20, 2012)

^^^

Those are good for 10 to 14ft ceilings that are just out of reach, however try putting in on the end of a 20ft pole and aiming to stick it to a small light 25ft off the ground....not so easy. Also a lot of house lights have protective glass covers in case of a lamp shattering it wont spray glass shards into the audience. Those are not usually removable or replaceable by suction cups.


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## Aman121 (Sep 20, 2012)

I feel fortunate that all of our house lights can be changed from above-thank god for 50s architecture leaving space above the false ceiling! Although I will add that the fixtures are original and a PITA to disassemble.


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## ruinexplorer (Sep 20, 2012)

Yes, I have. I also used the spring clamp that would grip A-type lamps. I prefer to have my hands on the lamp if at all possible. Especially as the tool starts to wear, you can have lamps detach unexpectedly, falling to the floor. Also, if the lamp happens to be dirty (the one you are removing), it can be difficult to get a good grip. I also had times where it was easy to over-tighten the lamp, breaking the base (either that or corrosion got them stuck). Granted, it was nice to not always have to drag out a ladder or lift.


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## Les (Sep 21, 2012)

We had a scene shop where a high-bay metal halide was placed directly over an open stairway. We tried the spring grip kind (with four people holding a large blanket open underneath), but we couldn't even get the lamp loose. Those mogul-based metal halides sure get tight, probably after being in there for 5-10 years with who knows how many heat/cool cycles. I think we ended up renting a boom lift.


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## techieman33 (Sep 21, 2012)

I'm not a fan, you can only drop so many lamps before the clean up gets old, and new broken lamps start to out weigh the cost of the couple of minute of labor.


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