RE: "Interesting" Lighting/Heating

[Robert Ricketts <rtricketts at erols_com>]

Jean wrote:

> He had an "interesting" (potentially fatal, in fact!) way of heating those >basement tanks - he had ordinary incandescent bulbs, hanging downwards from >ceramic sockets screwed to a board, partially submerged IN the water of each >tank.  Heat and light at the same time.  <snip>  The bulbs, burning 24 hours >a day, lasted for years, probably because they never got very hot.  

This was not rare, some of the old aquarium literature
suggests such practice, I know at least one of my old books
has such a scheme - tank keepers seem to have always valued
functionality over safety.  That practice does seem to have
faded before even my time. (:->)

RTR/Robert