Broken light bulbs

Hey, I can actually help! This is a great trick. Take a baking potato and cut off one end. Jam the cut end into the socket (make sure to unplug the lamp or pop the breaker first), and turn to remove the broken bulb.

This was actually shown on Home Improvement years ago. Of course, Tim forgot to unplug..

Well, they're all ceiling fixtures, so I'll be a-poppin them breakers... if I can get to the box; it's at the back of my (teenage) daughter's closet!

Needle-nose pliers work fine for me, even when the old base is wedged in there really hard.

NO! NO! If there is no way to turn off the current, do NOT stick a water-laden potato or metal pliers into the socket!!

One huge problem is that the switch can be on the 'exiting' end of the circuit. That means that although power can't flow past that point, it can travel as far as the plug and through you if you are jamming a conductor into it.

My advice, use a non-conductive cork with a bit of dowel through it to give you some leverage . Better still, replace the whole damn thing if the socket is dodgy - remember; it only takes one fatal electric shock to ruin your day!

I'm a fan of the potato approach to remove broken light-bulb ends from the socket. Make sure no power's going into the socket and go to it - works every time. Trying to remember where I learned it. Definitely not Home Improvement though. Maybe Cousin Martha?

Mr. Stillwater - the socket (at least in my case) was not dodgy. I think it was just a cheap lightbulb which I'd screwed in crookedly to begin with. No need to fix something - the socket - as it wasn't broke (as the saying sorta goes).

... no way to turn off the current ?!?
Why, then I'd get a lawyer to do it.

Borg - heh, heh, heh. But for safety's sake try a hopeless fare-collector, they're all bad conductors!!! (Rimshot)

I'm an idiot... and only just realized what you meant earlier:

Alternating current goes positive-negative-positive-negative
through BOTH sides of a very long wire loop, that includes your light bulb's base.

A wall switch may shut off only one side of the loop,
leaving the other side still hot with electricity!

The light bulb has no way to ground that electricity (so it won't light up),
but your pliers make a very good ground (so YOU may light up!)

I never realized that before, but it makes sense! :-)


Do breaker boxes ALWAYS disconnect both sides of the loop, or sometimes
just one? Would flipping the breaker switch definitely fix this problem?

Yep, that's what the fellow at college told us (an institute for Technical Education, not like a university - in the US a college is like a university here). At the junction box there should be NO misunderstanding about polarity, cutting off the juice there would isolate any wiring connected to it - unless your wiring was done by morons.


On the subject of morons, here's a story to entertain. About 15 years ago I moved to a new residence. It had a huge freestanding wardrobe in place, and a sort of cavity in the middle with a mirror with drawers below. Now my wife (not at the time tho) wanted to use this cavity/mirror/drawer combo to put on make-up, etc so I bought an extension cord and looped the cord around things and bought that to the wardrobe.

OK, some holes needed in the wardrobe to let the cord enter at the back and exit at a point where a double power point could be installed. Right, plug the extension cord into the power point in the wall, plug in the drill and drill two holes in the body of the wardrobe. Drill a couple of more holes to attach the new power point in the wardrobe.

Fine, all holes drilled. Unplug the drill. So, what's next? Right, so now the end of the extension cord comes off so it can go through the holes and then be wired into the new power point. Anyone see where this is going?

You guessed it. Tired from moving, etc - I THEN PICK UP A CUTTER AND PROCEDED TO CUT THE END OFF THE EXTENSION CORD WITH THE OTHER END PLUGGED INTO THE WALL! The blade just melts in my hand as the power shorts across it, the circuit breaker pops and saves my life. I have no idea what was going through my head - only it wasn't house current.

Lesson? There's plenty of room for mistakes in any operation - don't **** with things that can kill you, no matter how confident you feel.

Mr. Still! I'm glad you're here to tell the tale!

I promise to pop the breakers, and not to use metal tools... But what about my lubricant idea? It's great for loosening stuck lugnuts to change a tire -- wouldn't it loosen the bulb base too?

What I think I want to know is, will WD-40 conduct electricity? Will it spoil the socket for a new bulb?

Wy

WD-40 will conduct electricity no problem, it is petroleum based.

Well, I went to WD-40.com and they told me:

"2. Dielectric strength ASTM D-877 12,000 V. per 0.100 in.

We officially classify WD-40 as a non-conductor. But, on the other hand, advised by an electrical engineer that air will conduct electricity (lightning), so almost anything can conduct electricity under the right conditions."

So I will carefully, after the breakers are off, apply just a little bit. (I'll probably use a brush instead of the spray, so it doesn't get all over.) Then I will carefully, with a dry, non-metallic item of some kind, remove the broken bulbs.

Thank you all. It will be nice to have lights over the bathroom mirror again...

Wy

stop! You don't need the WD-40!

(extra pts to those who know what the WD stands for)

Shut off the breaker. That kills the circuit, no power going to the fixture on the switchleg and no current on the neutral. The potato actually works in many cases better than the needlenose pliers. The pliers should be inserted into the sockets and opened as far as they can go. Use two to turn the pliers (lefty loosens) DO NOT TRY grab in between the bulb base and the socket rim, you will just bend the socket wall and nothing will screw in then. The WD 40 adds nothing to the equation.

If this happens often you are using too big a bulb in the fixture. When that little sticker says 60watt maximum, that's it. The heat of a 75 will over time carbon up the socket and that's where the fun begins.

So gang, what's the WD stand for???

Joe

Water Displacement, 40th attempt.

Apparently the inventor had produced 39 variants for a aircraft parts maker in southern CA. It was meant to keep metal from oxidizing. The parts maker wasn't happy with any of the original 39, but did like certain qualities. So, he mixed together the 40th batch to achieve those qualities, and history was born.

Joe, thanks for the plier lesson. Now that you say it, it makes perfect sense, but I'm sure I would have tried to grab something with the pliers and made things worse!

CJHSA You win a fabulous prize!!! Yes, WD40 is not a lubricant but a water dispurser/displacer!!! It's a drying agent! Stop spraying on anything that isn't wet!.

CJHSA When you come to NYC you get your choice of a Circleline Tour of the Island or a pub crawl through Chelsea and the surround environs.

When are you going to be here, I'm thirsty?>


Joe

Joe, I've known for years that WD stands for Water Displacer. It also penetrates between metal surfaces and acts as a lubricant... or how else did it loosen my lugnuts to the point I could change my tire???

Do I get to come on the pub crawl?

when all else failed...
I tried pliers (normally work - this time wouldn't budge...) I tried the potato (1/2 hr before looking at my wife like she was nuts that she heard something about a fruit... the problem was the bulb was broken right to the base of the socket ((i think the potato could only work if there was some glass to grab)) - an hour i'd been going at it.... back to the toolbox. Staring into the arsenal it dawned on me that a contractor's pencil sharpener (59c home depot) was about the same size as the inside of the socket. Wrapped the rounded end of the sharpener w/ some electrical tape (sticky side out... gives a little extra grab) - put it in the socket and a couple twists later... the base of the bulb was out and all i had to do was clean up the potato residue.