h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Something very strange just happend when I turned a wall light on, there was a really loud bang and the glass part of lightbulb shot out of bulb holder leaving the bulb fitting still in bulb holder!
Now I really don't want to call an electrician out at the high prices they charge but am wondering if, after removing remains of lightbulb from socket, it would be safe to put a new bulb in? If it wasn't a wall light there would be no problem as either whole throw lamp away or ensure it was safe by checking cables, etc on table lamp but with a wall light and cables being in wall it is a differant matter!
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I have never had this happen before as glass part of bulb is still in tact, I have heard a small pop as bulbs have gone in other lights but such a loud bang and for a bulb to come apart was scarey!

Check the contacts with a current tester/volt meter, if its ok risk another bulb

good luck



Taff
agent of kaos

I thought someone might suggest that, but I don't have a tester nor would know how to use it to be honest.
I was thinking of trying one more bulb and if it blows again then clearly an electrician would be needed! Hopefully it was just a weak bulb.

Sounds like a flaw in the exhaust tube. (Guess who watched a prog about the manufacture of lightbulbs at 2am last night )

In 30-plus years of keeping house on my own, I have had two bulbs "evict" their glass. And replacement bulbs lasted as long as any you'd expect ... years or so. I suspect just a microscopic flaw in the glass that let go at just the most unexpected time. No cause for a costly visit by an electrician.

Yes, I've had this happen once (maybe twice) - no need for panic. Just one of those things.

I too had it happen recently - a bulb above the dining room table, of all places (fortunately we'd just finished the meal). I don't know if there's a duff batch in the UK at the moment. The bulb was a 100W globe from Homebase, who replaced it without charge.

In my view the wiring is not at fault.
The bulb hasn't been finished off properly. If you look at any light bulb there will be a solder spot at the point it fits flush with the glass if this hasn't been finished off the glass part will come off,
don't forget light bulbs are mass produced.
They can make light bulbs that will last for years but there is no money in that for industry hence they have no shelf life.

I might remove remains of bulb in a while and replace bulb. The problem is the wall light is only around 3 feet from switch so the bang sounded quite loud and made me jump. Infact it was such a shock I swore and jumped! The glass part of bulb was pointed in my direction which didn't help so it shot towarsd me as bulb is on side in light, or rather it was, lol..

I took all the fuses out and found the remains of bulb to be a little caught in bulb holder which seemed ominous, however as the bulb was a threaded on the remains came out with help.
I put new bulb in and with some trepidation switched wall light on. The wall light came on OK but felt a crunching in the wall switch so my heart sunk with electricians bills floating before my eyes. Like a true wally I had forgotten I had covered wall switch with crinkly plastic tape to remind me bulb was broken in socket and I was so intent on avoiding another flying bulb I didn't notice!

When the same thing happened to me, I concluded that the seal had probably gone and air got in, which expanded explosively when the filament heated up. Though I also had trouble getting the remains out, it seems the metal part may expand and get stuck.

A light bulb is just a resistor. The only thing that can cause it to draw more current than it would normally is a fault with the bulb. There is nothing that can go wrong with the wiring that would cause it to "feed" the bulb too much current.

Correct. Why do people always say the wiring is faulty? nothing can happen with the wiring to cause a lamp to blow. A voltage surge could cause it but that would affect all electrical equipment.

I used to be a Construction site electrician & one of my jobs was to ensure the site lighing was maintained. Every time it rained if water got on a lamp it used to shatter so I must have come across this happening hundreds of times.

Also as I was first told as a young apprentice, never call them bulbs, you put bulbs in gardens. They are lamps

True, but if I said the lamp was broken in my first post it would have caused a lot of confussion on here!

In a world of infinite improbability you have just been selected, Rejoice!

But light bulbs are shaped like those you put in the garden, isn´t that why they named them that?

If you drill a small hole in a light bulb you can make it explode when you turn it on.

Assuming it doesn't explode while you're drilling it

S'funny. Exactly the same thing just happened to me. Switched on the hall light and the bulb shot straight out and bounced down the stairs with the kitten in hot pursuit. To be honest, I'm getting sick fed up of lightbulbs blowing in this house. I must have replaced about a dozen in just 4 months, plus two transformers for low voltage halogens

I remember the days when lightbulbs just worked .

Low voltage halogens are just s**t. In under three years we've had about ten bulbs and three (of four) transformers go in the bathroom. When the last one goes I'll be reverting to candles.

Yes there's a thread on ask somewhere that was started by asking if they were intrinsically shite.

There _used_ to be one of these in my kitchen when I bought my house last September. Not any more, there isn't.

Yes, I remember the thread, I think the results of my failure rate calculations have been revised downwards since then though

So ... what can I replace the LV ones with? Has to be zone whatever (above the shower).