Why doesn't my light fixture work?
June 24, 2013 5:19 PM Subscribe
The bulb blew out on Friday and I replaced it, and it won't go on. I've tried more than one bulb, including a bulb that works in another fixture. My boyfriend has also tried installing it (admittedly, however, after a long day at a baseball game and then bar hopping) and he couldn't get it to work.
The light turns on by a wall switch, which controls two fixtures. The other fixture turns on.
This is a hanging fixture which was installed about 15 years ago and never had any problems. Last year, my landlord decided to renovate our kitchens, and he removed this fixture. I insisted that it be returned. This is the first time I have replaced the bulb since it was re-installed.
The weight of the (large, heavy) glass shade has, imo, always relied too much on the strength of the electrical cord vs. the metal chain that attaches to the ceiling, but this has always been the case -- it's not a recent innovation. The handyman who replaced the fixture is a total nincompoop, but he has done electrical work in the past without incident.
Are there any common problems that I might be overlooking? I would rather not involve my landlord but will do so rather than actually pay an actual electrician for assistance.
The light turns on by a wall switch, which controls two fixtures. The other fixture turns on.
This is a hanging fixture which was installed about 15 years ago and never had any problems. Last year, my landlord decided to renovate our kitchens, and he removed this fixture. I insisted that it be returned. This is the first time I have replaced the bulb since it was re-installed.
The weight of the (large, heavy) glass shade has, imo, always relied too much on the strength of the electrical cord vs. the metal chain that attaches to the ceiling, but this has always been the case -- it's not a recent innovation. The handyman who replaced the fixture is a total nincompoop, but he has done electrical work in the past without incident.
Are there any common problems that I might be overlooking? I would rather not involve my landlord but will do so rather than actually pay an actual electrician for assistance.
Response by poster: I would expect the fuse for both fixtures operated by the same switch (same switch, not merely same wall plate) to be the same fuse, no?
posted by janey47 at 5:40 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by janey47 at 5:40 PM on June 24, 2013
If the electrical cord is so tight that it's supporting some of the weight of the fixture, the fixture is poorly installed and a potential fire hazard. Special electrical cable does exist that is load-bearing, but if the fixture has a chain at all you can bet that's not what was used here. Have you tried the "blown" bulb in another fixture? I wouldn't be surprised if it was fine, but even if it's blown the likely culprit is a broken connection where that strained wire finally pulled out of the wire nut, or broke internally at a point where it was being bent or pinched under strain.
posted by contraption at 5:41 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by contraption at 5:41 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I didn't try the blown bulb elsewhere, but neither would you, had you seen it LOL It was BURNT out. I'm fearful of the cable problem that you mention and might actually pony up for a real live electrician just to solve this issue :-(
AND NOW I PROMISE TO STOP THREADSITTING lol :-)
posted by janey47 at 5:45 PM on June 24, 2013
AND NOW I PROMISE TO STOP THREADSITTING lol :-)
posted by janey47 at 5:45 PM on June 24, 2013
Just to make sure, this isn't a fluorescent tube fixture, right? It sounds like a single bulb, but if it's of the tube variety, it could be that the ballast for the fixture has blown.
If it's of the bulb variety, I'd hazard a guess that the fixture being removed and replaced has either stressed the cord to the point it's pulled away from the junction box and shorted or has shorted somewhere in the length of the cord.
posted by mikeh at 5:53 PM on June 24, 2013
If it's of the bulb variety, I'd hazard a guess that the fixture being removed and replaced has either stressed the cord to the point it's pulled away from the junction box and shorted or has shorted somewhere in the length of the cord.
posted by mikeh at 5:53 PM on June 24, 2013
I don't know that I'd pay for a real electrician to troubleshoot it. Go get yourself a non-contact voltage tester ($15-25 at any big box home improvement store, looks like a pen, electrical tools section) that will tell you if a line is live or not. Touch it to the hanging cord and if it lights up, the problem is in the fixture. If the cord from the ceiling isn't live, then you have a problem in the box or further up inside the wall. If the cord is live but the spot the bulb goes in is not, then there's a short in the cord for the fixture and you shouldn't turn the switch on again until you have removed the fixture because it's a serious business fire risk.
posted by SpecialK at 5:54 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by SpecialK at 5:54 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I'm breaking my promise :-(
Yes, incandescent, not fluorescent.
posted by janey47 at 5:55 PM on June 24, 2013
Yes, incandescent, not fluorescent.
posted by janey47 at 5:55 PM on June 24, 2013
For what it's worth, this kind of thing might be within your abilities to troubleshoot if you have a ladder, a screwdriver and a helper who can hold the fixture up while you work on the wiring. Then again, if the place burns down due to shoddy wiring it would be nice to truthfully say "only qualified professionals have worked on this. Well, besides that guy you hired."
posted by contraption at 6:01 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by contraption at 6:01 PM on June 24, 2013
Best answer: Turn the light off - no, strike that, turn the light on and then go flip breakers until the good light goes out, then turn the light off. OK, now take a pair on needle nosed pliers and see if you can't pull the button at the bottom of the light socket up a 32nd of an inch or so (assuming this is the kind of outlet where the hot contact is a little flap of metal that comes up through a slot in the bottom of the outlet and then is bent over). You might also try using an ink eraser on the positive contact to clean it up a skosh, but be gentle AND ABOVE ALL MAKE SURE THE POWER IS OUT WHEN YOU TRY THIS!!!
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 6:03 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 6:03 PM on June 24, 2013
In hindsight, since this is a ceiling mounted light, you will be pulling the button down, but you know what I mean.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 6:06 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 6:06 PM on June 24, 2013
I didn't try the blown bulb elsewhere, but neither would you, had you seen it LOL It was BURNT out.
I'd bet that the weight-bearing wire finally pulled loose from the place where a bared end of one of the two strands of it is screwed down to one of the two contacts on the back of the threaded piece which accepts the threaded end of the light bulb; that when this happened the wire arced with the contact as it pulled free; and that the over-voltage across the bulb usually associated with arcing when it's not simply a short-circuit royally blew the bulb.
You can test for this by getting up on a chair or other secure platform and sniffing at the back of the part that hangs down. There should be a burned plasticky stench.
You can fix it if the threaded piece is not too badly burned by stripping some more wire and screwing it down on the contact and then shortening the chain somehow.
posted by jamjam at 6:19 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'd bet that the weight-bearing wire finally pulled loose from the place where a bared end of one of the two strands of it is screwed down to one of the two contacts on the back of the threaded piece which accepts the threaded end of the light bulb; that when this happened the wire arced with the contact as it pulled free; and that the over-voltage across the bulb usually associated with arcing when it's not simply a short-circuit royally blew the bulb.
You can test for this by getting up on a chair or other secure platform and sniffing at the back of the part that hangs down. There should be a burned plasticky stench.
You can fix it if the threaded piece is not too badly burned by stripping some more wire and screwing it down on the contact and then shortening the chain somehow.
posted by jamjam at 6:19 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I believe that Kid Charlemagne has it right. I'm an electrician, and have used this method with a short bend on a paper clip many times. while you've got the power off, do a double check on the weight bearing of the wiring.
posted by scottymac at 7:10 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by scottymac at 7:10 PM on June 24, 2013
Response by poster: OK, so I bought a non-contact voltage tester, and there was no power in the cord, so I contacted my landlord & he had it fixed.
The "fix" was, in part, to string a metal cable down the cord & chain, presumably to provide more support for the fixture in addition to the chain and (I hope) instead of the electrical cord. I don't know who did the work (except to say that, since the person didn't come by the day he was originally scheduled, I think I do know who did the work, as that is a common pattern with the so-called "handyman" who did the work in the first place), but for the time being, at least, the light fixture works and I do think that the problem was correctly identified here. Cheers, Mefites! Thanks for your help!
posted by janey47 at 1:13 PM on July 12, 2013
The "fix" was, in part, to string a metal cable down the cord & chain, presumably to provide more support for the fixture in addition to the chain and (I hope) instead of the electrical cord. I don't know who did the work (except to say that, since the person didn't come by the day he was originally scheduled, I think I do know who did the work, as that is a common pattern with the so-called "handyman" who did the work in the first place), but for the time being, at least, the light fixture works and I do think that the problem was correctly identified here. Cheers, Mefites! Thanks for your help!
posted by janey47 at 1:13 PM on July 12, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by procrastination at 5:28 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]