Hexploding lightbulbs.

[DaveB]

My office at home has a three spot light fitting. Every so often one of the bulbs goes in similar fashion but instead of exploding all over the place it breaks at the joing with the metal fitting and gets fired accross the room like a small artillery shell.

[MPwannadecentincome]

The most obvious thing is that it didn't have an internal fuse.

When a tungsten filament blows, an arc forms across the filament.

This can then form directly across the filament supports and can easily take 100s of amps.

Most lightbulbs have an internal fuse that blows when this happens.

The Tesco "atom bomb" specials plainly lack this feature.

All the glass fell out of the bayonet cap with bits all over the floor.

I was ever so impressed once I stopped swearing.

interesting, I did not know light bulbs have fuses.

Even then, when any of my bulbs blow it always hits the fuse in the 'box - a real pain that.

[Spacecadet]

interesting, I did not know light bulbs have fuses.

Even then, when any of my bulbs blow it always hits the fuse in the 'box - a real pain that.

I thought the filament itself WAS the fuse

[EternalOptimist]

interesting, I did not know light bulbs have fuses.

Even then, when any of my bulbs blow it always hits the fuse in the 'box - a real pain that.

wrap the fuses in tinfoil, this prevents them from blowing and can save a lot of inconvenience. Keep a fire extinguisher handy though

[TimberWolf]

I had a wire explode once. It fed an electric heater at a place I once rented. It separated in two and scorched the carpet. Examination of the wire revealed (now charred remains of) electrical tape wrapped the point the wire had separated, which suggested it was the result of a previous 'repair'.

I've not had any spectacular light bulb blowings as far as I recall. Although the way the fail can sometimes be amusing, e.g. get brighter or buzz.

[zeitghost]

Bulbs that "sing" are on the verge of failing.

[Spacecadet]

Was dining out with some friends a few weeks ago and the light on the wall next to out table suddenly got a lot brighter.
I shat myself thinking it was about to explode, then one of the waiters came over with the food.

At this point i realised that I shouldn't have broadcast my alarm to the rest of the table

I did think about posting the amusing tale on here but thought it was a bit wilmslow-esque

[MPwannadecentincome]

wrap the fuses in tinfoil, this prevents them from blowing and can save a lot of inconvenience. Keep a fire extinguisher handy though

yeh - relly

[DaveB]

wrap the fuses in tinfoil, this prevents them from blowing and can save a lot of inconvenience. Keep a fire extinguisher handy though

yeh - relly

It works!

Back in my land owning days I had an old Ferguson TE20 tractor ( circa 1955 ) I used for hauling bales and other assorted rural activities. The electrics were flakey and it used to cut out at random intervals, blowing the same fuse each time.

Cigarette foil wrapped around the dead fuse fixed it up nicely and if it did short again the paper would catch fire and burn through the foil preventing any permanent damage

[Tarquin Farquhar]

Slightly off topic but…

A Southampton housing association (privatised money making charity fed by tax payers money and subsidised by council tax). Fitted their new houses and flats with energy saving light-bulbs that had a bayonet fitting plus an extra pin. The result is that the residents must by light-bulbs from the housing association’s own maintenance company at a cost of £8.00 per bulb.

It's not their fault. Part L of the current Building Regulations requires new builds (including expensions) to have a certain number of "dedicated low energy light fittings" in which the owner or occupier is unable to install old-fashioned incandescent lamps. The easiest way to do that is to install the BC3 3-pin bayonet fittings: this fitting is proprietary and the owners (Eaton) don't allow anyone else to make bulbs that fit it, thus providing them with the chance to set the prices in the way that they see fit.

Government regulation. Company gravy train. We pay.
Great Britain = Treasure Island.

PS If you have some of these sockets, please do your bit by paying 12-15 times the price of normal energy-saving bulbs to the monopoly supplier Eaton Corporation. Do not os any account read this blog and attempt a simple conversion of the socket yourself.