Is This Electrical Problem Dangerous?

[Restless]

Small, old fashioned basement refrigerator that requires periodic defrosting. The fridge has worked great for 25 yrs. but almost from the beginning, the light inside flickers and then goes out, or else doesn't even flicker, just stays dark inside when the door is opened.

The other day an electrician fixed a vestibule light that flickered. He made his fix in the wall switch, and said that it could have been dangerous if left uncorrected. I forgot to mention to him the refrigerator light problem.

Is this the same type of electrical situation? The fridge kicks on immediately when plugged in after defrosting and works great; it's just the light that is the problem. Thank you.

[KC]

The wall switch obviously had a loose connection, which causes arcing, heat and possible fire. A light bulb flicker is normally caused by the bulb being loose in the socket or a bad filament. Irregardless the bulb is only on when you open the door, therefore not long enough to cause any safety problem.

[Red Green]

[e-mail] (Restless) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

He couldn't tell you that until he looked at it and made a determination.

Can't tell until it's looked at and the cause determined.

Just the facts. No one can tell you for sure here.

[HeyBub]

Not dangerous.

If it were mine, I'd ignore it.

Wearing rubber gloves when dealing with the fridge can't hurt.

[RBM]

Yes, it's exactly the same situation, a loose connection in the lamp circuit. The faulty connection can be anywhere in the circuit, including the door switch contact or the socket or any wiring between. Typically loose connections get worse over time and eventually don't work at all.

[james]

It is only dangerous when it flickers. If it stays lit or stays dark, it's not dangerous.

This is because flickering light is often caused by a poor contact between two conductors, and this area of poor contact could generate heat that over time may develop into a fire.

If after 25 years nothing has happened, then nothing is probably going to happen. But just for the peace of mind, it's better if you fix it. If you don't want to, then remove the bulb.

[JIMMIE]

My dad put up with that same problem for a couple of years in his #2 refridgerator. When the bulb finaly blew he replaced the bulb and that fixed the problem. The problem you have is probably going to be at either the bulb or the door switch. I would tap on the bulb and see if this effects it, If it does the problem is either the bulb or the lamp socket, if not the problem is probably in the switch. Sockets arent usually that hard to replace but the door switches can be nearly impossible to get at even to check the connections.

JImmie