Sheared lightbulb in recessed socket

[robson]

go to your fridge and find a raw carrot about the size of the metal bulb base in diameter. jam the carrot in the fixture. it should wedge in enough to turn the bulb base. it might work.

[Cubby]

Pair of needle nose pliers has always worked for me. Grab the side of the bulb socket and turn. if that doesn't work, you can bend the socket enough to get a better hold on it.

[RicodJour]

The baffle/reflector goes in after the fixture itself. Since the bulb is gone, it's easy to remove the baffle, then you should have enough room to get a needlenose pliers in there.

R

[RBM]

I've seen more sockets chewed up by folks using needle nose pliers on them and I've yet to meet a person that successfully used any type of vegetation. A very easy and reliable method is to turn off the power and unscrew it with a diagonal pliers. It fits right into the socket, grabs the edges neatly and spins it right out

[RBM]

If you do need to remove the baffle or trim from the ceiling, you should be clear as to what is holding it in. There are several types of retaining mechanisms so yanking on it may cause more harm than good

[Kathy]

the recessed ceiling

the bulb sheared

stuck in there,

pain under any

recessed makes it

attempt to unscrew

snip

ripping out a big

Have you tried a potato?

[John Grabowski]

I have had good luck shoving the end of a wooden broom handle up into the light socket and turning counter-clockwise while maintaining pressure. Other people have told me about using a potato, but I have never tried that.

Make sure that the power is off when attempting this.

Recessed lighting housings are generally easy to pull down for access to the junction box. Look around inside the perimeter of the housing. You may see some small screws. If you remove them, the can should loosen and you should be able to pull it down just below the ceiling. Don't attempt to remove it completely with investigating how it is wired.

John Grabowski

[Paul Franklin]

Turn off the power at the breaker. Then turn it off again. Get yourself a long fat carrot. If part of the old filament is still sticking up from the socket, cut a notch in the end of the carrot to clear it. Jam the carrot into the socket and unscrew it. Potato works even better, but probably isn't long enough.

If that doesnt work, just take a long screwdriver, slide it between the bulb base and socket, and twist. Do this in several places until the bulb base is crumpled enough to fall out.

HTH,

Paul

[Pop]

And it's painfully obvious you're not part of America; and you must be wayyy into the outback in nz too. Your sig's right; you are definitely backwards.

: >

: >

: > I was doing a routine lightbulb replacement in the recessed ceiling : > fixture in my entrance hallway when the top of the bulb sheared : > off cleanly from the threaded metal part. Great. : >

: > I yanked off the bulb, but now the metal part is stuck in there, : > so I have a useless fixture. This would be a pain under any : > circumstance, but the fact that the socket is recessed makes it : > impossible to stick a pair of pliers in there to attempt to unscrew : > the metal part. : >

: > The housing for the fixture is attached to the socket, so even if : > I managed to pry it out, I still would not be able to access the : > socket with pliers. I suppose I will have to pull the housing out, : > cut the wire, and replace it with a new housing, splicing the wire : > coming off the new housing into the cut end. : >

: > Am I on the right track here? If so, what do I have to do to remove : > the housing. After working at it for a while I didn't get very : > far at all. One would think that one has to rip the ceiling to : > get that housing out, but I can't believe the system would be that : > stupid. : >

: > How does one fix a situation like this, without ripping out a big : > chunk of ceiling? : >

: > Thanks! : >

: > kj : >

: > -- : > NOTE: In my address everything before the first period is backwards; : > and the last period, and everything after it, should be discarded. : :

[RicodJour]

Save your acrimony as there is absolutely no validity in your supposition.

There has never been a builder that has determined the depth of the floor joists by considering the height of a recessed fixture. The fixture may be dictated by the height of the floor joists which are in turn based on the design loads.

If the structure was sufficient, and the only reason to increase the height of the floor was those fixtures, each recessed fixture's cost would be figured in the thousands.

The builder/electrician chose that fixture for a reason. Whether or not there were other options available, and whether the right decision was made at the time, is moot.

R

[maradcliff]

You know they sell curved needle nose plyers, right? They come with a 45 or 90 degree bend. Be sure to shut off the power first.

[kj]

I was doing a routine lightbulb replacement in the recessed ceiling fixture in my entrance hallway when the top of the bulb sheared off cleanly from the threaded metal part. Great.

I yanked off the bulb, but now the metal part is stuck in there, so I have a useless fixture. This would be a pain under any circumstance, but the fact that the socket is recessed makes it impossible to stick a pair of pliers in there to attempt to unscrew the metal part.

The housing for the fixture is attached to the socket, so even if I managed to pry it out, I still would not be able to access the socket with pliers. I suppose I will have to pull the housing out, cut the wire, and replace it with a new housing, splicing the wire coming off the new housing into the cut end.

Am I on the right track here? If so, what do I have to do to remove the housing. After working at it for a while I didn't get very far at all. One would think that one has to rip the ceiling to get that housing out, but I can't believe the system would be that stupid.

How does one fix a situation like this, without ripping out a big chunk of ceiling?

Thanks!

kj

[kj]

I had another idea, hopefully not too harebrained. I could use a flexible shaft attached to my handheld drill to apply a torque inside the socket. The only problem is finding a suitable drill attachment to transmit the torque from the end of the flexible shaft to the inside of the socket. The only thing I can think of is something like a drill "socket wrench" attachment whose outer diameter is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the sheared off bulb thread, with a rubber band wrapped around the outer rim. (Hopefully the rubber band would produce enough traction to twist the bulb thread.) If anyone can think of a better drill attachment for this strange task please let me know.

[Toller]

I would like to see that! The traditional remedy is to jam a potato into it.

[RBM]

Recessed fixtures with horizontal sockets are sometimes used in shallow depth ceilings as they can fit in a 2x6 space. You need to figure out how to remove the fixture, then the socket snaps off and would be easy to work on

[Norminn]

My favorite tool for that is needlenose pliers, with electricity shut off, of course. Since you cannot access with pliers, I would search the kitchen drawer for a suitable tool.....a couple of wooden chopsticks stuck at angles into the socket, some pressure, twist. Could work. I can't cook, but that kitchen stuff sure comes in handy :o)

[Norminn]

Brainstorm.....duck tape. Stick that fits the bulb base. Wrap end of stick with bunch of duck tape, sticky side out. Press into unpowered light base, press, twist. Could work.

[George E. Cawthon]

I like the current philosophy. If you didn't pay much, you got ripped off. If you paid an outrageous amount but didn't get much service, you didn't pay enough. I think the basic concept is, "You can never pay too much for service that you don't really need."

[kj]

Thank you all very much for your suggestions. After looking at diagrams of similar recessed lighting housings online I realize that mine is apparently pretty unusual. I now see that, as a rule, in recessed lighting fixtures the bulb goes into the socket vertically; i.e. when one screws the bulb in, the axis of the bulb's rotation is vertical. But that's not the way it is in my fixture. The axis of rotation is (nearly) horizontal. (Yes, even under the best circumstances it takes *forever* to change a lightbulb in these fixtures.)

I guess builders use such an insanely incovenient design because by having the bulb horizontal instead of vertical they can save

1-2 vertical inches per story. (Since this is a family ng, I will not say what I think of such builders.)

So the socket is *at right angles* from the axis of the housing. (I'm sorry for not having mentioned this before; I honestly did not realize that it was such an uncommon design.) Since the housing is about 3 inches in diameter, there is no room to turn a pair of pliers around 90 degrees to align it with the horizonal socket.

Hence my blathering about using a flexible shaft attached to a handheld drill, since otherwise I see no way to exert a torque around the required axis.

Now I have to find a way to affix a carrot or a potato at the end of a flexible drill shaft. Oh, this is going to be fun. :-)

kj

[Chuck]

They make needle nose pliers that are bent 90 degrees..