In my kitchen I have these large downlighter bulbs which the previous owners fitted. The thing is, 2 bulbs have gone and I can't get them unscrewed! There is just so little to get hold of on the bulbs. I have replaced 2 (there are 6 in all) others in the past, but these two just won't undo. They are R80 60 watt ES type. PLEASE can anyone help?? Mike
Have you tried rubber gloves? You might get more grip that way.
Yes - no luck with that either.
On 25/01/2004 Mike Jones opined:-
Rubber gloves would give you better grip on the glass. Failing that get the glass envelope out of the base, either by breaking the adhesive seal, or by brekaing the glass envelope a bit at a time. A pair of long nosed pliers will then enable you to clean out all the hard adhesive away from the metal base and then easily unscrew the metal base. Make sure the power is off, before attempting this!
When fitting screw type lamps, never tighten them all the way. Enough to make gentle contact is usually enough and make them easily to change.
I prosume they are flat faced (or flattish) ones? You can buy a little sucker, it creates a vacuum when pressed to the bulb and then you can turn the handle on the sucker and hey presto! Don't wet the sucker as this stops the vacuum and also makes the sucking bit just spin round on the glass. You should be able to buy from anywhere you can get the bulbs, Tel
These fittings are usually sprung into the ceiling ope. See if you can pop the fitting out and then remove the bulb.
Some fittings appear to be more prone to this problem than others.
Paul Mc Cann
I was going to give a very simialar reply. I use a cylinder head valve grinding sucker. Works every time.
Xenon
We have a similar problem in our kitchen...
I find, if you wobble to bulbs from side to sides a bit, it tends to free them up. (This is of course assuming you can wobble them in their fitting - mine have a plastic insert that can be removed for bulb replacement)
Sparks...
Blu-Tak. Work a good sized piece of it in your fingers to soften it then spread it out over the face of the bulb (1-1.5" dia.) leaving a fair sized lump in the centre that you can grip with your fingers. Never failed to get a bulb out using it yet.
What ever you use, make sure the bulb is clean first; IME bulbs in the kitchen get a film of grease on them and those in the bathroom get a layer of dust.
Thanks for your help and advice - I smashed the lamps and sorted it that way! Unfortunately one now doesn't work so I guess I'll remove the fiting and test it if a new bulb doesn't work either. Tedious!
Mike
Harry Bloomfield retched Damn downlighters - can't unscrew bulbs!!! onto my recliner:
I thought you'd given up stalking, Harry?
The impact might have pushed back the centre contact a bit - power down & pull it up a bit.
Get yourself a suction hook from a kitchen/hardware shop. Ideal for hanging things (without screwing holes in cabinets\walls etc) but made for the job of removing these light bulbs.
the fatherof a friend of mmine came up with an ingenious idea of putting super glue on the tips of his fingers and glueing them to the bulb, apparently it worked but he does have trouble driving a car now ;)
SuperGlue damages the skin by extracting the fat from it, so please don't try this one at home, unless you're a trained professional (or loon).
Tell me about it. My wife managed to squirt half a (small) bottle of the stuff into my eye when gluing her nails on. Shat myself? Too right. My last vision was of the dozens of globules headed in my direction before casualty got my eyes open again. It was a great shot, though, from around 2 feet away.
Christian.
Have a look for a blob of black cack on the contact too - it's fairly common and flicks off with a screwdriver. Richard
There's a trick to removing downlighter bulbs. Electricians use a rubber sucker. I complained to my installer and he provided me with one. Works OK once you get the hang of making a decent contact. Guessing, you can buy one at an electrical supplier. Maybe a glass supplier. Hope this works.
John
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