I recently replaced my "over the kitchen sink" light fixture with a rapid start (no starter) fixture. The bulb will not ligh up unless I jiggle the bulb. This of course is unacceptable. There is one problem with the circuit that I think could be the culprit. There is no grounf wire in the loop. Does this type of fixture absolutelly need to be grounded?
ABSOLUTELY GROUND FOR SAFETY!
Close by the sink its a severe shock hazard.
Too see if the intermittent light is a ground run a ground wire from the fixture to a known good ground like the 3rd prong in a grounded outlet.
i believe your fixture has a bad contact for the lamp, or the lamp isnt in right
ABSOLUTELY GROUND FOR SAFETY!
Close by the sink its a severe shock hazard.
Too see if the intermittent light is a ground run a ground wire from the fixture to a known good ground like the 3rd prong in a grounded outlet.
i believe your fixture has a bad contact for the lamp, or the lamp isnt in right
It is widely recommended to ground the fixture. Grounding the fixture affects the electric field distribution within a bulb that is trying to start but has not yet become conductive, and this is often although not always necessary for the bulb to "spark through" (my words).
Even if you get a bulb and ungrounded fixture that work together, this can be unreliable. The bulb can age and its ability to start in an ungrounded fixture can vary with temperature and these changes can be to the extent of making a fixture require grounding to achieve starting even if it started without grounding in the past.
I would say ground the fixture!
In addition, the bulb often needs to be within 1/2 inch of grounded metal and if the ballast case is metal it should be attached to a grounded metal fixture in case any secondary winding in the ballast has a ground connection.
- Don Klipsatein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)
By code, I believe it is required.
For safety, it needs to be grounded
For function it needs to be grounded (that is likely why the light is difficult to start)
It may be that cheap lamp sockets are the problem.
Grounding the fixture requires a third wire at the fixture. I do not have this since the house has old two wire romex or what ever the hell they called it 50 years ago. I have lived in the house for 28 years and never had "shock" issues at the kitchen sink. The outlets on the counter top are grounded with GFI. Grounding the ceiling fixture wil cost about $500.00 to get an electrician. (they won't come in for less). I think I will replace the fixture with the starter type rather than rapid start. That seemed to work for many years.
you DONT get it. If the fixture malfunctions it can KILL!
50 year old wire probably isnt romex..Is it covered with metal? Then its likely BX and the outer metal covering is probably a ground.
If that is the case, then it is going to cost you $500 to get a safe light. However chances are it has armored cable BX that has a metal jacket around it. You need to make sure that it is still grounded and some Buba has not spliced in a section of romex and not provided a proper ground.
If the lamp is not grounded as required and there is a fault, it can kill someone. The reasons the codes require the grounding is because not doing so has killed a significant number of people.
The wiring is not BX it is that old crappy clothlike insulation on the outside and the actual wires have a plastic insulation. There are two leads.... really lousey wiring and the previous owner was an electrician. When I meved in 28 years ago, the electric dryer was wired right into the box with no 3 prong plug.
The like fixure is on the ceiling. I put back the fixture with the starting capacitor. Seems to work okay. As far as aground is concerned, I will snake a wire (one element ) up to the fixture. I probably should put the thingon a GFI circuit.
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