She swears it was not on when she when to bed but was on when she woke up at 1am because it was on.
It's in Derby do I cannot just call in but she is a reliable witness as to the events.
And the light switch will not turn the light switch off.
That will be a first if a light switch fails in the middle of the night when not in use.
It has chosen to not be a switch. Any attempt by you to say otherwise may be seen as a hate crime.
If it's 2-way switching a short in the strapper wires would do it.
Otherwise, I agree it's a bit of an unlikely cause; I could understand a switch locking on, but not moving from off to on and then failing.
Owain
A conventional (mechanical) switch, rather than an electronic one with or without ‘smart’ / remote control?
A short at/in the fitting is a possibility, perhaps water, especially if it is an LED Bulb.
Poltergeist
We have two almost identical pairs of touch lamps - the sort which cycle round three levels of brighness and off. One pair come on after being de-powered and stay on, the other pair don't....
A short nightime power cut will turn on the first pair.
Are the lights concerned touch lamps?
Charles F
Can you post a picture of the insides of the switch when you replace it, please.
A loose contact within the switch led to overheating, even if just on a lighting circuit? Particularly, if it's a tungsten bulb, rather than LED. Then, when it cools down, contact is made by chance.
I assume that she smelt the fishy smell, but ignored it. Ignored a slight buzzing from the switch. You could ask her, as it might save her having a fire.
Is there a burnt rodent smell in the loft?
Carbonised teeth might pass enough current to light an LED.
Haha,. I was lying in bed doing nothing just watching telly on my laptop when the whole house went out.
I eventually managed to narrow it down to an electric cooker circuit and switched that off and the problem went away .
Bet you will find a fused critter across the live and switched live...in my case it was across live and earth.
And that's why the thing wont turn off.
Gets my vote. They never smell burnt though. Just rotten after a while, and then nothing.
I had a weird smell once years ago for weeks before it simply faded. Then I lifted up my camera bag and there was a dead mouse under it...act had presumably fatally wounded it, but not enough to stop it running away.
It has declared itself non-binary.
It has decided to shelter an illegal furry immigrant.
"If a lamp illuminates in a landing and no one is around to see it, is it a light?"
Here, I found a light that wouldn't tun on and found a dead mouse that had bitten through the wire (what we'd now call 'bell wire') fitted by the previous owner - or more likely his electrician.
It hasn't been wired into a switched Economy 7 supply ?
Yes, but is it alight?
Pretty sure she has gas CH - and after living there for 3 years I expect she would have noticed it working on a winters evening before the E7 switch over.
Definitely a tungsten lamp - no smell and the switch seem to operate OK with no lamp - she took it out
Checked with her - tungsten lamp and one 1g lightswitch - house is about 22 years old.
The smell in a different loft the other day of a fermenting dead rat on the hottest day of the year so far.
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