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Any electricians or light experts out there?

7 replies

GrimmauldPlace · 18/06/2016 06:57

We have 2 light fittings in our living room. They are the ones where the fitting hangs down if that makes sense with a lampshade on. The switch has two knobs(?) which are dimmer switches but only one works to control both lights.

For about a year now the bulbs have been blowing in each fitting alternately. We put a new bulb in to one yesterday, this morning when turning the lights on, the opposite side bulb blew. It's almost as if it can't handle both fittings having bulbs at the same time.

We've spoken to the landlord as we are getting through a stupid amount of bulbs. Probably averaging 6 a month. She spoke to an electrician friend who said it must be the bulbs we are using. We have tried every bulb you can imagine. Cheap ones, expensive ones, low wattage, energy saving. No matter what we do they still blow. We have similar problems in the kids bedrooms, they have spotlight (I think that's what they're called) fittings which have four bulbs in. They don't blow as often but still fairly regularly.

We have had problems with electrics before but landlord told me that wiring problems wouldn't cause bulbs to blow.

So any ideas what could be happening? It's getting really frustrating now.

OP posts:
Offtodisney · 18/06/2016 07:06

My electrician dh says it's probably the light fitting that's dodgy.

Offtodisney · 18/06/2016 07:07

He suggests changing the fitting or trying an LED bulb.

GrimmauldPlace · 18/06/2016 07:08

Thanks, is that both of them? I presume they are both connected even though on opposite sides of the room as only one of the switches controls them.

OP posts:
GrimmauldPlace · 18/06/2016 07:09

We've tried LED bulbs I believe, will have to check with DH. Would I need an electrician to change them?

OP posts:
Hiahia · 18/06/2016 07:20

It might be the dimmer switch not being able to cope? We've had that here with our dimmer switches when there was several bulbs per switch. Our electrician replaced the specific dimmers.

PigletJohn · 18/06/2016 11:09

they're called Pendant lamps.

Energy-saving lamps are much more tolerant of voltage fluctuations than the old filament (incandescent) lamps.

Repeated failure is most often caused by a loose connection which might cause flickering. Could be in the switch or one of the light fittings.

However, if you have dimmers or extra-low-voltage lamps, that's probably where the problem lies. Surprisingly, older dimmers may not work correctly when the load (watts) is lower than they were designed for, which is common with modern lamps.

specialsubject · 18/06/2016 14:37

and YOU don't change the fitting, the landlord does.

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