I was sitting in the bedroom last night when I heard a POP and all the upstairs lights went out. A burning smell told me the (100W) bulb had fried in its socket. This is what the socket looked like today, glass shade removed:
There was a sticker on the lampholder saying 'Max bulb 100W' so it should have been OK. Maybe the globular glass shade had caused it to overheat, I thought. But downstairs is another 100W bulb that never has a shade on:
That lampholder also has a 'Max 100W bulb' sticker on it, but you can see it's going the same way as the bedroom lampholder despite having no shade to impede heat dissipation.
I went to B&Q to get a new socket. There was a choice of three but not one of them had any indication of maximum bulb size, either in the instructions or as a sticker. Total silence. I ended up buying one by MK called simply 'Lampholder (cordgrip)'. I fitted it with a new 100W bulb, and even as I type, it hangs above my head like the sword of Damocles. Who knows when it will melt and come crashing down on my thinning pate.
My questions are:
* Is this normal? Do lampholders have a short lifespan? Are you supposed to replace them when they start to discolour?
* Could these lampholders have been mismarked 60W types?
* Can I determine the max bulb rating of this new unmarked lampholder?
There was a sticker on the lampholder saying 'Max bulb 100W' so it should have been OK. Maybe the globular glass shade had caused it to overheat, I thought. But downstairs is another 100W bulb that never has a shade on:
That lampholder also has a 'Max 100W bulb' sticker on it, but you can see it's going the same way as the bedroom lampholder despite having no shade to impede heat dissipation.
I went to B&Q to get a new socket. There was a choice of three but not one of them had any indication of maximum bulb size, either in the instructions or as a sticker. Total silence. I ended up buying one by MK called simply 'Lampholder (cordgrip)'. I fitted it with a new 100W bulb, and even as I type, it hangs above my head like the sword of Damocles. Who knows when it will melt and come crashing down on my thinning pate.
My questions are:
* Is this normal? Do lampholders have a short lifespan? Are you supposed to replace them when they start to discolour?
* Could these lampholders have been mismarked 60W types?
* Can I determine the max bulb rating of this new unmarked lampholder?