2 Ceiling Lights, 1 Switch, 1 Bulb goes Pop

My girlfriend recently moved into an old house that was previously an HMO. Apparently not long before she bought it, it was rewired by the owner as part of their landlord obligations.

In the living room their are two pendant ceiling lights controlled from one wall switch. Both had old style filament bulbs fitted. When she turned the lights on, one of bulbs went pop and shot out across the room. She replaced this with low energy bulb but this only glowed very dimly. She then swapped that out for another filament bulb which again went pop straight away. Out of bulbs at this point she put the low energy bulb back in and put up with the very low output. The other filament bulb seems happy enough shining brightly.

I'm over there at the weekend and hope to get time to take a look. Any idea what might be causing this?

Thanks

If it's rented I would report back to the letting agent / landlord and get them to have an electrician take a look, if not rented then get an electrician to come take a look.


For it to violently blow a lamp under normal operating voltage is weird, when the incandescent lamps are old the bond between the glass of the globe and the metal base sometimes cracks and the globe comes loose but even so, arcing would be the only way I would expect that kind of force to occur.

If you are competent yourself, give the pendant a visual for signs of arcing or damage on the contacts, you could get an approved voltage tester (https://www.screwfix.com/p/megger-tpt320-2-pole-voltage-tester/9738p or similar, cheaper models are available) on the fitting and determine what's what. You might also isolate the circuit and prove dead then replace the pendant which is not a difficult job, this would take poor electrical contact out of the equation.

I've got my trusty voltage tester and am hoping to take a look this weekend. Recently swapped out a couple of nearly new pendants at my place for some downlighters so I'll take them with me as well.
My money is on a loose connection and I'll post back with findings.

Are they cheap lamps?

I have seen some in my time that would not be out of place being demonstrated to Bond by Q.....

Were these low energy lamps lying around the house? (And the filament lamps)? ES holders by any chance? Just wondering whether the filament lamps are 110v left over from any refurbing done or (since it was an HMO) from the old emergency lighting & the low energy lamp one of the old folded fluorescent ones (I've got an ancient one, it is very dim, I'll put an LED in one day...).

Gammy leg said:

I've got my trusty voltage tester

Click to expand...

What sort is it?

There are a number of types which are anything but trusty.

Fundamental question - is it a 2-pole one?