No Downstairs Light

[DJCopa]

Hello There.

We had a blown bulb in our kitchen, which I replaced. However, on flicking light switch ON, bulb blew and blue sparks flashed. Checked Fuse Board, and 5amp wire fuse had blown. Powered off ALL electrics at board, and removed fuse - Black scorching is in the fuse holder. Replaced 5Amp fuse wire, and powered electrics back on. Checked other 2 main lights downstairs but no joy. Replaced bulbs, but still nothing. Powered electrics OFF again, and checked original faulty light fitting - Looked OK, but as it had blown I replaced this with a new fitting (all cables appear intact). Tried lights again, but still no joy - Fuse is in place and new fuse wire is still OK.
Is there anything I can check before calling an electrian out?

 

[Diyisfun]

It may be that your lighting is not on a ring circuit & a wire has broke or become disconnected at the bulb holder.
I would remove the fuse & have a look at the wiring on the fitting that original gave the problem. I do also think perhaps you should get a sparks in to look at the wiring.

 

[DJCopa]

Cheers for the quick reply - Very impressed!

I have already replaced the bulb holder fitting, but wondered if this would stop the other lights on same circuit to work?

Think you are right about getting a proper 'sparky' in - Just wondered if there was an obvious cause.

Thanks for your comments.

 

[JohnD]

Have a look at the nearest light fitting to your fusebox. With luck it will be the first one on the circuit (lighting circuits are run in a string, not a ring - like beads on a necklace - and the supply runs from one to the next.

So all connections and supply must be good at the first lamp in order for supply to go to the second lamp. All connections must be good at the second lamp in order to supply the third lamp, and so on.

It is possible that the surge from the lamp failure damaged an old and poor connection.

The connections are in the ceiling rose (usually, but sometimes in a junction box which mat be out of sight in the ceiling). They are generally not at the bulbholder.

You mention rewirable fuses, these are a sign of an old installations, so you may find you can't fix it yourself. You will need a multimeter (not a neon screwdriver!) to fault-find.

 

[DJCopa]

I really appreciate all your thoughts on this!

I will check out the light fitting in the front room, as this would be the first one off the fusebox. If no joy, will get the electrian in.

As you have said, our Fusebox is pretty old, and we were looking at getting it upgraded - Maybe a good time to do it!

Thanks again for all your input.

 

[didthathurt]

I've just been to a very similar problem today - the wiring entering the connector blocks above the fitting had suffered a lot of heat damage to the point that they were no longer providing adequate insulation between the live and neutral and had started to cause heat damage to the blocks themselves. You may well be advised to have a very good look at the wiring above your fitting (I was alerted by a very low insulation resistance reading on that circuit.)

 

[Spark123]

Check the fuse with a multimeter set to ohms range too, the smaller gauge fuse wire can have a tendancy to snap when you tighten the screws .

 

[ricicle]

You beat me to it 123

Ricicle

 

[DJCopa]

Cheers Gents (& Ladies?)

I've got a friend coming round who used to be an electrian, a few years back. He will be able to check out the Fuse Ohms value, and has kindly offered to look at the fitting itself.

Really appreciate the friendly and prompt advice - Not all forums are as helpful as this!

A++++