# Two questions about light bulbs



## farmerjohn1324 (Aug 16, 2016)

1. I have a socket under a fan that burns out bulbs in 3 seconds. Why?

2. I have a broken bulb that I can't get out with pliers because it can't grip the glass. What can I do?


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## Sparky617 (Aug 16, 2016)

1. One cause can be excessive vibration.  Try a LED bulb or a rough service bulb.  Does the fan wobble at all?

2. These can be a challenge, I've extricated them with needle nose pliers, jamming the pliers into the bulb and opening the jaws into the socket.  After ensuring the power is off, of course.


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## bud16415 (Aug 16, 2016)

I turn off the power and use needle nose plyers after getting the glass out of the way. Grab the edge of the metal base and twist it getting a small gap between base and socket. Push your pliers in that gap and twist again. It will fold the base in and the threads will get loose and screw right out. 

Why it is blowing so fast I don&#8217;t know. Is there some buzzing before it blows? What type of bulb are you using ? type?


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## farmerjohn1324 (Aug 16, 2016)

Sparky617 said:


> 1. One cause can be excessive vibration.  Try a LED bulb or a rough service bulb.  Does the fan wobble at all?
> 
> 2. These can be a challenge, I've extricated them with needle nose pliers, jamming the pliers into the bulb and opening the jaws into the socket.  After ensuring the power is off, of course.



Yes, it wobbles and that was the problem.


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## shackdweller (Oct 4, 2016)

I have the same problem, although my light bulbs under the ceiling fan do last a bit more than 3 seconds.

I don't know exactly how long they last, but every time I put a new one in, it is not long before it flickers out.

No problem removing the bulbs when this happens, because they do not shatter.

But, It is a very bad situation, because I like to have a working light bulb under my ceiling fan, which I have had, and used from time to time in the past.

It seems like that in the past, I never had this problem before.

Another problem is the change from incandescant light bulbs to ??? what kind are the new light bulbs?

I'm going to start a seperate thread on the subject of present day light bulbs.


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## Mastercarpenty (Oct 9, 2016)

All I'll put in a ceiling fan fixture now are LED bulbs- they are not affected by vibrations. And they're cheap enough when you consider how long they'll last. 

Phil


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