Changing a light bulb?

Why do you have to switch the light off before changing the bulb?





I know youre meant to, but basically in our house theres 2 downstairs hall lights and 2 upstairs and lots of light switches, i cant figure out which is for which one as several of the lights arent working and some of the downstairs switches operate the upstairs lights!! If i just switch them all so theyre in an off position will i be ok? I feel so stupid asking this..|||Dont worry about it just change them..You wont get shocked less you put your fingers in the socket.Ya dont need to turn the power off.|||Turn the main switch off, then you%26#039;re bound to get the right one.|||Because when you put the bulb back in and the switch is on, it could blow the bulb and you%26#039;d be back to square one again|||As long as you don%26#039;t put your fingers in the socket, you should be safe. With two way switches it%26#039;s really hard to know for sure if it%26#039;s off. Just be careful when you%26#039;re replacing the bulb and you should be fine.|||There is a slight chance that u could have a electric shock or electrocuted if you don%26#039;t turn of the switch 1st.But that is only if you have dodgy wiring throughout your house|||that should be fine.


as long as you%26#039;re just changing the bulb and not the whole fixture, even if the switch were in the on position all that would happen is that the light might come on as you%26#039;re screwing it in.|||yes.and i dont always turn the light switch off before changing my lightbulbs when i put the bulb in the light just goes on.|||its in case you are stupid enough to put either your finger or some other object in the hole!





you can quite easily change the bulb with the power on i do it all the time








one thing to take care of is the heat





a 100 watt bulb will be too hot to hold in about 2 seconds so if its not locked in home correctly you will either burn yourself or drop the bulb!|||The problem with shutting them in the off position is it sounds like you have 2 way light switches so the off position might be the on posistion for that switch. As long as you do not put yoru fingure or anything else in the light socket then you are alright putting a bulb in a hot circuite just do not jump or flinch and use a rage or something to hole the light bulb.|||Wear rubber soled shoes/slippers and hold a broom whilst putting in the new lightbulb. That is what I would do anyway to conduct the electricity away from me.





I have put a light bulb in with switch on before without holding the broom, think I was wearing slippers though and I survived, as soon as element touches you will know it is on with little spark of light, just turn light off before you screw it in fully.





If it was a real danger, there would be a big warning on outside of the box, as where theres a blame there is a claim !|||Switching the light off at the light switch before changing the light bulb is for personal safety. Failure to switch off the power supply to the light bulb socket, could lead to electric shock. While this may not cause death, it might lead to injury, especially if a person changing the bulb was using a pair of steps or standing on a chair. An electric shock could cause them to fall.





YouTube - Tazer - cops use tazer to shock suspect to the ground


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmoz3zF4T鈥?/a>





Of course you are unlikely to have the above happen changing a light bulb, but you just can%26#039;t be too careful.





Stay tooned.|||Check the right bulbs that need replacement by switching all . Then go to the mains and switch it off.


Now change the bulbs, and swtch on the mains.|||Suggest you use some protection in case the bulb %26#039;explodes%26#039; i.e. gloves and eye protection|||its to avoid any nasty accident|||It sounds like you have some three way switches which are typically used on stairways so the lights can be turned on from either end of the stairs. I am assuming these lights all have standard medium screw A-lamps in which case there is no reason to turn the power off to the circuit - just unscrew the light bulb and replace it without sticking your fingers in the lamp socket.





When they all work, take a few minutes to figure out which lights are controlled by which switches and which circuit on your breaker panel so that if one gets broken, you can be sure that the power is off before you extract what%26#039;s left of the light bulb.





Good luck!|||I know what you%26#039;re saying about %26quot;supposed to%26quot; turn the switch off first, and I assume that this is a safety measure, but I have changed bulbs before without doing so-being very careful not to touch anything other that the bulb and I%26#039;m still here, never having been shocked! I am a housewife, not an electrician, and am only speaking from expeience, not electrical knowledge. Good luck!|||No problem, just change the bulb %26amp; keep your digits out of the socket. A cloth around the new bulb will protect your fingers. Once in a looooong while a defective bulb will break when first lit.|||I understand your probelm perfectly well as I have the same problem. When you push the new bulb up to the light fitting if the light is switched on the bulb will light up even though you have not yet fitted the bulb properly. Just pull the bulb away and turn the switch off and then continue. I%26#039;m not an electrician but the only problem that I have had if I have tried to fit a light bulb when the switch is on is that the bulb gets hot if it takes a while for you to fit the bulb.





Other than this you can turn your electric off at the mains and fit the bulb during day light hours or if it is in an awkward place away from natural light you could use a torch to help you.|||being an electrician i would highly recommend turning the light circuit off at the fuse board. the reason for this is if you are on the ladder and you touch the positive terminal of the light fitting and get a shock you could fall off the ladder and kill yourself