How to unscrew a light bulb if the base is left. How to safely unscrew a light bulb from a false ceiling? Unscrewing a broken base from a light bulb is very simple.

08.03.2020

What could be easier than changing a light bulb in a chandelier or lamp. But often not everything is so simple, the light bulb can break, boil or rust.
Here you need special ways so as not to damage your chandelier or other lighting fixture.

It will not be possible to unequivocally answer why the light bulb does not unscrew, because there may be several reasons.
Perhaps the components of your lamp are not so high quality, unscrupulous manufacturers are trying to reduce the cost of construction, saving in this way on the material or using low-quality materials.
Perhaps the reasons are related to poor electrical contact at the threaded connection.

But what can be advised to try to prevent such problems?

Screw in the light bulbs in terms of power no more than the figure indicated on the lighting device as the maximum, in most cases it is 60W. The rule is more appropriate for incandescent bulbs, since incandescent bulbs of higher power emit more heat and can damage both the lamp and the electrical connection (cartridge)

The light bulb must always be tightly screwed into the cartridge, but when pressed, look for such a position of the light bulb so that it immediately freely and without much effort is screwed into its thread

Do not leave greasy stains on the bulb, this rule is especially important for halogens. It is best to screw in the light bulbs by wrapping the bulb with a thin cloth, in addition, this will protect your fingers if the light bulb bursts.

There are special products in the form of sprays (for example, KONTAKT S61) that can be used to process the connection, socket and thread of the light bulb and maintain reliable electrical contact for many years even in not very favorable conditions, for example, with high humidity. With this tool, you can also treat already slightly rusted contacts by cleaning them. Some experts recommend rubbing the threads with graphite, it can be a piece of brush from an electric motor or a thick pencil.

When starting any work with the lamp, it is necessary to turn off the voltage supply to it. By turning off not only the switch but also the corresponding machine in the shield.

How to unscrew a light bulb

If the bulb is intact but it doesn’t get out and you are afraid that it doesn’t burst, first of all you need to unscrew it by wrapping the flask with a soft cloth. To move the stuck thread, you can use a special spray, it can be "KONTAKT" or maybe WD-shka, in the most extreme case, you can use some kind of alcohol deodorant. It is necessary to puff on the thread and allow time for the substance to seep through the thread, after which the thread should "break".

If the light bulb is broken, and the base remained inside and there was nothing to catch to unscrew it from there. You should immediately remove the protruding pieces of glass so as not to cut yourself.
The most applicable option is to use pliers or round nose pliers. The base of the light bulb remaining inside is bursting from the inside with the sponges of pliers and unscrewed counterclockwise. Or you can use thin pliers to catch the extreme edge of the base and try to unscrew it in this way.
You can also apply softening spray (described above).

Instead of pliers, other items can be used: a screwdriver handle wrapped in a thick cloth, a soft wine crust, a tightly folded piece of paper, or even a piece of a suitable thickness of soap. The main thing here is to open the base from the inside so that you can turn the fixed object.

There is another interesting way in which an ordinary plastic bottle of water or beer can serve as an "unscrewing tool". How it's done? The neck of the bottle is heated with fire until the plastic softens, you can use a lighter. Then the neck is squeezed into the base of the light bulb and held for 10 - 15 seconds. so that the plastic freezes and grabs the base. Then the stuck light bulb is unscrewed.

There are times when the light bulb "tightly" stuck or rusted and none of the methods presented above helps. There is one more radical way. Need pliers with thin jaws.
To begin with, we knock down all the insides in the cartridge so that only metal remains and with the help of pliers we begin to gently crush this metal inward, in different parts in turn and little by little. As a result, a piece of twisted metal will simply fall out of the lamp socket.

You should be careful because this way you can damage the cartridge itself, in addition, if the cartridge was poorly screwed to the lamp leg in the lamp, it can scroll. So during manipulations with the lamp, you need to fix the cartridge itself in your hand and not the lamp.

There is sometimes such a nuisance as beating a light bulb. For many people, removing the base from the chuck is a real headache.

Today I want to give advice on this almost hopeless case. The main thing in this matter is to make sure that the appliance is disconnected from the network. It is necessary to be as careful as possible during the repair of an electrical appliance so as not to receive an electric shock!

Would need

Any plastic bottle (preferably smaller, for convenience).
A heating device (for example, a stove burner).

We unscrew the socket of the broken lamp

So, having taken all precautions, not forgetting to use rubber gloves, let's get to work. It would be nice to first remove the cartridge from the device, for further convenience ... To begin with, we will clean the stuck base from the glass fragments remaining there so as not to cut ourselves during operation. Now we heat the thread of the prepared bottle until the plastic starts to melt and, as quickly as possible, screw the thread straight into the broken base!

Now you need to wait a couple of minutes for the melted plastics inside the base. After cooling, carefully turning the bottle in the right direction, remove the base from the cartridge.

Lighting bulbs are used in almost every room in our home, which help to perform any work in the dark or simply makes spending time in the room much more enjoyable. But there are situations when the lamp burns out and breaks. In such a situation, you get not only an unpleasant scattering of fragments on the floor, but also the remains of a light bulb in the cartridge. Most of the inhabitants who are faced with this immediately look for a way to unscrew a burst light bulb from a cartridge.

Safety first

The first thing to do in such a situation is to ensure the safe execution of work. Do not forget that the lighting device is powered from a 220 V network, and in a broken lamp, current-carrying elements become bare. Therefore, before approaching the cartridge, be sure to remove the voltage.

It should be noted that simply pressing the switch that turned on this particular chandelier is not always enough. Since the switching device may not break the phase circuit, but break zero. This option is only acceptable in situations where you have an indicator screwdriver to verify that there is no potential. Or if you unscrew the light bulb from the cartridge in dielectric gloves.

The best option is to turn off the introductory machine in the apartment. If you have a sectioned power supply by rooms or consumers, you can turn off the desired lamp with a separate machine, leaving all other nodes energized. In the event that the power supply of the entire apartment is turned off, please note that there will be no lighting and there will be nothing to connect to. Therefore, take a portable flashlight or light a candle in advance so as not to cut yourself on the sharp edges of a broken light bulb in the dark.

Ways to remove a broken light bulb

There are several ways in which you can remove the remnants of the light bulb and base from the socket. Choose one specific of them should be based on the current situation and the funds available to you.

Figure 1: light bulb construction

Method number 1. The use of pliers.

The most common way to unscrew a broken light bulb from a cartridge is with pliers, thin-nosed pliers, or other derivatives of this tool. But, this method is relevant in situations where, after breaking the glass bulb, the base protrudes slightly beyond the cartridge, otherwise there is a high probability of damaging the cartridge itself. And you will have to change not only the light bulb, but also the cartridge.

The whole procedure consists of the following actions:

Method number 2. Disassembly of the cartridge.

The best way is to disassemble the cartridge, it allows you to safely remove the stuck base, but this option is not suitable for all models of lamps. Those in which the cartridge is not removable or it is closed by the elements of the chandelier do not allow you to unscrew the burst one by this method. Structurally collapsible models consist of a case and a contact plate, the case can be divided into two parts.

To use this method you will need:

Turn off the voltage at the entrance to the apartment;
Unscrew the case into two halves - as a result, you should have contacts with the lid, and unscrew the shirt with the base and the remains of the light bulb;
After that, you will see that the base is twisted into a sleeve, if it has become attached to it, it should be tucked with thin-nosed pliers, a screwdriver or lightly hit from the back;
Unscrewing the remnants of the light bulb when the cartridge is in your hands is much easier.

Method number 3. Plastic bottle.

If, due to the design features of the lamp or the ceiling, you cannot get the tool to the fragments of the light bulb and remove them, an ordinary plastic bottle and a lighter will help you. The entire extraction process consists of the following steps:

Method number 4. Champagne cork.

This method is suitable for those situations when, when the light bulb was destroyed, the leg (stengel) also fell out of it, or it can be pulled out painlessly.

Rice. 5: Remove leg

As a result, the rest of the bulb will unscrew along with the cork. It should be noted that if glass fragments remain at the edges, they must be removed so as not to damage the fingers during twisting.

Method number 5. We use potatoes.

Almost every home has fresh potatoes. This method is suitable for those cases where sharp glass fragments remain at the edges. Turn off the voltage at the input board first.

You only need to cut the potato in half or in another ratio so that the rest has a cut and fits comfortably in your hand.

Rice. 7. Cut the potatoes

Along the cut line, the potato is carefully put on the leg and planted on glass fragments so that the vegetable sits tightly.

Rice. Step 8: Put a Potato on a Light Bulb

It is then used as a handle to unscrew the remains of the bulb from the socket.

Rice. 9: bulb in potato

It should be noted that it is not necessary to pre-wash or soak the potato. Since it will become slippery and a tightly seated base may not succumb. The potato itself is already wet at the cut point, so after twisting, be sure to wipe all surfaces and wait for them to dry before screwing in the light bulb, reapply voltage and turn on the light.

Another potato can be replaced with a piece of laundry soap, but, depending on its consistency and shape, a bar may not be suitable to unscrew a broken light bulb.

Video instructions

Sometimes people are witness to lighting lamps exploding, regardless of their category. There are several reasons for this phenomenon. Let's now find out why light bulbs burst?

Possible causes of the explosion

It is possible that short, but at the same time, powerful power surges occur in the network. Most often this can occur in new buildings, where electricians install a network with excess voltage.
An ordinary 220W lamp may not withstand. The result is overheating and increased pressure, provoking an explosion. Therefore, it is better to purchase at 240 watts.
If you use halogen lamps, you should be careful buying Chinese-made ones, as they are mostly sold in poor quality with uneven, damaged bases and defective glass bulbs.
Incorrectly selected lamp and poor contact with the cartridge.
The absence of a fuse in the flask.
Increased indoor humidity.
Sudden temperature changes. Most often this happens with simple lamps with a tungsten filament.
Old switches that are unable to reduce the voltage to the lamp at the moment it is turned on. In this case, replace them with rheostat ones.

What to do

If a similar incident occurred in your house, and the base remained in the cartridge, do not try to unscrew it with your own hands. Since the cartridges of imported lighting devices come in a monolithic structure, unlike the old model.

At night, to dismantle the lighting device, you must use a flashlight or a mobile phone. Ask a family member or neighbor to shine a light on you.

It happens that the light bulb either burst or separated from the base. In these cases, you can unscrew the cartridge skirt, remove the base of the damaged lamp and screw the cartridge back.

But in a monolithic version, this is not easy to do. If you think that it is enough just to turn off the light using the switch, then according to the safety rules, when the light bulb bursts, this is unacceptable. At the moment, the phase voltage in the cartridge may still be present.

Turn off the switch first. To unscrew the cartridge in order to remove the base, it is necessary with needle-nosed pliers with dielectric handles or pliers.

This will protect you from glass cut and electric shock. You can use paper napkins at the same time so that the glass does not fall on your face.

Sometimes you have to carry out this procedure on lamps located high under the ceiling. To unscrew the cartridge, if the light bulb has burst, use a stepladder. In this case, someone must be present nearby and help you.

Using ordinary pliers, we remove the remains of the lamp from the cartridge, clasping only the base with them. Since, hitting the glass, you can drop the fragments on yourself. We do everything carefully, trying not to damage the cartridge.

In the event that the lamp burst in a table lamp, simply unplug the cord from the network.

Folk methods

Yes, it's the people. Do not be surprised, craftsmen will always be found in any business. What to do if a light bulb bursts and how to remove it without resorting to the services of a specialist? True, all these methods are applicable to conventional old-style lamps.

Method 1. Using a plastic bottle. Heat its neck over a candle or lighter. Insert it into the cartridge and wait until it cools down. We are waiting for the plastic to seize and slowly unscrew the damaged lamp.

Method 2. The easiest and safest. Cut a medium sized potato in half. We put it on the remains of the lamp and calmly remove it.

Method 3. This applies to light bulbs with a small base. These are commonly used in carob chandeliers.

We twist any newspaper into a dense, rigid tourniquet. We insert it into the base and slowly remove it, while holding the ceiling with one hand so as not to damage it.

Method 4. We use a dry cork from a wine bottle. We put it on fragments and slowly remove it.

All of the above methods are suitable if you suddenly do not have a special tool at hand. But, this is in case the light bulb base has not melted and has not stuck to the cartridge. Then you definitely can't do without a tool.

Important! For any manipulations with lighting devices, it is always necessary to de-energize them first.

Photo tips on how to unscrew a burst light bulb from a cartridge

The situation when the light bulb bursts or when unscrewing the base remains in the cartridge has happened to many. There is a solution to the problem and different methods, how to unscrew the base of the light bulb from the cartridge, are enough. The reasons for this situation are most often: poor quality of the lamp, voltage drop, exhaustion of the lamp life, burnout.

Solutions to the problem

If the light bulb exploded, and its base remained in the cartridge, or this was the result of unsuccessful unscrewing, there is no need to panic. The first action, before trying different methods, is to turn off the switch on the shield and turn off the power to the room. If this is not done, then there is a risk of electric shock. When such a nuisance happened to a table lamp, then it is enough to pull out its plug from the socket.

Expert opinion

Alexey Bartosh

Ask an expert

Important! When you have to remove the base from the cartridge at night, you should get an assistant with a flashlight that would highlight the whole process.

Thick rubber gloves and goggles are mandatory protection

Preparatory procedures:

Appropriate equipment. Properly pull out the remains, wearing thick rubber gloves, goggles. A headgear will be needed if the lamp is placed under the ceiling or high on the wall.
If the flask burst, then its fragments must first be swept up.
If trouble has occurred with a fluorescent lamp, then the first thing to do is to open the windows, since such a device contains mercury vapor inside, then sweep away the fragments.
It is advisable to substitute a container under the base or spread a cloth so that the fragments do not fall on the floor.
Even after turning off the machine, you should check the presence of voltage with a screwdriver-indicator. If the light bulb in it lights up, then it is better not to try to remove the base yourself, it is better to contact an electrician.

If the lamp burst while the light was on, you should wait a couple of minutes before unscrewing it, as the base will be quite hot.

Pliers or thin nose pliers

The first way to resort to this is the use of pliers or thin-nosed pliers. The latter are more convenient due to the fact that they have thin elongated "sponges" that can get into many hard-to-reach places. They are very handy for capturing small details. Including separating the base from the cartridge will not be difficult.

Using needle nose pliers

Expert opinion

Alexey Bartosh

Specialist in the repair, maintenance of electrical equipment and industrial electronics.

Ask an expert

Important! The handles of thin nose pliers should be rubber or plastic. If such a tool is not at hand, an extreme case is to wrap the handles with electrical tape in several balls.

Procedure:

Remove glass debris, if any.
Next, grab the base with a tool, twisting it outward. The ceiling of the lamp must be held so that it does not come off. When doing this, it is important not to damage the circumference of the cartridge.
If the base does not lend itself, you can gently bend its sides inward, and then unscrew it.

In the process, the base may begin to tear or deform, this is not scary, it will even be easier to remove it, the main thing is that it does not damage the cartridge.

If you can’t grab the edges, you can try another option - place the thin-nosed pliers inside the base and push the ends so that they rest against the side walls. You need to turn counterclockwise.

If there are no tools at hand, then you can resort to using improvised means. The procedure is as follows:

Pull out the rest of the glass, they will interfere.
Take a plastic bottle. The volume does not matter - the necks are all the same.
Remove the lid and heat the neck until the plastic begins to melt. This can be done with a lighter or candle.
Insert the neck into the base, wait until the plastic has cooled.
Get the plinth.

Twisting with a plastic bottle

With hot plastic, you should act carefully, because if it drips onto the skin, the burn will be very strong. The floor covering also needs to be protected at least by laying paper on it. With this method, the risk of electric shock is minimal. You can find recommendations that it is not necessary to de-energize the device. This is not true - any actions must be performed with the machine turned off.

The method is simple, although it does not always help. To do this, it is necessary that pieces of glass stick out of the base, in this case they do not need to be removed. To implement the method you need:

Cut a fairly large potato (raw) in half and separate its parts. They must be clean and dry.
Put a potato on the fragments so that they firmly crash into the pulp.
It remains only to unscrew the base from the cartridge.

Throw away potatoes after use. Other fruits and vegetables will not help, as their flesh is not as dense.

Potato will help unscrew the base

We unscrew the cartridge

The essence of the method is to disassemble the cartridge itself. True, this can only be done with carbolite cartridges, which are installed in old lighting fixtures from the times of the USSR. Ceramic, which are mainly used in modern chandeliers, are not intended for such disassembly. Let's get back to disassembling the cartridge. It consists of the following parts:

2 carbolite halves.
Threaded connection.
Ceramic core with brass contacts.

One of the halves contains a metal sleeve, where the base is screwed into. To remove the base, separate the base. It remains only to unscrew the base, already familiar thin-nosed pliers will help with this. After extraction, the cartridge should be collected and can be used again.

We use cork

To implement this method, you need a cork stopper. It needs to be adjusted to the size of the base. When the cork has become tightly into it, you should carefully unscrew it along with the stuck element of the light bulb.

Cork twisting

If there are pieces of glass left, then you can string a cork on them. In this case, it is necessary to achieve their dense recession into a soft cortical surface.

other methods

There are many other ways, including:

Newspaper or dry rag. It is most convenient to twist with a newspaper. It must be tightly twisted, inserted into the cartridge and unscrew the base.
Special means. There is a special tool designed to screw in bases without lamps. It looks like a big clothespin. You can buy this in online stores of Chinese goods.
Scissors. De-energize the lamp, insert the scissors into the base, and open them so that their sharp edges rest against the stuck element, unscrew.
Cut the base, twisting the pieces inward. Having done such manipulations, it will not be difficult to pull it out.

Special tools for unscrewing the plinth

In the old Soviet ones, the skirt is unscrewed, and then the base is unscrewed without any problems. On modern imported ones, you can unscrew it with pliers, on a de-energized lamp. If the base is stuck and does not spin, then simply bend it inward in several places, and it falls out on its own. The plinth bent inward in several places is convenient to take with pliers.

What to do if the light bulb is just stuck in the cartridge

All of the above methods are suitable if the light bulb is not stuck, but simply burst. An option is to unscrew the cartridge from the chandelier. If this method cannot be implemented, then you will have to break the glass part of the lamp and use one of the options proposed above. To prevent pieces of glass from flying in different directions, before breaking, you should substitute any suitable container under the light bulb.

You can find advice to use a spray like WD-40 or "KONTAKT". But there is a risk that even with the machines turned off, the device will be dangerous. At the same time, it will not work to check whether there is a phase, since the lamp has become attached. The only way when it is absolutely safe to use such a spray is to remove the chandelier completely, disconnecting it from the power cables.

Conclusion

You can unscrew the base if it is stuck in the cartridge in different ways. The most important thing is to take precautions and turn off the power to the luminaire before starting work.