Can a burnt 3-way bulb fail and trip the breaker? I was away on vacation with a timer on the light in question and when I came home the breaker that powers the circuit was dead and the 3-way bulb was burnt out. I replaced the bulb and all is fine now.

A couple of weeks ago, I might have said no. I just had a multi single filament bulb chandelier do it to me. I turned it on, there was a flash and a pop, and it went out. Replaced a couple of bulbs, reset the breaker, and everything was fine. I was verycareful to have the power off while I was replacing the bulbs. I have been around turning light on a long time and never remember it happening before.

Thanks for the info. Sure is strange though. I found a post on a different web page where they said that when the filament breaks it may remake contact through a shorter length of filament causing the bright flash, drawing more current, and triping the breaker??