The lightbulb in my hallway ceiling fixture stopped working. When I tried to replace it the light bulb came off in my hand but the base is still in the ceiling fixture.

Any way to get the base out without electrocuting myself?

Unfortunately my breaker boxes are not marked and I have no idea which breaker controls this hallway.

Or is my only choice to locate the breaker, whatever that takes?

The only way to successfully get the bulb base out without getting "zapped" is to make sure that the power is off.

Unfortunately, if you don't know which breaker controls your hallway light, you will have to kill the power to the whole place.

You can do this by shutting off the Main breaker (the big one at the very top of the box marked "Main").

Once you've shut all the power off, you can grab the bulb base with needle nose pliers and unscrew it. You can also try the "potato trick" if you don't have pliers.

Technically you should not have power to the light if the hall light switch is off. THIS IS NOT ALWAYS THE CASE.
Sometimes, things are not wired to code. The light may have power before the switch. In this case, the light will still go off when you shut the light switch off, but you will still get shocked if you touch the light socket.
I hope this helps. :-)
62fender

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Originally Posted by 62fender

The only way to successfully get the bulb base out without getting "zapped" is to make sure that the power is off.

Unfortunately, if you don't know which breaker controls your hallway light, you will have to kill the power to the whole place.

You can do this by shutting off the Main breaker (the big one at the very top of the box marked "Main").

Once you've shut all the power off, you can grab the bulb base with needle nose pliers and unscrew it. You can also try the "potato trick" if you don't have pliers.

Technically you should not have power to the light if the hall light switch is off. THIS IS NOT ALWAYS THE CASE.
Sometimes, things are not wired to code. the light may have power before the switch. In this case, the light will still go off when you shut the light switch off, but you will still get shocked if you touch the light socket.
I hope this helps. :-)
62fender

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I have called a friend to come over and shut the power down. He has a concern because I have a whole house generator and isn't quite sure how this changes things but he's going to give me a hand.

Thanks for the info -

If the lamp is wired correctly, shutting off the switch will kill the power to the socket. It's still a good idea to shut off power at the circuit panel.

I seriously doubt that shutting off a circuit will affect the whole-house generator at all.

My neighbor shut off the power and the generator went on. So much for that idea and I'm not sure he's not going to blow my house up while attempting to keep me from electrocuting myself.

What's the potato trick?

Okay, I didn't think to ask if you had a backup generator that comes on automatically.
If you can't shut off electrical panel & generator at the same time (you should be able to), use a circuit tester (test light), while your helper shuts off the breakers one by one.

The potato trick is: skin a potato, and whittle down the end to fit inside the fixture socket.
Press the potato into the bulb base, and unscrew while applying slight pressure.

Only try this if you are sure the power is off!