A light bulb blew in my son's ceiling fan. When my husband went to replace it the bulb shattered and the silver metal surrounding it, flakes off when we try to untwist the bulb. The metal is almost like foil now and when you try and turn the base of the bulb it will not budge. If you try to turn it with a tool, the metal just breaks. Please advise.:rolleyes: :confused:

I've heard of using half a potato, with the power off course. Otherwise you can simply remove and replace the entire socket.

From what you've described, you may have had the wrong wattage bulb (too high) in the socket - most are designed for 60 watts or less. If this is the case, you may also have 'cooked' the wires to the socket and probably need to replace the entire socket - they are available at most better hardware stores. Check the other wiring while replacing the socket - if anything else in there looks burnt or if the insulation is brittle, replace the entire fan.

Yes, the potato trick, with the power off, works. You can also put on gardening gloves and get it out. Again with the power off.

The potato method only works if there is glass shards left protruding from the socket. If all the glass is broken down to the socket base, you can use a pair of needle nose pliers inserted into the socket and spread them out so the points of the pliers grip inside the lamp base.

There are lamp removal tools for this task, nothing much more than a tapered flat metal, for the various size sockets available, with teeth on each side to grip the inside of the lamp base.

Of course, safety first:

Be sure the power is off to the light fixture, and stays off until you are done.

WEAR SAFETY GLASSES, the inside of the lamp base will still have glass breaking out, and other debris that can injure eyes.

If there is any damage to the lamp socket, it will need to be replaced.

Inspect the lamp socket carefully before restoring power, any short due to damage or left over debris will cause a spark shower.

A handy tip for any screw in lamp is to spray a small amount of WD-40, or equivalent, on the lamp base, will prevent the lamp from getting stuck and allow easy removal later.

This problem has happened to me. I removed the ceiling fan and laid it on the floor. Assuming you have NO power to the light at this point, take needlenose pliers or thin lipped sheetmetal pliers and work the aluminum casing out of the light. With it down, and a little patience, you should be able to remove all the fragments. Good Luck!