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    toriann1998's Avatar
    toriann1998 Posts: 6, Reputation: 1
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    #1

    Jul 16, 2011, 06:20 PM
    What happened: light bulb flash and ALL electricity in the room goes off?
    I saw a flash, then ALL electricity went off!
    toriann1998's Avatar
    toriann1998 Posts: 6, Reputation: 1
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    #2

    Jul 16, 2011, 06:24 PM

    Better description: I was doing something to a light and I saw a bright flash, I looked back and all the electricity in my room went out.
    stanfortyman's Avatar
    stanfortyman Posts: 5,598, Reputation: 279
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    #3

    Jul 16, 2011, 06:26 PM

    Breaker tripped?
    Wire shorted?

    What "something" were you doing to the switch?
    toriann1998's Avatar
    toriann1998 Posts: 6, Reputation: 1
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    #4

    Jul 16, 2011, 06:38 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by stanfortyman View Post
    Breaker tripped?
    Wire shorted?

    What "something" were you doing to the switch??

    Well its my closet light and I was well, sad to say I was messing around, (It requires 2 light bulbs and I only had one cause it was really bright then) but I put in a smaller light that didn't belong and turned the switch on to see if it would work, it had a flash, and the metal part of the flash light burned and ALL of the electricity in my room went off.
    stanfortyman's Avatar
    stanfortyman Posts: 5,598, Reputation: 279
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    #5

    Jul 16, 2011, 06:39 PM

    You tripped a breaker or blew a fuse.
    Fix the short circuit problem you created and reset the breaker.
    DO NOT work on it live.
    toriann1998's Avatar
    toriann1998 Posts: 6, Reputation: 1
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    #6

    Jul 16, 2011, 06:40 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by stanfortyman View Post
    You tripped a breaker or blew a fuse.
    Fix the short circuit problem you created and reset the breaker.
    DO NOT work on it live.
    But it IS fixable?
    Fr_Chuck's Avatar
    Fr_Chuck Posts: 81,301, Reputation: 7692
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    #7

    Jul 16, 2011, 06:45 PM

    Anything is fixable, a new fuse, a new breaker, a bad plug, you shorted some wire that will need to be found and fixed.

    You have to start looking and finding the problems,
    1. did you fix the first thing you were working on, when there was a flash.

    2. have you checked the breakers or fuses, is all of the power out throughout the entire house or just that circuit
    toriann1998's Avatar
    toriann1998 Posts: 6, Reputation: 1
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    #8

    Jul 16, 2011, 06:46 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck View Post
    Anything is fixable, a new fuse, a new breaker, a bad plug, you shorted some wire that will need to be found and fixed.

    You have to start looking and finding the problems,
    1. did you fix the first thing you were working on, when there was a flash.

    2. have you checked the breakers or fuses, is all of the power out thoughout the entire house or just that circuit
    I haven't done anything because I do not know what to do haha.:D
    But how long will that take? DO you have an estimate?
    stanfortyman's Avatar
    stanfortyman Posts: 5,598, Reputation: 279
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    #9

    Jul 16, 2011, 06:55 PM

    There is NO WAY for us to tell since we are not there seeing what happened. Could be 2 minutes, could be an hour. Could be something really wrong. No way to know.

    Definitely check where you saw the spark and see if there is anything obvious. I bet there is.

    I get the feeling you really don't know anything about this type of work. You may be best off having someone come in and check things out. Troubleshooting is not something you can be taught by remote control, and we don't have a crystal ball to tell you what you did wrong. Sorry.
    donf's Avatar
    donf Posts: 5,679, Reputation: 582
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    #10

    Jul 17, 2011, 03:45 AM

    Congratulations, you have just earned the, "Don't mess around" merit badge.

    I've seen this before.

    Start by resetting the breaker. Then start replacing light bulbs. Get the correct bulb and begin there first.

    In a another home we were in, one bathroom bulb arced and took all of the others with it.

    I had to replace four bulbs in the same fixture and reset the breaker before I got lights back on.
    Stratmando's Avatar
    Stratmando Posts: 11,188, Reputation: 508
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    #11

    Jul 17, 2011, 06:41 AM

    I would look inside the socket that had the small bulb, if burnt beyond use, disconnect or replace, you may only want to use 1 bulb to save electricity.
    toriann1998's Avatar
    toriann1998 Posts: 6, Reputation: 1
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    #12

    Jul 17, 2011, 01:00 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by donf View Post
    Congratulations, you have just earned the, "Don't mess around" merit badge.

    I've seen this before.

    Start by resetting the breaker. Then start replacing light bulbs. Get the correct bulb and begin there first.

    In a another home we were in, one bathroom bulb arced and took all of the others with it.

    I had to replace four bulbs in the same fixture and reset the breaker before I got lights back on.
    We fixed it, and thanks
    donf's Avatar
    donf Posts: 5,679, Reputation: 582
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    #13

    Jul 17, 2011, 05:45 PM

    Would you please tell us what you did to fix the problem.
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