Electrician help - 1 recessed ceiling light keeps blowing bulbs, others OK

God save us from all the police. From now on I'll just call black powder "sulfur". :tongue:

As an engineer sometimes we're called on to give expert testimony in court trials. I've never done it, but a co-worker of mine did once, and our boss told him a story to remind him to stay on his toes. There was a trial where a lawyer ripped apart an "expert" engineer because he used the word cement instead of concrete.

This thread, however, isn't the courtroom, so I think we can let this one slide. Just don't spell anything wrong or we can jump all over it.

My father was a structural engineer. He did extensive work on "concrete pressure" in formwork. He would cringe when someone would use the word "cement" when referring to concrete and that made a lasting impression upon me. After I got out of the Army, I went to work in an architectural firm as a draftsman. Had I ever affixed the word "cement" upon any detail where "concrete" was being noted I would have been fired by the chief draftsman.

Many framing carpenters use the word "Cornish" when they actually mean "cornice". Since many rocket folk seem to be sticklers for accuracy I pointed out this misnomer by George. I'm sure if I am in error someone here will educate me. Don't take it personal.

I feel that casual conversation is far different than than giving testimony in court and when dealing in technical accuracy in the professional workplace. Given it is listed as an alternative term for concrete in a dictionary, I see no issue with using the word cement as a substitute for concrete in casual conversation.

Language use and meaning evolves over time.

If you want to blame someone for this one, go back in time to the 1960s and hammer on the writers of the Beverly Hillbillies for having Jethro refer to their pool as the "cee-ment pond" about 2000 times during the show....

OK, so I finally got an LED light bulb:



Yeah….. not really. While cleaning up the workshop, I ran across something I’d made up in October. Michaels had a plastic clear lightbulb that came apart so things could be put inside of it. I decided to use a couple of spare bright LED elements that I had gotten for my bicycle’s lighting system and make it up into a bulb that could be seen as lit up in daytime, using 12V. Just for fun, not serious use. Though the next time there is a night launch, this would make for a nice "nose cone" assembly.

BTW - the troublesome ceiling light fixture is still going (with bulb extender and 100 Watt equivalent CFL). Total on time of about 14 hours so far (turned it off overnight).

- George Gassaway

Glade things are working out for you George!

tmacklin said:

My father was a structural engineer. He did extensive work on "concrete pressure" in formwork. He would cringe when someone would use the word "cement" when referring to concrete and that made a lasting impression upon me. After I got out of the Army, I went to work in an architectural firm as a draftsman. Had I ever affixed the word "cement" upon any detail where "concrete" was being noted I would have been fired by the chief draftsman.

Many framing carpenters use the word "Cornish" when they actually mean "cornice". Since many rocket folk seem to be sticklers for accuracy I pointed out this misnomer by George. I'm sure if I am in error someone here will educate me. Don't take it personal.

Click to expand...

Along that vein, you may or may not remember the controversy that sparked up after I used the verb "lathe" correctly, and many of the people who make their own nosecones on a lathe started giving me flack about not using the verb "turning" for the process of creating parts. Both are correct usages, and Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame uses the term "lathe" too.

tmacklin said:

Many framing carpenters use the word "Cornish" when they actually mean "cornice". Since many rocket folk seem to be sticklers for accuracy I pointed out this misnomer by George. I'm sure if I am in error someone here will educate me. Don't take it personal.

Click to expand...

Some finish and trip carpenters I worked with used to call it wainscot, but that one time I actually meant Wayne's coat, he left it at the job site

McKailas Dad said:

Some finish and trip carpenters I worked with used to call it wainscot, but that one time I actually meant Wayne's coat, he left it at the job site

Click to expand...

See and I call wainscot an indoor paneling treatment on walls, and cornice can be used interchangeably with crown moulding.

[video=youtube;RI_ztvGbj70]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI_ztvGbj70[/video]

It is what it is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete


And George, I'm glad you fixed your lighting problem without being electrocuted or falling off of a stepladder.

[video=youtube;aPB3nCIYdmo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPB3nCIYdmo[/video]

Both words in one sketch!!!

rharshberger said:

See and I call wainscot an indoor paneling treatment on walls, and cornice can be used interchangeably with crown moulding.

Click to expand...

Well, it lasted a week. But the 100W CFL bulb has died. I know it was working Saturday, and think it was working Sunday afternoon.

The socket inside the fixture itself is loose, compared to the other ceiling fixtures.

So, no more CPR, no heroic measures, it's a DNR, so I"m calling it: Dead fixture.

Will do without it, just not important enough to ju$tify an electrician to replace it, and I'm not going to risk a fall to try to replace it myself.

But again, thanks for the info.

- George Gassaway

Wise move. Some things just aren't worth the risk of the money.

I'd be concerned about a the possible fire hazard if it's left LIVE without a bulb in it.

Woody's Workshop said:

I'd be concerned about a the possible fire hazard if it's left LIVE without a bulb in it.

Click to expand...

Good point. FWIW, I am leaving it like it is, dead bulb and all. Indeed I'd have to climb the not-tall-enough-to-be-safe stepladder again to even remove it, and that is a fall risk every time (The bulb-changing pole cannot handle this one).

I saw no point in removing it since it was either the fix worked long term or I was done with it.

I'm done with it.