Ok guys a non auto question. My recessed lighting in my kitchen is activing weird. One of the four flood lights keeps blowing. I put a normal bulb in the socket that keeps blowing the flood lights and it works ok(doesn't blow). Everytime i plug a new phillips 65 watt flood bulb in there it blows. I am lost. What do you guys think? Thanks

What I know being a plumber,1 what is the max wattage of the fixture,2 if this is an old construction light fixture is it the correct fixture if in the attic it needs to be the type that insulation can be against it if not the fixture will heat up and keep shutting off,blow the light bulb,or potentially could cause a fire,3 did a licensed electrician do it or a plumber he could have put a basement type fixture in the attic. are all four lights on the same switch, do they all appear to be the same fixture.There are allot of questions before it can be determined but the answers will help an electrician come to a conclusion..

Hi Doug...
As David said...it may be the insulation overheating the bulb. If nothing has changed, as far as the insulation, it can be a bad bulb socket. Try taking one of the bulbs from a good fixture and see if it blows in that one. If it does, your best bet is to change the fixture. I assume all the recesed lights are on the same circuit and use the same wall switch.

Kev

My wife works in lighting studio and hears this alot, but it varies as to the cause. As mentioned the box above could be overheating or a wire has come loose in one of those twisty plastic caps or the socket has worn or let go of a solder. Check all those out, then to save money and get more light, use halogen 50watt bulbs in them instead. They might look funny since they are smaller and dont take up the whole fixture but they throw down alot more light with less heat and less wattage is cheaper to run :)

Don't those cans come with thermal cut off switches? At least some of them? Put in a bulb, when it "blows", take the bulb out and put it into another can and see if it still works. It could be as stated above, the can itself is over heating and the thermal shutdown device is activating.

Could be nothing more than a faulty thermal cutoff switch.

alan

If it is the thermal cut-out that shouldnt make the bulb blow, did you try the "bad" bulb in another fixture ? Also if the thermal cut-out is cutting out from overheating it should reset after a few minutes.

Thats a good idea about the thermal, some have them some don't, but if it has one and has insulation packed around it it will "trip", and then reset when it cools. Or it could be a bad thermal, I've seen that too. All that can be checked by moving the lamp from that can to another and see if it works.
So, how long does it usually last? is it immediate or does it just not last long?

The home was built in 2004. All 4 lights are on the same switch. They are 65 watt flood bulbs. Here is how it started. I turned the lights on one day and the bulb blew in that particular socket. I waited a few days to change it because i had to borrow my brothers bulb tool to change it(vaulted ceilings so the lamp is way up there). I changed the bulb with the lights out and as soon as i turned the lights on that socket blew a new bulb immediately. I thought well maybe that new bulb was just no good. I put another new bulb in there and bam it blew again. Here is where it gets weird, i put a regular(you know just a normal bulb, non flood) 75 watt bulb in there and it is fine turns on and off without blowing. Seems to me if it was a bad can or even a thermal problem the regular bulb would not work either. Anyone? Thanks in advance.

Bad bulbs. They (or the case of them) were probably dropped, or handled roughly at some time. A fixture can't necessarily cause a bulb to blow.

Well. Here is what i came up with and the bulb is not blowing anymore. I got up there and found that the tab that the middle of the bulb hits in the socket was jammed up to where when the bulb was screwed in the tab was hitting the strap that holds the socket to the ceiling fixture. Does that make sense? I believe this was shorting and causing the bulb to blow. Make sense? I must of tightened the bulb to tight at one time or another. Thanks again. Doug

If it's working OK now, Doug, I think you solved the problem. The center tab must not have been touching a ground or the circuit breaker should've tripped. Must be the bulb completed the short and acted like a fuse and blew. You're now an electrician !!!

LOL Mitch. I think the bulb was completing the short and when the bulb blew the short was no longer there. Just like you said. Thanks to everyone for the help. Doug