So here’s the set up. My family room has a cathedral ceiling with some recessed light fixtures using incandescent spotlights. The bulbs last forever but when they do go bad they’re a trouble to replace. I have to get our giant aluminum step ladder down from its mount on the garage wall and avoid banging up my cars. Then it’s the twists and turns through the house, being very careful not to whack the walls or the furniture. Once in the family room I need to lay down old towels or carpet pieces to avoid scratching the hardwood floors once the ladder is up. Then I’ve got to scale the heights and balance myself carefully to tackle the chore at hand.
The other day I noted that one of the recessed lights was out, but I was busy and it was several days before I resigned myself to getting a new bulb at the hardware store and then going through the ladder routine. I get the ladder in place and reach to unscrew the offending bulb and, lo and behold, it goes on. It didn’t feel particular loose in the socket when I touched it so I logically concluded it wasn’t a poor connection but more likely a filament going bad. My moving the bulb slightly must have shifted the filament a tad and achieved connectivity (you can’t really see what is going on inside this type of spotlight bulb). I have had this happen to me before with the regular light bulbs and my experience has been that the bulb will work OK for a short while and then fail permanently. So I come down from my perch on the tall ladder and resolve to wait out this bulb, leaving the step ladder in place, certain that the problem bulb will fizzle out in an evening or so of use. But this guy doesn’t oblige my carefully crafted model of how the universe behaves. It’s still working fine several days later and the ugly aluminum step ladder is still in the family room, but now snickering at me.
I need help deciding how to proceed with this home repair fork-in-the-road. Here are the choices as I see them:
1. Wait the bugger out. Leave the step ladder in place while ignoring the glares from my better half and from visiting friends. It’s gotta give out sometime and I’m going to be ready. I’m going to take great pleasure in squeezing every last kilowatt hour out of the thing. This could be a long stand-off.
2. Cockeyed optimist. Everything is right with the world and that darn bulb is good for another five years now that I’ve jiggled it. Put the ladder back in the garage and return the new bulb to the hardware store for a refund. Treat myself to a giant Dunkin Donuts coffee with the refund money. This is a tempting option.
3. Preemptive strike (the highly recommended choice of my retired engineer friend). You’ve got the ladder in place, replace the #@*&$ bulb you cheap Yankee and toss the offender in the trash – its history. Move on to more important things in life (for my dear friend, that would be ice fishing – but that’s not my cup of tea).
What should a befuddled Yankee scientist do? I’m not moving the ladder until I hear from you.
16 comments:
I say forget the light bulb, go outside and bring the wheel barrel in! From your 'better half'
I vote the first option - drain that sucker dry (even though I can envision your better half glaring at that shiny silver ladder each time she passes the french doors)
Actually, with the ladder inside, I see opportunity! I can now dust those out-of-reach places and the ceiling fan. But that wheel barrel - so tacky looking in the snow!
Ummm, dear, I brought the wheel barrow to the basement steps yesterday.
I'm with Murphy... if the ladder is already there, then I would just change it now. You know the minute you put the ladder back, the bulb will go out. And if you leave the ladder there, it will last for years.
Question: Do you have this type of bulb elsewhere in the house that is easier to get at?
Simply remove the bulb, place it in the more accessible socket and replace the out of reach one with a new bulb.
If the "iffy" bulb won't light when you place it in the lower socket, then you were likely to lose it soon anyway. If it lights, you can now wait it out!
From your other Engineer friend,
Tim
Nice suggestion, Tim. But this is the only location where we use those indoor-outdoor spotlight bulbs.
Are you sure you and Al aren't related?? CHANGE IT!!!
Julie
Suck it up and put a new bulb in. You only live once. :~} The ladder could start getting cobwebs on it and that's yet another thing to dust!
My first idea was hide the ladder in a corner and wait it out. But after reading the comments it's probably better to just go ahead and change it.
Put some potted plants on the ladder, and a Moxie trinket or two. If you disguise it well enough, you'll fool the light bulb into thinking you put the ladder away, and it will blow soon enough.
Andy - I like the way you think! (but I'm still open to all other suggestions at this point).
I've figured it out.
Replace the bulb. Put the "old" (but still working!) bulb back in the package and return it. It's a win-win.
It's a simple math equation that only you can answer. Does the convenience of leaving the ladder in the room have a greater value than the annoyance of said better-half (keeping in mind that annoyance quantities are likely to exponentially multiply rapidly over time)? When the scales tip too much to the latter, then it's time to use the ladder!
Tsk, tsk, Rin_Ney.
Erin - but I have a pretty high tolerance for annoyance. I survived raising two daughters didn't I? :)
I like democracy and so I went with the popular vote. I replaced the old bulb with the new tonight.
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