Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Compact fluorescent bulbs and 1920s light fixtures

Our house has several original 1920s light fixtures that appear to be incompatible with the compact fluorescent bulbs I have purchased. These fixtures are designed to have a bare bulb. They are metal of some sort and generally floral in appearance. There's one in the basement, a couple in various closets, and a couple in the attic - all places where things tend to go unchanged, so long as they do the job.

I am unable to get the CFLs that I've purchased to work in any of them. The problem is that the CFLs cannot screw far enough into the socket to complete the circuit, because of the relatively wide ballast at their base.

Has anyone else had this problem, or been able to find a solution other than rewiring the socket?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You could try adapters that might possibly complete the circuit ... not sure how they work with CFLs.

Anonymous said...

That's odd - our fixtures are original (so 108 years old) and we haven't had any trouble using CFLs. So what I'm saying, I guess, is nyeah, nyeah, nyeah.

Anonymous said...

Problem: Compact fluorescent bulbs do not fit your antique fixtures because the bulbs are too wide at the socket end.

Solution: You could extend the bulb out further from the socket until there is enough room for the wide base of the bulb.

So, I searched yahoo for "Light Bulb Socket Extender" and whola, you can buy them brand new all day for $3 each. If you need more distance just gang them together, or get the longer versions.

I learned something, and now you have your solution, although 2 years too late. Sincerely, Perrys Pest Control of Paducah