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Aussie,
I ripped my left hand to shreds about 5 years ago on a light bulb.
It cut so deeply I lost a tendon in one of my fingers.
I can't use the pinkie on my left hand properly because of it.

OK, I confess to having done these two things simultaneously:

1.) Blown up a bulb in my hands
2.) Tripped the RCD

Situation: I worked in an electrical store when a customer walked in with some unusual lamp. A 230V lamp with small lampholder. I started going through the boxes with obscure sizes. I soon find a couple of 12V bulbs but not any 230V ones. Finally, I find one among the 230V ones. I don't check the rating, plug the lamp in, screw the bulb in and... BOOM! (Guess why? )

The whole store goes dark when the main RCD is knocked out. I try to stay cool in front of the customer and go look for the RCD...


[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 09-08-2005).]

Thats right Trumpy. I've gashed my thumb badly on a cheap no-name imported bulb when it cracked when I was putting it in. I was quite surprised how thin the glass was. I'm used to our bulbs being quite robust here, not egg-shell thin, and normally you'd have to squeeze mighty hard to break it in your hand.

At your advice Trumpy I'm going to stop changing light bulbs with the switch on. I've just imagined having a cheap bulb smash in my hand at the top of a high ladder, and as I plummet to a broken neck, wondering which hurt more; the 240 Volt shock or the laceration to my hand ?

I can't find any requirements in the standards for bulb glass thickness. Can anyone else help here ? It seems that bulb glass only needs to be thick enough to withstand its operating temperature. No mechanical strength requirements whatsoever.

One thing I have been wary of is ordinary incandescent bulbs used outdoors with nothing to cover them from rain. Typical examples of this are those strings of 'festoon' or party lights...you know those light sets where the lampholders are installed along a length of 2.5 twin by having their connection pins peirce the cable when the lampholder is screwed together. The bulbs fitted are just of the normal 25 or 40W BC domestic coloured variety. Then we have those IR sensor lights which are meant to take a 150W (or now 120W) PAR38 screw in bulb. Problem arises here when the thick glassed PAR38 bulb is replaced by either a normal GLS bulb or an R60/R80 reflector bulb. The we have the clowns who do things like mount a BC batten holder on an exterior wall fully exposed to the weather.
The point is if the bulb is on and it starts raining, the sudden cooling weakens the glass. If the wattage is high enough, the bulb will sometimes shatter. Don't be fooled by cool running bulbs either...the first bulb I had break in my hand was only 25W and it was thick glassed Aussie made.
Going back to those party light sets; they do seem potentially unsafe the way some people use them. On my trip to work I see a set wound around a steel balcony railing with some of the bulbs touching the railing and the concrete...what if one breaks (they are only at railing height and exposed to the weather)? I can just imagine the live filament support touching something.

Interesting point with the festoon lights, now that the earth and active have swapped in tps, vampire tap would no longer work, they didn't tap earth as well did they?

No Spock those festoon "vampire spike" things didn't tap the earth. They were cleverly designed to work with twin cable only.

Honestly haven't noticed any egg-shell thin lightbulbs here in Ireland yet.

The vast majority of bulbs are still Philips, Solas (Ireland's own bulb manufacturer which im sure will vanish), Osram, GE, Mazda and increasingly supermarket ownbrand bulbs, which to be fair to the supermarkets, are quite good quality.

Pretty much the same here. My usual supplier carries Osram, G.E., Philips, Mazda, and Crompton. I can't say I've noticed any particular problems.

had a bad batch of GE bulbs where 2 out of 4 purchased blew out of the metal bayonet fitting leaving it in the socket. Rang GE and they were sending out some fancy replacement bulbs. 5 Years later and still waiting?

quote:
Going back to those party light sets; they do seem potentially unsafe the way some people use them.
:unquote

Even worse are the 240v rope lights. People string them anywhere and the insulation is much softer than a lead. I know of a toddler receiving a shock when he thought it looked yummy enough to chew on. I haven't seen any for a while so maybe they finally banned them.
BTW, how do you quote a previous post?