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mikenelena

Ceiling fan light Problem

mikenelena
9 years ago

We have a Hunter ceiling fan, 5 years old with 4 candelabra bulb sockets. It was installed by a qualified electrician. All wiring was new. Lights are controlled by wall switches on either side off the room. Fan is also controlled the same way by separate switches.

The fixture specifies 40 watt bulbs, but we have always cheated up to 60 watt bulbs with no problem. With 1 bulb out that I hadn't gotten around to replacing, wife throws the switch and the other 3 bulbs go out with a pop and an electrical burn odor. Fan still continued to work with no problem.

Today I took the fixture apart, but found no loose wires, no wires touching, no scorch marks, no burn odor at the light kit level, or up higher at the ceiling level.

Using a voltage detector, I found current in all 4 bulb sockets, and all seemed to function properly using the wall switches, and the pull chain, which never gets used.

This is where it gets interesting. Screwing a bulb (40 watts only now) into any socket cuts voltage to all sockets. I tried putting all bulbs in, but no change in behavior.

My thinking is that use of higher wattage bulbs caused this problem somehow, but I am at a loss to understand how, or what the fix may be. Neutral wire tested out OK, and I'm getting 122 at the bulb sockets.

Anyone seen anything like this before, or have any advice on a fix?

Thanks,
Mike

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