Stuck bulb in a ceiling rose

[Carol Handcock]

I have a bayonet electric light bulb stuck inside a ceiling light & some of the glass filament is broken, I have tried spraying wd40 but bulb wont budge , please HELP

[John Cantor]

I have had this happen to me on several occasions. Firstly, obviously, I dont want to entice you to do anything dangerous, and I really don't know the situation here relating to DIY. Are there rules about who can do what to installed electrical circuits? Hopefully others will have an opinion on that and chip in.

For now, all I am going to say is that to remove a bayonet bulb, you do need to push it in a little. This 'pushes back' the two little pins inside that make the electrical connection. These pins can jam. WD40 could help, but its unlikely it would get into these pins if the bulb is still in place.
Anyhow, once pushed-in a little, it should allow you to gently rotate it anti-clockwise, and then remove the bulb. Is the glass actually broken? !!!
I'm sure an electrician would recommend a new bulb holder

Please be VERY SAFE. This is not a good time to need A&E !!! Only do something if you feel competent enough to do it.

[velossembly]

Further to the safety advice already given by John, first switch off the power to the lighting circuit that supplies the room in which your bulb is stuck. In most houses these circuits are usually separated into "Upstairs" and "Downstairs" but be especially careful if you are dealing with a hall/landing light with 2-way switching as the landing light may be supplied from the Downstairs circuit. Your fuseboard (actually, it's called a Consumer Unit) may be equipped with Miniature Circuit Breakers (MCBs), and should have each circuit identified. The MCB toggle is Down for OFF, Up for ON, which is counter intuitive for us here in the UK but these devices were originally conceived in the USA so...

Now then, if your ceiling light fitting is what we call a "Batten Lampholder" then it should have a plastic shroud, like a sort of skirt, that screws up around the bulb holder. If, on the other hand, you are dealing with a complete flush light fitting in a bathroom then that is a different proposition.

Please advise what you have and then I can provide appropriate directions. You are quite within your rights to change a bulb but wiring up a replacement light fitting requires a "competent person" to either carry out the work or be standing right beside you to advise and caution you on safe procedure.