Help me change a lightbulb? No, seriously!!!
 

The house ratbastid and I bought about 10 months ago has 2 great ceiling fans in the rooms we use as offices, but we can't figure out how to get the glass off to change the light bulbs! Fortunately ratbastid, true to geek form, prefers his office dim and slovenly. I, however, neeeeeed my light! I'm down to 1 bulb in the overhead light on the ceiling fan and the squinting is giving me wrinkles and headaches. Can anyone tell us how to get into these damn things? I've been up on a ladder for half an hour and they seem to be hermetically sealed. At one point I considered just taking a hammer to the glass. One's a Hampton Bay

http://hamptonbayinfo.com/hamptonbay.../Product1.html

the other's a Harbor Breeze.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...KRC&lpage=none

screws on the sides of the glass bowls on the metal collar. there should be 3-4 of them on there. twist them off slowly holding the glass, you don't need to take the whole screw off, just enough to make it past the notch on the glass bowl.

yeah normaly they have screws on the sides that let you take the glass off but in those pictures i dont see any.... if they arnt there the whole thing might unscrew like one giant nut. if not just go up there with a screw driver and unscrew anything you find and see what happens. i highly suggest turning off the circuit breaker to that fan before hand if your going to do that.

I have a Hampton Bay something like that one... It doesn't have screws. You just put your hand on the glass and turn it. There are "bumps" on the housing and "grooves" in the glass fixture.

When you turn it the grooves slide off the notches... if that makes sense.

From the looks of it, they probably both work the same way.

"How many Lurkbastids does it take to screw in a lightbulb?"

"Don't know... Usually it only takes two, but that'd better be a hell of a lightbulb!"

I like Charlatan's theory best, so far. We'll try it and report back.

i did a 3D model of the first one of those fans. if you want to remove the lightbulb, go to surface properties for the glass and turn transparancy up to 100%, then clone the working bulb and delete the bad ones. after that go to create new lights, make them area light maybe? turn the intensity up to 60%... also you'll have to turn the luminosity of the glass up some after you undo the transparency thing. :D



i would try turning the glass itself :thumbsup:

I thought I saw screws on the Hampton Bay photo, but maybe not. If you don't see the screws, then it's the twist-off method -- which is actually preferable, but you better be ready to take the weight when it drops free.

I hate the retaining-screw method, because over time the screws and the collar hole get gummed up with crap (or the screw rusts) and it's hell to get those little things loose. You'll ripp up your fingertips trying, and they're really too small and round for pliers or a wrench to work effectively. Especially when you're craning upwards from the top of a ladder. Boy, have I been there.

Or, invite the folks from Trading Spaces over to redo that room. They'll rip out the ceiling fans right away -- they always do :-). Problem solved!

Charlatan has it right. that's the Home Depot version of a Hunter fan. Those flushglass fans have the screw built into the glass itself. Just turn it. Be ready to catch it, you won't have to turn it far.

You don't. This is how you know it's time to put new fixtures up.

The optimal blade pitch angle is 14 degrees. It optimizes airflow and decreases temperature stratification. And they're much more efficient than air conditioners -- all the energy societies recommend them -- a quality fan can be just as good as an air conditioner. I mentioned this because I looked up this question early and just got studies about optimal pitch angles and lost interest. I just remembered the 14% part..

Oh and yea, just grab the glass and twist. Little teeny dab of superglue on three fingers right before you grab the glass if you really need to wrench on it. The key here is teeny.

Don't forget to wait for the glass to cool off before you grab the glass enclosure... you don't want to juggle hot glass.
At least two, perhaps three or four, but they'll talk about it for a long long time first. :thumbsup:

OK, the glass-twisting worked for the Hampton Bay one - thanks for the superglue tip! That sucker was wedged tight!

But the Harbor Bay one is apparently hermetically sealed and meant to be smashed and replaced, apparently. If you try to turn the glass, the whole assembly turns, and there are NO visible screws anywhere. Gaah!

It shouldn't be too hot. These fixtures use florescent lighting.

Here are some pictures of my fixture and how I remove mine.

In the last shot you can see the grooves in detail.

Lurkette... it is probably just wedged in there a bit too tight. Hold the metal housing with one hand and the glass with the other.

You could also try pushing up a bit as you turn.

Whee! It took both of us up on a ladder (where we discovered new possible sexual positions, thereby bringing us one step closer to screwing in a light bulb, heh) but we got the mo'fucking glass off! Hah! Double hah! I have defeated the evil fixtures! I dub you all Knights of the Filament in thanks!

Ratbastid actually needed to step on the ladder?

I was certain your giant of a husband wouldn't need a puny ladder to reach a ceiling fan.

Ratbastid smash puny light fixtures!!!

Those light fixtures wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

It was a race against time to keep you calm so you wouldn't shower poor lurkette in shards of glass...