I turned on the hall lights today and one of the bulbs blew (the only
remaining one that worked in fact). There was quite a bang and now I find
that replacing the bulb does no good. Also the front room lights and the
porch lights don't work either. The rest of the downstairs lights work ok.

I've checked the fuses (old wire type jobs) and they are ok. There are two 5
amp fuses with a white dot on them, pulling one turns off the rest of the
downstairs lights and the other turns off all the upstairs lights. I have
also swopped the two around to no avail. The rest of the fuses are 15/30 amp
jobs and all seem to be ok - in that when i pull them something stops
working.

I unscrewed the two hall lights and all the wires seem intact, ditto the
switch.

I now throw myself on the mercy of the group.

TIA.

I turned on the hall lights today and one of the bulbs blew (the only
remaining one that worked in fact). There was quite a bang and now I find
that replacing the bulb does no good.

It is likely that the current surge from the blowing incandescent light has
burned away a bad connection that already existed in the wiring. Quite
frankly, that and the mention of rewirable fuses strongly suggests that you
should get an electrician round to do a full periodic inspection. Unless a
junction box has been buried somewhere, it is likely that this survey will
indicate the location of the failed connection.

I unscrewed the two hall lights and all the wires seem intact, ditto the
switch.

The failed joint could be on any of the failed lights, or any of the other
lights on the same circuit that is providing the feed. It could also be on a
crimped connection or junction box buried somewhere.

Christian.

Christian McArdle wrote:

I turned on the hall lights today and one of the bulbs blew (the only
remaining one that worked in fact). There was quite a bang and now I find
that replacing the bulb does no good.

It is likely that the current surge from the blowing incandescent light has
burned away a bad connection that already existed in the wiring. Quite
frankly, that and the mention of rewirable fuses strongly suggests that you
should get an electrician round to do a full periodic inspection. Unless a
junction box has been buried somewhere, it is likely that this survey will
indicate the location of the failed connection.

I unscrewed the two hall lights and all the wires seem intact, ditto the
switch.

The failed joint could be on any of the failed lights, or any of the other
lights on the same circuit that is providing the feed. It could also be on a
crimped connection or junction box buried somewhere.

Christian.

switches can also fail like this.

NT

switches can also fail like this.

A failed switch is unlikely to take out 3 independent lights, though. If the
house is (unusually) looped through at the switch, then the switch terminals
can be at fault.

Christian.