The Salem Leader
Educationally Speaking
March 30, 2009
Justin Harter
How it cost me $65 to replace a light bulb
Avid followers of my column will know that I am not well suited for some chores. Namely, I can’t be expected to do automotive repair, roll my tongue, do math or perform any form of home maintenance. I now have further evidence that home repair should be extended to “replacing light bulbs.”
Last summer I went to the hardware store and bought a huge package of halogen light bulbs. Those are the curly ones that use less energy than their ordinary incandescent counterparts. I got a good deal and began replacing old bulbs in the house as they blew with the new, energy-efficient ones. I began to notice a decrease in my light bill as a result -- especially when I swapped my security lights on the front of the house out for new bulbs.
When I had the garage door opener installed last summer, I threw in one the new bulbs into the opener’s courtesy light. Everything about this plan worked very well. I pushed the button for the garage door and the light kicked on. Then, towards the end of summer, the light suddenly stopped working. Since halogen bulbs were supposed to last considerably longer than older model bulbs, I became concerned. So, one weekend I pulled out the ladder and gently squeezed the sides of the plastic bulb-covering on the opener to reveal the socket. I tapped the bulb and it came back on. I chalked it up to a loose connection and climbed down off the ladder. I was impressed that I managed to fix it through a process known as “jiggling it.”
Then, when I pulled the car back in and shut the garage door, I noticed it stopped working almost immediately. I wasn’t in the mood to reposition the car and climb on the ladder again, so I just left it. I had been aimlessly walking through the garage in the dark for weeks, what’s a few more?
Then, winter hit. It got cold and I figured the bulb just didn’t function well in the cold. That was my excuse to keep me from climbing the ladder while it was 20 degrees outside.
Now, spring has sprung and I was out in the garage cleaning up a few weeks ago when I thought about my lazy light. Again, I climbed the ladder and gently squeezed the plastic covering to reveal the broken bulb. I unscrewed it and stored it with my other bulbs thinking that it might still be okay for use in a lamp. I reached for my one remaining incandescent bulb and screwed it in. The light came on and was shiny and beautiful. For the first time in nearly a year, I could fully see just how crammed full of useless junk my two-car garage had become.
I continued to secure the plastic covering over the bulb and put the ladder away. I pulled the car into the garage, shut the door and went on my way.
The next morning, I went out to the garage and pushed the button to open the garage door. The light came on, the door came up and I went on my way to work. Later that evening, I come home and pushed the button for the door from my car. The door went a third of the way up and came crashing down.
I got out of my car and immediately thought, “Oh dear. What did I do!?” I carefully lifted the garage door by hand and it flung up as if it wasn’t even attached to the opener. That’s because it wasn’t even attached to the opener. The door swung up and I stood there and watched as the motor’s chain came lashing toward the floor. The good news was that the light bulb was on.
I spent a few minutes working on pulling the chain out of the way so I could at least pull my car into the garage. I knew that this job would require a professional. I called for a local technician and he arrived at the house the next evening. He was puzzled why the chain would just leap off its sprocket like it did.
I felt no need to tell him that I recently replaced the light bulb. I figure if I did break it through a process known as “touching it”, he didn’t really need to know that about me. The technician fixed the chain and I paid him his $65. Now, the bulb and opener work just fine.
All told, I may have spent $65 because of that light bulb.