The light under the microwave that illuminates the range below went out earlier so I grabbed new one from the drawer to replace it with.

I unscrewed the old one and, while screwing in the new one, it exploded. With my fingers still around it. It was loud as fuck, flashed (looked like a little explosion), and shot glass everywhere.

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?! Scared the absolute shit out of me. Sounded like someone shot off .22.

Luckily I wasn't under there watching as I was doing it -- that could have really messed me up.

I'm at a loss here as to what would cause a little bulb to violently explode like that. Can someone explain this?

Here’s what’s left of the bulb:



^ Note the black residue along the top.

You're a capacitor

Shocking....in at least 2 ways. I've never seen that.

Were you sure that the switch that turns on the light was in the off position?

Also, always a good idea to ground both the frame of the device and the bulb prior to trying to insert it. Even a small discharge can be enough to cause this type of issue.

Oils on your hand. I did the same thing with a compact halogen bulb once.

One idea comes to mind: if the light was powered, oil from your hand caused it to heat up faster in some spots than others. This is a pretty serious concern when messing with halogen bulbs, though the worry there is more that the oil stays on the bulb and then it 'splodes after you get everything reinstalled. (At least, I would hope the halogen bulbs are being worked on with them off. Those things get HOT.)

Also, a tweak in the wrong direction could theoretically cause a catastrophic failure because the glass was already under pressure from when it was formed. Look up videos of people breaking Prince Rupert's Drops with slow-motion cameras to get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Thank you for posting this. It's a good reminder for me to always wear safety goggles.

quote:

Originally posted by SigSAC:
Were you sure that the switch that turns on the light was in the off position?

Also, always a good idea to ground both the frame of the device and the bulb prior to trying to insert it. Even a small discharge can be enough to cause this type of issue.

I’m 99.9999% sure the switch was in the ‘ON’ position.