How many forum posters does it take to change a light bulb?

[ScubaHawk]

Wong speling for "surprizes"?! Please check your spellng bifore you post. Tri using a dictonary if you wer not suer of tha spilling.

I can't find the dictionary in the dark. I don't change bulbs for fun anymore, I just teach and hang out on bulb changing fourms to correct other's bulb changing misconceptions.


(I'm surprised that I only mispelled one word! Dang - I'm gettting better)

 

[Turtle Diver]

anyone that doesnt use a bulbplate and wings is a Broke...

So if the bulb is more than 130 ft off the ground, should it be filled with helium?

 

[Nomaster]

The replacement bulb should be held, by the threads, in the left hand to be transfered to the right hand after proper disposal of the burned out bulb. The BACK UP replacement bulb should be bungie corded around your neck - in case the replacement buld should be faulty.
Don't be afraid to ask, that's how we learn.

I think I'm going to die!!
I have to take a pee break.

[GI3 mode]If all you nickle rocket cyber-bulbers had a clue, you'd know that you never bungee your backup bulb. That's just farm animal stupid, and the epitome of strokery. Look, if you bungee the backup bulb, how are you going to deploy it one-handed? Particularly in a brown-out, which you know you have by definition, since you're replacing a burnout! If you would just take a lesson from people who have replaced burnt out bulbs 8000 feet into a warehouse 300 feet above the floor, you would carry that spare in your mouth, where you can spit it into place if you really need to. [/GI3 mode]

LOOK, I just got back with resolve to make it more than three more pages before another manditory run for the head, but NOOO!!! the very next post has me crossing my legs and wriggling in my seat.
THIS JUST ISN'T RIGHT!!!

As you can see by the number of logged bulb changes in my profile.
But seriously under what conditions do you expect to be changing bulbs?
I was thinking of continuing with PABI, as I originally got my OBC with them and plan to do my ABC with them also. I don't have, or plan to own a blacklight and thing, so I won't go down the BIR-F path, but that's up to you.
Change often, Change safe.

I'm just a lurker here, but: what he said.

I dont care who you do it with, you just have to make sure that you can go down the step ladder backwards, and that you can stay at the top of the ladder motionless for at least five minutes. You also have to make sure that you hold the primary bulb in your left hand, just in case in the future you ever take up technical bulb changing or want to use a BPV.
You wouldnt want to have to unlearn any bad bulbchanging habits you have picked up along the way..

Mark, as I've often said before, it's about the instructor, not the organization, you can't get this kind of training by picking an organization, you have to find the right instructor by visiting many different LBS's in your area and talking to the instructors, then choose the one you feel confident has what it takes to TIR, "Teach It Right!"


Tom

 

[Nomaster]

I think GBE requires you have the bulb on a long cord, the backup bulb bungeed and also a bulbplate and wings before you can do BIR-F, but its not all about the equipment, you have to have better skills and buddy awareness. This includes being able to hold position on the ladder with your safety glasses off and still change your bulb, deploying the long cord with other lights out and swapping to your back up bulb in case of an OOB emergency, deploying a liftbulb whilst holding position on the ladder in case you should drop you defunct bulb to prevent it from breaking and making a glassy mess on the floor, you should also be able to calculate you bulb life on the fly by averaging the wattage and voltage of the bulb and connection, respectively. Then of course you have buddy awareness and team skills to work on, making sure that guy holding the ladder up is still there, you may pass him bulb notes as needed when communicating, but of course flash your flight near him to indicate to him that you wish to converse. You dont want to change solo as that would leave you on the high platform of the ladder without buddy support should you go OOB, he can always hand you up his long cord if needed.

Gods man! What are you thinking!
In this scenario, you must call the change! Live to change another day! There is no safe way to make a safe change without your safety goggles on!
CIR!!
What a frikkin' BROKE!

I have to disagree with Simbrooks about buddy bulb changing. BBC gives you a false sense of security that can lead to carelessness. I teach SBC (Solo Bulb Changing) and I teach all of my students to do every change as if they were solo - even with they have a "Buddy". You should make sure the ladder is stable and braced, wear the proper gloves, eye protection and rubber soled shoes, and carry enough equipment to change the bulb safely and handle any surprizes that may happen. without having to rely on a buddy to hold the ladder or hand you gear. My students must learn to do the standard changes in the dark, high ladder changes, obstructed changes. But they also learn to handle broken bulb changes, florescent bulb changes (three different prong types) and how to tell if the bulb is really out or if the switch is off. For information about my SBC course send 19.95 plus 6.95 s/h for an information package.

I highly recommend his course!
What he modestly leaves out are the many extras that he includes gratis; such as the use of a potato for broken bulb changes and the attachment of plastic bags inside your strap so as not to lose the inoperative bulbs carried there each wrapped in protective coating, while keeping them separate from (hopefully) functional bulbs in case of multi level bulb changes.
And not to forget the lesson on recognizing the differences between bulbs, corms, and rhisomes that some LBS's attempt to sell you when they are not allowed to carry lightbulbs/light bulbs by various manufacturers.

I once stuck my finger in a light socket - i was 6 at the time.

OH FINE!!
A MOD advocating such an unsafe practice right here in public! Don't you have any sense of responsibility? There are newbies who read this board man!
Such advice coming from a MOD carries so much more weight than from an "ordinary" board member.

Stick a metal pair of needle nose pliers in there, that'll do the trick, no need for fancy vegetable devices!

There you go again Simon, with absolutely no mention of the requirement for redundant insulation on the pliers.
Do you want to kill a newbie?

Tom

 

[Nomaster]

That's Caleefornia

Nope... According to our current governor, it is Kalifourneia.

I have no problem with pronouncing it, just spell'n it. Thanks

Aisle bee bach!

HIJACK!!!

 

[FreeFloat]

For information about my SBC course send 19.95 plus 6.95 s/h for an information package.

Aaack! A commercial post!! Report report report!

 

[simbrooks]

OH FINE!!
A MOD advocating such an unsafe bractice right here in public! Don't you have any sense of responsibility? There are newbies who read this board man!
Such advice coming from a MOD carries so much more weight than from an "ordinary" board member.

There you go again Simon, with absolutely no mention of the requirement for redundant insulation on the pliers.
Do you want to kill a newbie?

Back in the 60's when i learned to change bulbs we didnt know about electricity and its danger to you, we would shoot up the ladder at more than 60 rungs per minute changing bulbs as we went with no care about the non-existant no changing limits. We also had to do push ups in full gear with our hands supported on broken lightbulbs before we were even allowed near real live new bulbs - those days were tougher - you guys nowadays are a bunch of pansies with no bulb changing education compared to that.

Back then we used double corded single bulbs and there was a light switch directly attached to the socket, when you felt you had done the change you flipped the switch and if it went on great. If it didnt you were cross-screwed. Sometimes you found that you had been changing and the switch had already been flipped, in those days you were lucky not to get electricuted, now you have fancy stuff like insulation and knowledge of no bulb changing limits, correct ascent speed up the ladder and such - we didnt, so we had to test how it felt to get shocked by sticking our fingers in and lke i said before we didnt know what electricity was back then, so using regular long nose pliers was convenient even if now in hindsight it wasnt the safest idea.

 

[Nomaster]

Back in the 60's when i learned to change bulbs we didnt know about electricity and its danger to you, we would shoot up the ladder at more than 60 rungs per minute changing bulbs as we went with no care about the non-existant no changing limits. We also had to do push ups in full gear with our hands supported on broken lightbulbs before we were even allowed near real live new bulbs - those days were tougher - you guys nowadays are a bunch of pansies with no bulb changing education compared to that.

Back then we used double corded single bulbs and there was a light switch directly attached to the socket, when you felt you had done the change you flipped the switch and if it went on great. If it didnt you were cross-screwed. Sometimes you found that you had been changing and the switch had already been flipped, in those days you were lucky not to get electricuted, now you have fancy stuff like insulation and knowledge of no bulb changing limits, correct ascent speed up the ladder and such - we didnt, so we had to test how it felt to get shocked by sticking our fingers in and lke i said before we didnt know what electricity was back then, so using regular long nose pliers was convenient even if now in hindsight it wasnt the safest idea.

Don't be quoting old scripture to me young man, I was changing bulbs before you were a shine in your daddy's eyes!
You gotta keep up with the times.
I'm pleased that you see the error of your "bare" pliers ways.

I think this has been posted before. Next time try using the search feature bofore posting something off topic like this
Really! Heres the link.

Please read this link to avoid more redundancy than we've already experienced. It's a good thread and carefully written by those who have gone before us, some veterans who are still with us have posted on this thread as well.
Many of you will be disappointed to see the link to a previous thread is no longer active, oh what history might have told us.
Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.

Tom

 

[ScubaHawk]

I don't want to start a contest over who's been changing bulbs longer - but I started 6 years before we got electricity in our town. We didn't have real bulbs back then, we had to practice changing candles . . .WITHOUT letting the flame die. That's when changers had to be tough!! I've seen instructors today that couldn't even light a candle, much less change a nub.

 

[Nomaster]

I don't want to start a contest over who's been changing bulbs longer - but I started 6 years before we got electricity in our town. We didn't have real bulbs back then, we had to practice changing candles . . .WITHOUT letting the flame die. That's when changers had to be tough!! I've seen instructors today that couldn't even light a candle, much less change a nub.

I checked out your profile, it's a shame, you got some spunk and a little time and experience in, but yer right ain't no contest.
Son, when I started we had to haul in sunlight by sledge because the wheel hadn't been invented yet. We lit rocks because we didn't have anything else to burn. Then we discovered these funny black rocks what burned real good.
Times got better after that.

Tom