Lights Out

We had to paint the kitchen ceiling as well as the entire suite, so we dropped the light fixtures. We have done this hundreds of times without incident. Until now. I must admit it is not the first time I have broken something on the job. But this one was not my fault. The wiring is attached to a small transformer under the metal housing against the ceiling. The transformer is attached to the housing with double backed sticky tape, something I had never seen before. When the lights were dangling, the customer flicked the switch for light. No problem, except the heat from the extremely hot halogen bulbs melted the adhesive and one of the fixtures crashed into a sink of cold water.

The shade broke onto three pieces and the hot halogen light was siting under three inches of water. It was glowing. The bulb did not shatter. The wiring did not short out. I still have not figured that one out. I did burn two of my fingers retrieving the fixture out of the water.

I offered to replace the fixture but there was not one to be had like it and there were two. No parts to be had either. The customer bought two new ones and when I offered to pay for them, they insisted that they were going to buy new ones anyway. If I wanted to help all I had to do was install the two new fixtures. All done and everyone is happy. The new lights are LED, very nice looking and the light is better.