Newbie here with a lighting/general electrical question.
Our home was built in 1940 and still has the original cloth wiring and fuse boxes. Some breakers were added along the way to accomodate for modern appliances (mind you, the appliances are now 30 years old )
The lighting fixture in my office was a 3-bulb unit, and I was constantly replacing burned-out bulbs. Another thing that concerned me was the fact that the end of each bulb rested on the wiring for the screw end of the bulb next to it. I picked out a new fixture that uses a T3 bulb, figuring that a one-bulb unit would be better and safer.
My husband and I put up the new unit yesterday, and it works just fine. Only problem is, there is an odor coming from the unit that can only be described as burnt dirt--kind of like when you switch on a furnace for the first time in the winter.
I replaced a fixture in another room of the house, a couple of years ago (that one uses a single incandescent bulb). I got the same smell from that unit, though it gradually wore off over time.
Should we be concerned about the smell, or is this a common thing when attaching a new fixture to old wiring? Was my choice of a halogen fixture a bad idea?
My husband was not too pleased about using a halogen bulb due to the high heat, but I thought it would be OK since it's not in a place where it's going to be knocked over.
Thanks for your valuable insight!
Our home was built in 1940 and still has the original cloth wiring and fuse boxes. Some breakers were added along the way to accomodate for modern appliances (mind you, the appliances are now 30 years old )
The lighting fixture in my office was a 3-bulb unit, and I was constantly replacing burned-out bulbs. Another thing that concerned me was the fact that the end of each bulb rested on the wiring for the screw end of the bulb next to it. I picked out a new fixture that uses a T3 bulb, figuring that a one-bulb unit would be better and safer.
My husband and I put up the new unit yesterday, and it works just fine. Only problem is, there is an odor coming from the unit that can only be described as burnt dirt--kind of like when you switch on a furnace for the first time in the winter.
I replaced a fixture in another room of the house, a couple of years ago (that one uses a single incandescent bulb). I got the same smell from that unit, though it gradually wore off over time.
Should we be concerned about the smell, or is this a common thing when attaching a new fixture to old wiring? Was my choice of a halogen fixture a bad idea?
My husband was not too pleased about using a halogen bulb due to the high heat, but I thought it would be OK since it's not in a place where it's going to be knocked over.
Thanks for your valuable insight!