The burnt out bulb in my bathroom took me 3 trips to Lowe's and 2 hours to swap
I'm standing in my own bathroom right now with a dead bulb over the sink, and I feel dumb about how long this took. Figured it was a 5 minute job, so I grabbed a bulb at the Lowe's on Highway 29 near my place, screwed it in, and nothing happened. Went back the next day for a different bulb, still nothing, so I started thinking the fixture itself was shot and braced myself for a whole rewiring mess. Turned out the little pull chain switch on the side had a worn nub inside, and it would click but not make contact, which is why nothing lit up. Of course nobody sells just that tiny switch anymore, so I spent 40 minutes on my knees on the tile matching part numbers on my phone. My dad would've had a coffee can of spare switches in the garage back in the day and this would've been a 10 minute fix. Now I'm wondering if I should just swap the whole fixture for a plain one and end the hassle. Has anyone else had a pull chain go bad on them like this?
Swapping the whole fixture is probably the smart move at this point. Those pull chain switches are a pain to match and even if you find one, the rest of the fixture is just as old and ready to fail next. A plain fixture with a regular wall switch would save you the kneeling on tile part for good. Just check what wiring is up there before you buy, because old bathroom fixtures sometimes have surprises hiding behind them.