How To Fix a Stuck Lightbulb Socket - Get Out a Stuck Bulb

*Before working with electric sockets, always turn off the power just to be safe!*

I had a spotlight bulb in my living room go out recently. I put compact florescent bulbs in the years ago and haven't had to do much with them for many years.

The one that went out was a larger bulb / spotlight bulb and I picked up a replacement bulb at Walmart while buying groceries. I asked Princess Five to use a step-ladder and replace the bulb that was out. She obediently did so and the middle socket replacement bulb wasn't working. 

The bulb that had gone out was the side bulb so we were confused as to why that middle bulb now wasn't working. When it didn't work, she screwed the bulb in even further and it still didn't work but now we couldn't get it out. 

I couldn't get a grip on it so I got a rubber glove and had to try many times to get the bulb out of the middle fixture but then was worried to put another bulb in with how difficult it was to remove the new bulb as we replaced both bulbs with new ones so they would match rather than having one LED and one compact fluorescent. 

Once I got the bulb out I investigated why the bulb wasn't working further by looking into the socket and I could see that the little metal contact point in the middle that is usually raised up some was flat and had been bent towards the back of the socket at some point.

This problem happened many times with the flashlights with larger batteries when I was growing up so you would have to bend the little metal piece forward so it would contact with the batteries which allowed the flashlight to then work again. 

Being a live wired socket, even though it was turned off, I didn't want to put my fingers in their to pull the piece out some so I used the top of a pencil which worked great as the wood doesn't conduct electricity and also has little metal ridges on the top of the eraser holder so I just stuck that in there and it gripped onto the metal piece and I pulled it out some. 

The bulb screwed in easily and contacted well before the bulb was screwed in tightly. It was a quick fix for a rusty or hard to screw in light socket on any fixture. 

Have a Light Filled Blessed Day!