I have a single light switch that turns on a small overhead fluorescent light above my kitchen sink. A week ago I heard a sizzling sound and checked the inside, and found black marks on the plastic switch. I replaced the switch which eliminated the sizzling sound. Our house is only six years old, and the light is only used occasionally. Any idea what caused this? Is six years about the normal life of a plastic switch? Thanks.
Life cycle of a single pole switch?
- Thread starter ms136
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JFletcher
Senior Member
- Location
- Williamsburg, VA
Factory defect, bad terminations, caustic/corrosive/wet environment, abuse... could be a million things. I'm sure that while 99.99% of snap switches are rated to last x amount of time/cycles, there will be one in ten thousand that give up the smoke under light loads or an inordinately short amount of time/cycles. Is there anything else fed from the line side of the switch?
"Plastic switch"?
as in plastic yoke? I've seen several of those fail with relatively few cycles. If you mean a regular snap switch with plastic components, 6 years would be an awfully short time to see one fail on time alone. There is a large difference in quality between standard 15A snap switches and HD 20A ones.
peter d
Senior Member
- Location
- New England
I commonly see Leviton, Slater, Eagle, GE, Circle F and other defunct wiring device brands still in service after 30+ years.
Yeah a lot of that stuff is real work horse material, and is quite a bit beefier too than the modern residential stuff- the old resi grade snap switches have housing that make the switch look almost like a modern commercial grade type.
mgookin
Senior Member
- Location
- Fort Myers, FL
That's not typical of that switch. My guess is you had an odd switch. Either a factory defect, damaged during installation, or even bumped by the refrigerator or cabinets as the house was being finished.
Most switches last longer than us. A small percentage do fail from time to time.
It's only a few bucks. Let it go. The rest of your switches should be fine.
Most switches last longer than us. A small percentage do fail from time to time.
It's only a few bucks. Let it go. The rest of your switches should be fine.
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
We don't do a lot of residential any more but it seems to me that the older ones held up longer. 70s thru 90s, vs 2000 on.
JFletcher
Senior Member
- Location
- Williamsburg, VA
Im sure there is at least one original switch left in this house, would be ~63 years old. Just a few years ago, the original exhaust fan L/M/H/O switch failed - the original exhaust fan over the stove is still going strong (knock on formica).
gar
Senior Member
- Location
- Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Occupation
- EE
151130-0948 EST
If an ordinary wall toggle switch is failing in a short time it is clearly a quality problem in the design and manufacture of the switch, unless operated beyond its ratings.
I know where there are wall switches installed circa 1915 or slightly before, for most of their life switched DC, and are still working.
I have switches in one location installed in 1928, always switched AC, that are still working. I have about 50 GE RR relays installed in 1955 and only about 3 failed. The only problem with the failed RRs was that they lost their bistable capability.
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If an ordinary wall toggle switch is failing in a short time it is clearly a quality problem in the design and manufacture of the switch, unless operated beyond its ratings.
I know where there are wall switches installed circa 1915 or slightly before, for most of their life switched DC, and are still working.
I have switches in one location installed in 1928, always switched AC, that are still working. I have about 50 GE RR relays installed in 1955 and only about 3 failed. The only problem with the failed RRs was that they lost their bistable capability.
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K8MHZ
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrician
Are we talking life cycle of a 69 cent switch or a 3 dollar switch?
K8MHZ
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrician
My house was built in the 40's. Every wall switch is original and still working. The switches in the porcelain bases, however, have all pretty much failed.
I have a switch we pulled from a re-mod that was working fine. It has a porcelain body. It was probably made in the 20's or 30's.
I have a switch we pulled from a re-mod that was working fine. It has a porcelain body. It was probably made in the 20's or 30's.
ATSman
ATSman
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer/ Electrical Testing & Controls
Gentlemen
Let's not forget the "Made in China" label no mater what brand you buy :lol:
Let's not forget the "Made in China" label no mater what brand you buy :lol:
And this is not limited to electrical products, enjoy the useless, worthless, California Proposition 65 warning on the box of ChiCom TP.
mtfallsmikey
Senior Member
FionaZuppa
Senior Member
- Location
- AZ
- Occupation
- Part Time Electrician (semi retired, old) - EE retired.
"they dont build them like they used to" holds true for many things. in the effort to maintain those profit margins they make the product cheaper with service life in mind. i no joke, ~20yrs ago in my materials sciences lab we studied metals and fatigue, and the principle of "designed-to-fail" is a well known thing, usually indicated by the warranty statement. my 8yr old water heater made it past the 6yr warranty, only because the use was less than normal. my neighbor who had same water heater and had "normal" use, his ruptured just after 6yrs.
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