I went to turn on the light in my basement efficiency. There is one overhead light for the entire place and the light immediately went out. First I thought it was that the lightbulb had burned out, so I replaced it. Still no light. Next I thought it was that the breaker had tripped so I checked that. It appeared to be fine, but I still flipped it just to double check and be safe. Nothing. Everything else electrical is working fine, but right now I'm stuck in the dark with a TV and a computer serving as my sole light sources.
Any ideas? Management here sucks and I'm on the broke side so an electrician is a last resort option.
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Assuming it is an incandescent fixture, if you have any place you can test the light bulbs (another fixture somewhere) to make sure they do work, that would be a good first step.
If the bulbs are good the problem could be in ether the lamp or the switch. If this is wired as a 3-way (2 switches), make sure that with a good bulb installed, it will not illuminate in all 4 different switch combinations. (up-up, up-down, down-up, down down)
After this you will need an electrician to troubleshoot the problem with a meter to see where the voltage is and isn't.
While you are waiting for management to replace the defective light fixture, if that is the problem, you might pop down to a thrift shop and pick up a lamp that you could plug in. I am sure you could get one for $5 or $ 10 - maybe even less.
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