Guide
Basement and closet lighting
Porcelain keyless, pull chain sockets and the flush mount that replaces a bare bulb. The unglamorous fixtures that run a building.
4 min read · First Ave Supply, 1587 First Avenue
The fixtures nobody photographs
Every building in this neighborhood runs on about five light fixtures that no one ever thinks about until one stops working.
| Where | Fixture |
|---|---|
| Boiler room, meter room, storage cage | Porcelain keyless, bulb hangs bare |
| Closet, basement stair, under a landing | Porcelain with pull chain |
| A run of storage bins on one circuit | Pigtail lamp holder |
| Hallway or laundry room ceiling | Flush mount, LED or with a bulb |
| Working on something at night | Portable LED work light |
Porcelain, and why not plastic
Porcelain sockets take heat and do not go brittle. A plastic socket in a boiler room browns, cracks at the shell, and eventually the bulb gets loose in it and arcs. Porcelain costs a couple of dollars more and it is the only correct answer anywhere the room gets warm.
Keyless means no switch on the fixture, so it is controlled by a wall switch or it is always on. Pull chain has the switch built in, which is what you want in a closet or a cage where running a switch leg is not worth it.
Pull chain, and the part that actually breaks
The chain is not what fails, the switch inside is, after a few thousand pulls. You can buy the switch alone for a few dollars and rebuild the socket, or buy the whole socket. On a two dollar difference, replace the socket.
If the light works when you hold the chain a certain way, the switch is done. Do not live with it, that is an arcing contact.
Pigtail holders
A pigtail lamp holder is a socket with leads coming out instead of a mounting base. It goes in a junction box or gets wired into a run, and it is how you light six storage bins off one circuit without buying six fixtures. Cheap, fast, and correct.
Flush mount
Where a bare bulb is not acceptable, a lobby corridor, a laundry room, a tenant hallway, a flush mount ceiling fixture is the answer. LED integrated ones never need a bulb changed, which in a stairwell with a twelve foot ceiling is the whole argument. The ones that take a bulb are cheaper up front and cost you a ladder trip twice a year.
Work lights
A portable LED work light on a stand has replaced the halogen for good reason. Halogen work lights run hot enough to burn you and to scorch anything they touch, and the bulbs blow when knocked. LED runs cool, draws a fraction of the power, and survives being dropped, which is what happens to work lights.
Safety, and where to stop
Replacing a socket, a fixture or a pull chain switch on a circuit you have turned off at the breaker is ordinary maintenance. Running new circuits, touching the panel, or anything in a common area that a code inspection will look at, is a licensed electrician in New York City. If the fixture is scorched or the box is warm, stop and call one.
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