Making Vent Hood Lamps Work
How to deal with and prevent future stubborn vent hood lamps.
The lamps on modern vent hoods are often PAR lamps that are flush with the metal housing, making them harder to grab hold of to remove. Plus, because of the moisture given off while cooking, the threads on the base of the lamps get rusted/oxidized inside the socket. First, try to remove the stuck lamp by spraying WD-40 in the crevice around the lamp base. After the glass lamp face has dried, use a pair of rubber gloves to push it up and twist to remove it.
To prevent this problem in the future, apply some antioxidant compound to the threads of the new lamp base. This will prevent rust in this socket and act as a lubricant. Antioxidant compound has many different names, but it’s the stuff that electricians use when connecting aluminum conductors at the service-meter base to prevent oxidation. The next time you remove that lamp, it will come out easily.
—March Coover, Dallas, Texas
Edited by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #283
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