Hi

Embarrassingly I appear to have been outsmarted by a light bulb. We have spotlights all over the house, the type where you twist the internal metal ring and they drop down – no problem. The type with the little metal clip thing holding them in, mastered them too. However, in the bathroom I have had a bulb go and can’t work out for the life of me how to change it. Its on of those GU10 bulbs, no clip, no metal ring to twist, the entire light fitting pulls out of the ceiling about 1.5 inches, there is a rubber washer between the back of the fitting and the ceiling, when I pull the fitting down I can see there is a spring mounted clip holding the fitting inside the ceiling, there doesn’t see to be any way to open the unit or get the bulb out. I’ve tried youtube and can’t find anything that looks like this.

Anyone had similar, what am I missing? I can’t have to rip this out and then patch up the ceiling to replace a bulb surely

Our kitchen spots are sealed units. When the lamp part dies, you replace the whole thing. Seems hugely wasteful but there you have it.

Some of the bulbs are flush or recessed and have a bayonet type fitting. They require a suction cap to press on the glass of the bulb in order to push it up against a spring in order to twist it a bit so it can pop out. They are a right royal pain in the preverbial

EDIT just checked. Yep, those GU10  bulbs are bayonet fitting. Press and rotate 30 degrees anticlockwise to remove. Simple if you can grip the bulb. Very hard if it is recessed in a fitting (hence use of a suction cap to enable you to turn it whilst pressing it into the fitting

Some of the bulbs are flush or recessed and have a bayonet type fitting. They require a suction cap to press on the glass of the bulb in order to push it up against a spring in order to twist it a bit so it can pop out. They are a right royal pain in the preverbial

It won’t be (or at least it shouldn’t be to meet regs) that style in a bathroom. In our bathroom, we have ones that sound similar to the OPs – you have to carefully pull at the metal surround to bring it away from the rest of the casing but sometimes it all comes out together – I think they are this slightly different design to ensure they have protection from moisture.

GU10s are absolute ****s it they are recessed or flush with the fitting.  Whoever designed the one in our kitchen should be fed to a leopard.

Wet room ones can be sealed units, to prevent dangly wires should a bulb fall out in a room with water. You’ll likely have to pull the fitting out.

Well, our bathroom ones certainly were. Two bloody strong springs keeping it in place. Hefty pull should get it out.

Ours you could then replace the bulb once the unit was out. Right pain in the bum.

it might just be the bulb is held in to the fitting by its pins. You have to turn it to disengage its bayonette, with zero leverage. A sucker on the glass might be able to do it, or might not.

basically turn the bulb (not the fitting) 1/4 turn anti(maybe) clockwise

Stopped fitting cheap diy store  downlights ages ago and swapped to these https://www.jcc.co.uk/en_GB/about/v50

I used to have some GU10 lamps in a bathroom where the bezel formed the waterproof seal, so you unscrewed it to access the bulb.

Embarrassingly I appear to have been outsmarted by a light bulb.

It is a globe, not a bulb 😉

I’ve never had much luck with those rubbery/plasticky suction cups, but sometimes wetting my fingers a bit has given me enough ‘friction’ against the glass to get the GU10 to turn in its fitting. Shite design, frankly.

Same as @flaperon Bayonet type where you just need to turn it a bit to release it. Mine have a rubber seal under the bezel too so if it’s been there a while it will possibly be a bit stiff. Use your fingertips to push up and twist anti-clockwise a 1/4 turn. The bezel on mine also has glass attached so if yours is the same don’t be tempted to try and push the glass. Put pressure on the surround only.

I have those ones bruneep linked to in my dining room

While it does seem wasteful that the whole unit needs replaced – I also remember that I fitted led bulbs to the rest of the house when I moved in 12 years ago and have replaced none.

As mentioned above, it is likely to be a sealed fitting that cannot be repaired. Lots of them are around now. A really poor idea IMO, if one goes after 2 years, it is going to be difficult to get another one to match.

if one goes after 2 years, it is going to be difficult to get another one to match.

Sounds great if your business is selling light fittings…

Those suction cups are useless. Get a Marigold on and use the friction on the glass front to twist with a gentle push upwards. Works a treat.

The lightbulb has to want to change

Update

As mentioned above giving the thing a pull the whole unit comes out and it looks like there is no way to open it, it needs a full replacement fitting. This is the first bulb of the 4 to go and its been at least 5 years so not all bad

If it’s in one of the wet zones in the bathroom i.e above the bath you’ll need to replace it with a fitting that has the correct IP rating

This is the first bulb of the 4 to go and its been at least 5 years so not all bad

The whole lighting system being throw-away is pretty bad isnt it really. I thought we were living in a century where that sort of thing is frowned upon. How do things like this get off the drawing board?

What do you want it to change into?

To be fair, a totally sealed unit is little more than a lamp plus a couple of spring clips.  You’re not really throwing away any more than you would be if it was just the lamp that you were replacing.