Kitchen Ideas Faqs

Why is my fluorescent kitchen light staying ON even when the switch on OFF and even disconnected?

A few days ago the fixture stayed ON when I switched it to OFF and has stayed on at full strength since then. I pulled the fuse today and took out the wall switch, planning to get another and replace it. The light came BACK ON when I replaced the fuse, even with the switch sitting on the table. What should I do?

Public Comments

1. You could have a faulty wire somewhere. Pull the light and check for shorts. What is the layout in your wall box? is the switch connected to the black wires or the white? Should be connected to the black.
2. my first thought is the transformer but I'm not sure
3. Do other fluorescent lights light up as well, if so you may have something in or near your house emitting a strong electromagnetic field. An EMF can light fluorescent bulbs without them being screwed in. Take a fluorescent bulb and get it close to one of those plasma ball things like at Spencer's. When it gets close the bulb will light up. The EMF excites the particles and the bulb lights.
4. It is likely wired so that you have a wire from the switch to the light and the power to the light. If so, have you been nailing in the nearby walls/ceiling recently? You may have shorted that wire.
5. I suspect you have a bad switch, and after the switch was removed, the hot wire was touching the switched wire going to the fixture.