How to Fix Flickering Lights in Your House | Ask This Old House

In this video, Ask This Old House master electrician Heath Eastman demonstrates a variety of ways to troubleshoot and repair flickering lights.

Master electrician Heath Eastman goes over some reasons as to why your lights might be flickering. Flickering lights are a problem most households deal with at some point, so Heath goes over a few common reasons why a light might be flickering and walks you through some basic troubleshooting.

Skill Level: Beginner

Loose Bulb
• To Fix: Thread the bulb tighter.

Bad Socket
• Light bulb sockets can corrode overtime, especially in outdoor fixtures.
• To Fix: With the switch powered off, check and see if the socket is in good condition. If not, it will probably need to be replaced.

Failing Switch
• The metal connections on the light switch may wear overtime, or the one installed might be a defect and never had a properly made connection at all.
• To Fix: Replace the light switch and see if it works. You can swap the switch with one from another room that you know is working to see if it works in the room that’s flickering.

LED Lights
• Some of the newer LED bulbs simply aren’t compatible with older switches, particularly dimmers.
• To Fix: Try to figure out if the current dimmer switch is “LED compatible”. If not, replace it with one that is. Also see if the LED light is a dimmable bulb.

Where to find it?
Heath demonstrated a variety of light switches and fixtures, which can be found at any home center. In general, he recommends checking the switches to ensure they’re up•to•date and operating properly to troubleshoot any issues with flickering lights.

About Ask This Old House TV:
From the makers of This Old House, America’s first and most trusted home improvement show, Ask This Old House answers the steady stream of home improvement questions asked by viewers across the United States. Covering topics from landscaping to electrical to HVAC and plumbing to painting and more. Ask This Old House features the experts from This Old House, including general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, landscape contractor Jenn Nawada, master carpenter Norm Abram, and host Kevin O’Connor. Ask This Old House helps you protect and preserve your greatest investment—your home.

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How to Fix Flickering Lights in Your House | Ask This Old House

[empire]

I've been an electrician for close to 20 years and this video is really simple and effective for a homeowner to fix their own problem. A 4th very common cause would be a loose splice, especially if the house was built in the 70s when aluminum wire was prevalent

[dereklull]

0:55
“I don’t think so Tim” - Al Borland

[dachromedomelisshibalba]

You guys saved my house, the flickering was causing my bulbs to burn up crazy fast, I removed the socket and peered in and saw they were a little corroded, so I filed away at the corrosion, tried again and no more flickering at all!

[Garth]

Yep, the non LED compatible dimmers depend on more current to function correctly. If you have a few LED light fixtures on one non compatible dimmer and they flicker etc., there is a slight work around until you can find the right dimmer switch. Simply have one of the fixtures fitted with a regular bulb and that current draw will usually be enough to get the dimmer to function. We did this in one room as the switch box that housed the older style dimmer doesn't have enough room in it to put the newer dimmer inside it. The newer dimmer is much larger and there's just no room for it so, until we arrange to cut into the plaster wall and put in a correctly sized switch box, this idea works for now.
For those who don't know, LED bulbs interfere with garage door openers and video cameras...be sure to find LED bulbs that are made for those applications.

[pascalmotsoasele]

Excellent video, well done. I particularly appreciate how you guys just went on with the video without editing out the near-blunder where the presenter nearly got electricuted because he neglected to first switch off the power before touching into the socket, a common mistake many of us make

[rolandorojas]

Thanks Heath for saving Kevin's life ha ha ha

[virginia]

I have the senecio where the electrical panel hasn't been gone over in ages. I've found loose or corroded wires there. Tightening with a screwdriver usually fixes most. I've taken an infrared thermometer and found a couple of hot spots. Fuse or breaker itself getting warm. Replacing those usually fixes it. Main did not use de-oxide compound. Aluminum & copper don't get along without it. Found loose wire nuts, but rarely.

[TheGary]

What about the LED light that flickers and the switch is not a dimming style switch?

[johnturowski]

We use LED bulbs in light fixtures that are simply on or off, like in the bathroom or stairwell. For other lights controlled by a dimmer switch, like our dining room, we've gone back to good old incandescent bulbs. No need to mess around with expensive new dimmer switches or flicker issues.

[Laptops]

The lights in my entire house used to flicker anytime you turned the dryer, refrigerator or anything that draws a decent amount of electric on. The box on the outside of my house was completely corroded and filled with water. Electrician came and fixed it and did a total re wire. Problem solved. The annoying part is that the box on the outside of the house is not accessible by anyone except the electric company (at least legally), so it was a process to have them come out with the electrician and get this all fixed. However, none of the lights flicker anymore and the power lines are now safe

[rtel]

Over many years, I have fixed many flickering bulbs by re-tensioning the tongue in the center of the socket with a little hook. They originally are sprung against the bulb, but eventually flatten against the bottom. Sometimes they corrode and a few strokes with a scraping blade, like a chisel, makes them like new. Sometimes the screw shell is fastened with a screw instead of a rivet, so a turn of that loose screw fixes it. Also, before i buy and replace a switch, I just short the wire screws together to see if the flicker stops. If not, it is not the switch.

[rollingthunder]

Like an episode of Tool Time...sticking your finger into a live electrical socket failing to check to see if it is turned off. And these guys are advising me...!!!

[davidjames]

I had an issue years ago when the whole house was flickering, it turned out to be a corroded neutral line outside the house before the meter.

[JonnyDIY]

I had the 3rd one even with a dimmable switch and dimmable led can lights. Happened to be on a 3 light chain. Had same setup on a 2 light switch without problems so I'm thinking had to do with the 3 chained together 🤔

[hankrhill]

Unscrews glowing bulb, immediately sticks finger in socket 😆. That’s why Kevin’s only allowed to carry tools and talk to the audience... dude almost lit himself up.

[jonanderson]

No! You don't have to replace the socket. Just bend the contact out. Problem solved. It's brass and if it has a little corrosion, just take a pencil eraser to it. Good for 5 more years. Not everything has to be replaced.

[chopperboi]

When Heath turned the switch off for Kevin, I had a huge sigh of relief. I know they wouldn't but the video up if Kevin had actually hurt himself, but as soon as he took the bulb out, I kept thinking "Don't reach in there! Don't reach in there!"

[MrTonyBianco]

There’s got to be some other reasons. I have a new energy saving light bulb in one socket and a four foot shop light in another, both off the same switch. The energy saving bulb, which is new, occasionally will flicker a couple times, inconsistently, but most times stays on without doing that. The bulb is in tight and there’s no signs of corrosion in the socket. They are located in the garage and there’s no way any rodents could be in the ceiling, plus this happens without any other things running. Only the energy saving build that was given by the electric company does this. Also the same symptoms have been happening in my daughters home after I installed a couple of these light bulb’s there. Again, most times they stay on without any flicker, just occasionally they will flicker a few seconds, sometimes just once and sometimes they will do it a couple times in a row. One outlet in my daughters home looks like some is sending Morse code, but then it will stop and not usually act up for a long time. One more thing, this does not occur when I use the old fashioned type of light bulbs. Personally I think that there is something wrong with these bulbs! I’m 65 and maybe things have changed, but I was always taught that turning a light on and off not only wears the bulb down, but also consumes more energy, uses more power, which would make me believe that these new energy saving light bulbs are not as good as they say.

[patrickgr]

👌 my house built some time in the 1940-50s is full of these issues. Doing any electrical work is never a good day. Thanks for all the great videos!

[dennislacroix]

What's worse is when its not any of those issues and it's instead caused by a high load like a washing machine causing the voltage to fluctuate.