Circuit breaker trips whenever lightbulb blows

Is this normal? DH says it is.

We have lived in our house since last November. Whenever a lightbulb blows, it trips the circuit breaker and all the lights on the floor go out.

DH says this is a good thing because the surge in power when the bulb blows might start a fire.

When I lived in the US, I always lived in apartments with fuses.  For a fuse to blow, you would have to be using a lot of electricity, for example, if one person was blow drying their hair while another was vaccuuming while the air conditioning was on.

Nothing would happen if a lightbulb blew.

Does this have to do with the higher voltage in UK houses?

Obviously I can't speak for all houses but our doesn't....A bulb just blew out last week in the chandelier and we heard it but the rest stayed lite...no problem.

I would be interested to know what else triggers the breaker as ours has never "tripped"

This used to happen in my old house every single time a bulb went. When I say "my old house", I mean old in that I don't live there anymore and also old because it was VERY OLD. In my case it was old wiring that was the problem. I'm not sure what's causing yours, but I've never had this problem in my new more modern house

This happens in our flat (which is a new build, so no electrical issues). My DH also says it is becoming more common for newer flats, at least in our area (Manchester). I'm sure it varies from build to build.

This happens to us 99% of the time...old building & old electrics. It used to be more of a hassle before the landlord installed a breaker box because we had fuses instead and those were getting very difficult to find to be able to repace them.

House was built in the 1980s. No other problems with the electricity. DH thinks that it is a safety feature and it is supposed to do that. Just seems strange to me.

Happens here...and my DH is an electrician-- he says it is normal...never questioned why.

Yeap, happened in my house that as built in 2005, wasn't in the next place long enough to know, happened in my flat build in 1870 - not sure when the electrics were from, but probably refurbished the 1970s, and then happens in this flat built in 2006

hiya

Yes, this is correct in that the circuit 'trips' out in order to prevent a live electrical presence which could start a fire.

The 'electricity' doesn't 'know' it was a light bulb that blew out, it could've been a faulty electric fire for instance - so the circuit is cut completely. Be glad it's working and working well!

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

We've been using the low energy compact fluorescents for about 3 years now, and none of them has blown yet, but back when we had the old type bulbs, they mostly didn't pop a breaker when they blew, but sometimes it would happen. I think it depends if the broken filament inside the bulb happens to form a short circuit (or what looks like one to a breaker).

This used to happen in my old house every single time a bulb went. When I say "my old house", I mean old in that I don't live there anymore and also old because it was VERY OLD. In my case it was old wiring that was the problem. I'm not sure what's causing yours, but I've never had this problem in my new more modern house

Always does, as they are more lightly loaded, in fairly new houses in the UK.  Good thing really.  As said above.  Don