How To Remove A G9 Light Bulb Stuck In Socket

A G9 light bulb is quite a popular choice of bulb for use in fancy fixtures and chandeliers, and you will come across them around various unassuming places in your home.

You might also find these little bulbs in appliances such as inside the microwave oven, and sometimes you might need to replace them.

The easiest way to remove stuck G9 bulbs is to give them a strong tug or rocking motion, and pull them straight out. If the bulb is burned and welded in, then breaking it to grip the base by nose pliers is usually the quickest way to unstuck them.

Why Are G9 Fittings Problematic?

The G9 bulb is quite small. The LED alternative is only about 6 cm high. In comparison, the conventional halogen bulb is even smaller at around 4 cm high, smaller than a pen cap!

So it’s no wonder it is hard to reach, hard to grip, and even harder to insert or pull. Good luck if you have even slightly thicker fingers.

Moreover, G9 bulbs are usually used in tight and hard to reach spaces like under cabinet lights or in special accent lights and fancy fixtures.

You will most likely find the little G9 bulbs in modern ceiling fixtures inside small glass globes or cubes or other shapes, in multiples.

Additionally, you will likely also have them under the kitchen cabinet where they are installed inside the small puck lights that light up the counter. Those also utilize the G9 bulbs.

How To Replace The G9 LED Bulb?

So has your G9 halogen bulb run out of juice and is no longer working?

The lifespan of these little halogen bulbs is not very long. It is only about 3000 hours, so it is likely they will burn out sooner, rather than later.

Alternatively, perhaps you are looking to change your G9 halogen bulb to replace it for an energy-efficient G9 LED bulb instead.

LEDs can last around 30,000 hours and easily save you enough money in the long run, while also running considerably cooler than halogens.

In either case, rest assured, once you have replaced and installed your preferred LED G9 bulb, you may not need this guide for a long time as those LED bulbs will not need to be replaced anytime soon!

Nor, thankfully, are LEDs sensitive to becoming easily greasy and damaged.

Halogen bulbs can easily get damaged if touched with bare fingers, so you need to wear gloves to avoid touching them. That normally just adds to the slippery grip on the already tiny bulb.

One thing you must keep in mind is double-check that maximum wattage mentioned on the fixture, so when you buy your new LEDs, they will not exceed that wattage.

Of course, the watts used by an LED are so low that you will most likely not have this issue. For example, a 25 Watt halogen bulb can be replaced by a 2.5 Watt bulb for the same brightness.

Coming to the process of replacing your current G9 bulb, LED G9s are a simple push-fit type of insertion.

The G9 bulb has two small metallic prongs, long u-shaped wires, at the base, which are quite thin, and these slides and clicks or snap into place inside the socket of the fixture.

While installing the new bulb, you simply insert the pins into the fixture’s socket. The pins don’t have one orientation, so if it is not sliding in easily, you just try to turn the bulb around and insert it again.

Now, because halogen G9 bulbs can run pretty hot when on, they are fitted behind a screwed glass cover, and are only accessible by unscrewing the cover, or unloading the sprong holding the cover in place.

This is especially the case with table lamps and other lights in reach of anybody who can accidentally touch it and burn themselves.

So definitely turn off the halogen G9 before you touch it, and in fact, wait around 15 minutes for it to cool down before you touch it with gloved hands.

Yes, it heats up that much, and in the process, eats up that much more energy and electricity to light up! LEDs, on the other, use a fraction of that.

What To Do With A Stuck Bulb Capsule In The Fitting?

It could very well be that the small slippery bulb has become stuck inside one of your fixtures or lamps. A lot of people seem to face this problem.

It seems a halogen G9 can also fuse or blow out, sometimes welding into the socket, and then the only solution is to change the whole fixture.

In this extreme case, a solution most people suggest is simply breaking the glass body of the bulb, applying some vinegar to the corroded base, and using nose pliers to pull out the wires and base altogether.

Make sure to have a can or cover the fixture with a plastic bag before you smash the glass, else it will go flying everywhere, and you will have another problem on your hands.

Using WD-40 (Amazon) is also another effective and quick way to loosen up the stuck bulb, whether through age or through a short fuse. WD-40 can be used on light fixtures, and it evaporates very quickly.

But that’s not a very common case. Let’s say your G9 was working okay, but now you need to remove it, and it simply refuses to budge.

The most straightforward way to take out a G9 bulb is just that: straight! You need to pull the bulb straight out and down (or up, depending on the orientation of the fixture), and it should simply slide out.

Sometimes, however, these prongs can become bent or unaligned at the time of insertion, so while taking the bulb out, you might find that it is not budging or coming out.

Giving the bulb a good twist, jiggle, or rocking motion will help the bulb come out. The halogen bulb glass covering is quite durable, so don’t be afraid to get a good grip and pull hard.

But obviously, use your best judgment and not squeeze very hard and do glove up in case of breakage.

Final Words

Those were a few easy ways to make sure your old G9 is out of the way to allow a superior LED replacement to be installed.

Where have you seen your G9 bulbs installed?

How have you tried to remove them, and have you been successful?