Is this an electrical issue?

[Jack B.]

New tenant claims that they replaced the bulb in the downstairs bathroom and it flickered and so did the lights in the hallways outside of the bathroom. Is this an electrical short? What is it? Previous tenant never complained of such an issue. House wiring is NOT knob and tube. For what it's worth, the house I live in also does this sometimes. At least recently with some of the bulbs I replaced a few months ago.

Tenant said it was a 9.5 watt LED bulb when I asked type and wattage. There was an LED bulb in there previously he claimed  when asked, but it wasn't lighting up. He tried it in another socket and it worked. He said he put an incandescent bulb in the bathroom and it just burned out. He put a fluorescent bulb in there and it flickered then turned off.

I could have sworn when I was there a few days ago the light was working fine, I had all the lights one when I was doing a walk through, no issues.

[Account Closed]

@Jack B. So I'm guessing this is a "medium" base screw in light bulb? FWIW these are called E26 or edison base standard. Sometimes when theres been alot of high heat incandescent bulbs used it softens up the center pin (which is the hot or black wire) it may be making bad contact there which can shorten the life of CFL or LEDs. Turn of the light switch and use a small hook and delicately pull it down a little.

The lights should not affect each other as they should be in parallel. That being said there's the possibility of a funky slice in either one of the boxes or a junction box. Wish I could help more.

A little tip...get a small tube of di-electric grease (sometimes) called "no-alox" use it on bulb threads lightly. It might save you of some grief. Property management can be challenging.