My friend Deadenders described this event at his home.
A recently installed CFL in my basement started smoking and glowing red. Would this have caught fire if I had left the lights on? What if I had left the house and not turned off the lights?
Time to raid the old warehouses for incandescent light bulbs.
Thanks Nom for more on these CFLs.
more about “CFL Light Bulb Smoke and Possible fire?“, posted with vodpod
July 26, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Yes and No. Industry will tell you that CFL bulbs do not get hot enough to melt metal or start fires, and that your bulb was smoking because it was burning out: heat builds up in the ballast, causes the smoke; the VDR switch senses the heat & turns off the bulb.
Some homeowners have reported problematic bulbs: here is a site with some descriptions and theories:
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/browse_thread/thread/a9d96c072ecda75d/dca10013a1ea49c4?lnk=raot
However, don’t let the unlikelihood of a fire stop you from ridding yourself of these horrible lamps. They contain hazardous mercury 1, require special disposal, are a health hazard if broken, cost the freaking earth, don’t last as long as they say they will, and give off UV light, sometimes in hazardous amounts.
http://thedermblog.com/2009/06/21/fluorescent-light-bulbs-and-uv-exposure/
About that mercury:
Mercury is mined: cinnabar ore is mined to obtain mercury & mercury is also recovered from mining or refining of metals such as zinc, gold, & silver.
When you support mercury in your products, you also support open pit mining of metals and also coal, because these companies are owned and managed by the same people, eg Barrick Gold, Consol Energy (coal).
Your fluorescent bulb helped to poison groundwater and destroy mountains from Peru to West Virginia.
Not exactly green.
July 26, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Nom, I can’t stand them. I own several old lamps and have had to purchase special inserts in order for those POS bulbs to fit. The slag glass lamps in particular look awful. I knew about the mercury and have always had a problem with how to discard them. Someone is making money.
Green? Not.July 26, 2009 at 5:01 pm
there is some real hope that LED lights will advance soon to the point they can be bright enough and cheap enough.
actually, I like incandescents. the argon gas in them is collected as a byproduct from making liquid oxygen and nitrogen (space industry), it come right out of the air, and it’s inert, not hazardous if broken. & I like the heat from the bulbs in the winter (this past winter my furnace was broke, so every bit helped) and I don’t use light bulbs much in the summer (or run the AC). And argon light is so pretty.
If they outlaw my incandescent bulbs, I’ll use LEDs, or nothing. I freaking well won’t use fluorescents (ugh they are at my work).
July 26, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Nom, I can’t stand the light that comes off LED. I had eye surgery and it is creates the most searing headache for me. Luckily, I live where there is too much light and the fluorescents are not as bothersome. I am installing some skylights that have optical domes which reflect more light with less space in them.
I agree that they produce quite a bit of heat, but my heating bill is always low. Ouch…no furnace? My home is small, so I don’t use much in the way of heating.
July 26, 2009 at 5:40 pm
That’s horrible and interesting at the same time, lol, I haven’t heard that they are a problem before. I’ll have to look it up and find out why.
We bought a couple of LED bulbs, but they just weren’t bright enough so we’re still using incandescents.
July 26, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Funny Nom, it doesn’t bother anyone but me. I can attest to the fact that it has something to do with the surgery because we had used LEDs before.
July 28, 2009 at 3:59 am
I looked for hours trying to find any reference to LED photosensitivity after eye surgery: uniformly everything said these were the least likely to bother eyes. LED light is even used for therapy of eye surgeries. Not doubting you of course! It’s just very interesting! I’m completely at a loss as to how visible spectra light could be more problematic than uv. well, you’ve stumped me. I’ll have to find someone more knowledgeable to ask!
July 28, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Nom, the light where I live is a washout light. Intense. It maybe the extremes in intensity? Who knows? They are cheaper, but I would rather read by candlelight. That is how much I dread them.