So, a dying lightbulb tripped my circuit breaker yesterday night

[_Rick_]

After my UPSes started screaming at me, I put the breaker back in, and a while later plucked the bulb from the fixture.
It's a screw-in compact fluorescent one, it was in use for slightly more than three years, I'd say around 6 hours daily on average.

It's death therefore came somewhat unexpectedly, these things are supposed to last a bit - not much, but a bit - longer than that.

Now, when I looked the thing over again, I spotted this:

Apparently there was a reason the breaker tripped; the amount of current that flowed to melt/burn a hole through the metal there was probably quite intense. I wonder if it's just a bad contact that brought it down in the end, but I'm not really in the mood to check it out

Also, YAY for UPS, my screens stayed on, and I could casually fetch my phone from the desk, to use as a flashlight at the distributor board, to figure out which fuses to reset. And not hearing all my HDDs spin down suddendly is also comforting.

Evil CFLs will kill you!

 

[gorcorps]

Never heard of casino branded bulbs

Spend the money for a better brand?

 

[_Rick_]

Never heard of casino branded bulbs

Spend the money for a better brand?

That's the French supermarket chain who have a market right next door. Out of convenience, I just picked up on of "their" lamps, and I think that's what I'll do again today, thrusting that one into their hands, to deal with.

I'm not sure paying more is worth much....except maybe they won't burn down my house... :hmm:

 

[Jimzz]

You got over 6000hours of use out of the bulb by your numbers so that is within spec for a CFL, let alone a generic one.

Incandescent is rated for around 500-2000hours depending on brand/type.

 

[dawp]

guess that was a gamble, using casino brand.

 

[gorcorps]

That's the French supermarket chain who have a market right next door. Out of convenience, I just picked up on of "their" lamps, and I think that's what I'll do again today, thrusting that one into their hands, to deal with.

I'm not sure paying more is worth much....except maybe they won't burn down my house... :hmm:

I don't think you'll get much more life out of a better brand, but they shouldn't be arcing out of the side. I'd personally pay more for a bulb that dies at the same time, but without arcing out the side... but that's just me

 

[rudeguy]

OP: where are you from?

 

[manimal]

Rick lives in France so most of the brands will seem foreign to muricans.


glad that didnt cause any bigger problems.

 

[Scarpozzi]

There are only a handful of companies that make CFLs. You can buy a bunch of different brands and they'll all be identical, except for the color of ink and the 'branding' on the side of the bulb.

Chances are, that bulb was made in a communist country. Blame the commies.

 

[_Rick_]

Further analysis of the socket indicates that the arcing didn't happen at the connection, but on the inside of the bulb.
Applying slight torque to the glass part, to see if I can get a glimpse at the insides immediately made the glass splinter apart at the right-angle crossover of the helical part.

Now it's cling-wrapped, waiting for disposal.
My current theory is that the starter just burned through.
Before dying, the lamp dimmed for about a minute or two, and may have made a little noise too, so when it died, that didn't come as a total surprise.

And: nice "gamble" play on words there. But hey, sometimes you lose, and sometimes the house wins!

 

[NoCreativity]

Uh oh. OP broke a CFL. Hope you were wearing a hazmat suit when it happened else you are dying of mercury poison. I'll PM you my address so you can send me your stuff.

 

[Bubbleawsome]

I was about to say that it being 240v was the problem, but I guess it isn't.

 

[natto fire]

Further analysis of the socket indicates that the arcing didn't happen at the connection, but on the inside of the bulb.
Applying slight torque to the glass part, to see if I can get a glimpse at the insides immediately made the glass splinter apart at the right-angle crossover of the helical part.

Now it's cling-wrapped, waiting for disposal.
My current theory is that the starter just burned through.
Before dying, the lamp dimmed for about a minute or two, and may have made a little noise too, so when it died, that didn't come as a total surprise.

And: nice "gamble" play on words there. But hey, sometimes you lose, and sometimes the house wins!

FWIW, CFLs do not have starters, as they use electronic rapid/instant start ballasts. Starters are used in older style magnetic ballasts. I think you are correct, however, that is was the ballast failing which caused the high current draw.

 

[DrPizza]

If you have arc-fault breakers, they may have tripped as a result of an arc inside the circuitry for the bulb, not as a result of too high of a current in the wiring.

 

[Imp]

Sounds like bad luck, but it didn't burn your house down, so yay?

We've been using CFLs forever and never had any major safety issues -- thank goodness -- unless you count some dumbf**k breaking a bulb because he was dragging a cord with bulb attached up the stairs and letting the bulb bounce around.

 

[SunnyD]

In 3.5 years I've only had one CFL bulb die on me so far in the house - out of about 45 of them. And that was about 6 months ago. I'm quite impressed, I didn't expect to get to 2 years with them.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

When the bulb goes the ballast can fry. It can be rather violent.
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/cflbulb.asp
Had one go in a lamp about a foot from my head. It was... unsettling.