WTH? Smoldering CFL?

[Homerboy]

I was in the basement just now, switching over the laundry, and the light went out. I thought "Wow, that's the 1st CFL I've seen burn out." Looked up and it was actually "flickering" slightly, but the base of the bulb was smoldering and smoking?!?? I quick pulled the chain and turned it off. It stunk though. Chemicals and all that.

Never seen or heard of such a thing.... what if I wasn't down there? Fire?!!!? This is a old-school porcelain outlet hanging in the floor joist above my basement..

 

[theflyingpig]

God was looking out for you Gaius. He sent you down there for a reason. Why don't you take another look at that bulb?

 

[edro]

It's your duty to save the planet... even if it burns your house down.

 

[bobdole369]

Yup, blown ballast. Its typically how these blow. I've yet to have one outlast an incandescent bulb. God I hate CFL.

 

[zinfamous]

Congratulations!

You now have mercury poisoning!

 

[bobdole369]

It's your duty to save the planet... even if it burns your house down.

Except they don't save the planet. Cost savings can be equalled with dimming and smart use of lights. Plus if you dim ur incandescents they can last 10-30x as long, far outlasting CFL's.

Oh and all those chemicals that were smelled? Toxic shit man. You really should go see a doctor about all that lead and mercury you just inhaled. The build process for CFL's is quite toxic, except they do it in China, not in the USA.

 

[ussfletcher]

Yup, blown ballast. Its typically how these blow. I've yet to have one outlast an incandescent bulb. God I hate CFL.

They definitely don't seem to live up to the hype.

 

[Firebot]

http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/life/money/article/14680--new-concerns-raised-over-cfl-bulbs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0JFH5BOZwE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad7vhHfjgC0&feature=related



It happens a lot more then you would think but because there's so much money being put into pushing these fire hazards the media barely ever reports it.

Worse if they break

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8I0OIMoqKE&feature=related

 

[Eli]

Except they don't save the planet. Cost savings can be equalled with dimming and smart use of lights. Plus if you dim ur incandescents they can last 10-30x as long, far outlasting CFL's.

Oh and all those chemicals that were smelled? Toxic shit man. You really should go see a doctor about all that lead and mercury you just inhaled. The build process for CFL's is quite toxic, except they do it in China, not in the USA.

Psssst.. The mercury is in the bulb itself, not the ballast. You have to break the glass to be exposed to it.

I've had a few die, never fail catastrophically like that though.

 

[Homerboy]

Yup, blown ballast. Its typically how these blow. I've yet to have one outlast an incandescent bulb. God I hate CFL.

That bulb is approximately 3yrs old, as are all the ones in the basement.
I've replaced A LOT of incandescent in that time.

 

[bobdole369]

Psssst.. The mercury is in the bulb itself, not the ballast.

Oh I know. I'm maximizing FUD.

My company does Lutron installs.... Don't like CFL's

 

[Homerboy]

Except they don't save the planet. Cost savings can be equalled with dimming and smart use of lights. Plus if you dim ur incandescents they can last 10-30x as long, far outlasting CFL's.

Oh and all those chemicals that were smelled? Toxic shit man. You really should go see a doctor about all that lead and mercury you just inhaled. The build process for CFL's is quite toxic, except they do it in China, not in the USA.

I hope you're kidding about seeing a doctor. 10 sec exposure to a nominal smell.... I think I'll live.

So, if that is how they go (smoldering ballast) what exactly IS the risk of fire? Where there is smoke there is fire right?

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Plus if you dim ur incandescents they can last 10-30x as long, far outlasting CFL's.

Bullshit.

 

[dualsmp]

Frequent cycling "on" and "off" for brief periods seems to kill CFL's sometimes even quicker than incandescent. CFL's seem to last longer though if kept on more than a few hours at a time. I personally don't like CFL's but they are ok for utility rooms and basements.

 

[Eli]

Frequent cycling "on" and "off" for brief periods seems to kill CFL's sometimes even quicker than incandescent. CFL's seem to last longer though if kept on more than a few hours at a time. I personally don't like CFL's but they are ok for utility rooms and basements.

CFL's are the worst for basements and utility rooms.. You may as well just leave the incandescents down there, but of course go ahead and replace them with whatever you have available when they burn out.

Lights that are on for only a few minutes at a time make the least sense to change out to CFL, just from a $$ savings standpoint.

 

[dualsmp]

CFL's are the worst for basements and utility rooms.. You may as well just leave the incandescents down there, but of course go ahead and replace them with whatever you have available when they burn out.

Lights that are on for only a few minutes at a time make the least sense to change out to CFL, just from a $$ savings standpoint.

Got some free CFL's from the power company and put them in the basement. The color temperature is pretty horrid for indoor use. But yeah CFL's are hyped and really not worth it, especially if they are a fire hazard.

 

[SparkyJJO]

CFLs work great in lights that are left on a lot. They do last longer there.

CFLs are BAD for lights that get turned on and off a lot. Kills them much faster. Incandescent bulbs are better for that purpose. But don't tell the wackjobs in washington that, since they are slowly banning them over the next few years :thumbsdown:

All that being said, there are still a couple bulbs in the dining room light that were there when we moved into the house 13 years ago, and they still work. That light doesn't get used as much as the others do though. Still, pretty impressive if you ask me. They are those little candelabra bulbs.

 

[bobdole369]

Bullshit.

Once again GA, you are simply wrong.

http://www.lutron.com/Education-Training/LCE/Pages/GreenBenefits.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimmer

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Do_dimmer_switches_reduce_bulb_life

In repeatable tests, bulbs easily last over 30x the typical 1000 hour lifespan.

 

[Homerboy]

Once again GA, you are simply wrong.

http://www.lutron.com/Education-Training/LCE/Pages/GreenBenefits.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimmer

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Do_dimmer_switches_reduce_bulb_life

In repeatable tests, bulbs easily last over 30x the typical 1000 hour lifespan.

But I don't get the point of dimming. I mean sure, the bulb will last longer, but I'll be working in 30% of the light that I need?

 

[SparkyJJO]

But I don't get the point of dimming. I mean sure, the bulb will last longer, but I'll be working in 30% of the light that I need?

But there are plenty of times that you don't need the max light output either.

 

[Mark R]

But I don't get the point of dimming. I mean sure, the bulb will last longer, but I'll be working in 30% of the light that I need?

And dimming also crushes efficiency. Dim an incandescent to 25% brightness, and you'll still be using close to 75% of the energy.

 

[Jeff7]

Bullshit.

Maybe not.

I know it's not quite the same, but if you get an incandescent that's rated for 130V, and run it at 120V, you can get at least 10,000 hours out of it.

Frequent cycling "on" and "off" for brief periods seems to kill CFL's sometimes even quicker than incandescent. CFL's seem to last longer though if kept on more than a few hours at a time. I personally don't like CFL's but they are ok for utility rooms and basements.

Without a doubt. Each power-on damages the electrodes a little bit. Things like programmable ballasts, used for tube-type fluorescents, can extend the bulb life considerably, as their startup process is gentler on the electrodes.

At work, an idea came up, from sources who shall remain nameless, to replace some of our incandescent light-sourced products with CFLs. Given that many customers want to flash our products, this was viewed as a bad idea.
So I set up a test rig to power up a CFL with a relay, then use a photoeye to check if it had turned on properly, and increment a count.

For 3 CFLs, I got counts of about 7000, 16000, and 19000 cycles before the bulb wouldn't turn on anymore. The complete cycle time was about 2.5 seconds, so these things didn't even last a day.
Doing some Mythbusters-style math on that, based on 8000 hours expected lifespan, each power-on takes away around 30-70 minutes of bulb life.

 

[bobdole369]

And dimming also crushes efficiency. Dim an incandescent to 25% brightness, and you'll still be using close to 75% of the energy.

This number is far off.

10% dimming saves 10% power and doubles bulb life
25% dimming saves 20% power and 10x bulb life
50% dimming saves 40% power and 30+x bulb life

 

[bobdole369]

The idea is to find a comfortable balance of lighting to power savings and bulb life.

Even if you use a very good quality (non-walmart, bargain basement deal) CFL you still won't recoup your outlay for them.

Most folks don't notice 10% dimming. 25% dimming is noticeable but not really that bad. Beyond that is almost beyond using.

 

[AlienCraft]

And dimming also crushes efficiency. Dim an incandescent to 25% brightness, and you'll still be using close to 75% of the energy.

It's all just heat in the end.
I heard there is a politician in the UK getting 100w incandescent re-labeled as a "mini-heater" and avoiding the Euro Zone prohibition.