WTH? Smoldering CFL?

[Jeff7]

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.

Well they technically are more effective at generating heat than usable light.

 

[Mark R]

This number is far off.

This number was based on my own measurements using a 150 W halogen lamp.

 

[WHAMPOM]

Transitory tech, as we go to LED's. Prices are about where the first CFL's came on the market.

 

[bobdole369]

This number was based on my own measurements using a 150 W halogen lamp.

Note that Halogen lamps are not incandescent, and suffer the horrific dim/power req that you mention.

 

[Mark R]

Note that Halogen lamps are not incandescent

Of course they are.

 

[slag]

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.

I've had 4 fail to the point where they were smoldering and stinking horribly. They are junk for the most part. The base of one of the bulbs was glowing red where it was on fire and slowly smoldering. If we hadn't been home, who knows what could have happened.

 

[Brainonska511]

Hm... I've been using CFLs for years in my floor lamps and have yet to see a problem. Anecdotal evidence says you're all crazy.

 

[bobdole369]

Of course they are.

Yeah but in name only. Electrically they are different.

 

[Eli]

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?

You wouldn't dim it when you needed full light, obviously.

I still think CFL's are the way to go.

I'm not generally for regulations, but it will only take one high profile house fire caused by a CFL to create some regulations regarding them, I bet. It might not be overall a bad thing.

LED's will be the future, and they've made some amazing advances in the last 10 years, but they still have a while to go. The fluorescent bulb has been around for quite some time now - it's a mature technology - and as long as the components used to build the ballast are of high quality, they should last their rated life. Cheap components is just a "cheap manufacturer" issue. I wonder if there are websites reviewing CFL bulbs and their innards.

:hmm:

 

[zzuupp]

Instead of regulation, maybe a beefier "UL" type of rating