Compact Florescent Light Bulbs Gone Wild!

Originally posted by Glargod
reply to post by nkultra

 

Nothing like a good old light bulb. take a 40W incandescent bulb and voila let there be light

seriously though, have you noticed that the old bulbs are a little tricky to find in stores? They are harmless (unless you unscrew one after it just burnt, then ouch). No high frequencies, No mercury, no fuss starting up, no fire hazard... no problem...

go back to regular bulbs

Thanks very much to the OP on a great thread and a great video.

Just 3 weeks ago the wife and I went out and almost filled a shopping cart with four packs of the good old bulbs.
40's 60's 100's and some 150's got home and stashed them like gold bars in our basement.
They way things are going in the world, we are expecting the light bulb police to do a raid on us any day now :-)

We have never bought a single CFL and we plan to never have one in our home.
S&F
Regards, Iwinder

OP, I don't mean this to be persnickety, but I didn't see any type problem in the glass part of the bulb. It was in the stem part that screws into the ceiling fixture thingie, which honestly looks old and worn out. I would replace that ASAP. And don't turn that switch on again until you do. You could start an electrical fire in the house.

ETA: Put that switch in the "off"position, and put some tape over it to remind everyone it is not to be switched on until it is replaced.

Funny im reading this thread today, My light bulb just like the one in your video, did the exact same thing yesterday, it became extremely bright, then, Poof, lights outs

Originally posted by BellaSabre
OP, I don't mean this to be persnickety, but I didn't see any type problem in the glass part of the bulb. It was in the stem part that screws into the ceiling fixture thingie, which honestly looks old and worn out. I would replace that ASAP. And don't turn that switch on again until you do. You could start an electrical fire in the house.

Here is a link for what really causes them to catch fire, When a regular bulb burns out the flow of electricity gets cut off and you end up with a cool black bulb in a minute or so.
However when a CFL dies the bulb still receives electricity and gets hot.
Link
www.dailymail.co.uk...

Regards, Iwinder

reply to post by Iwinder


Well that's scary! I haven't had one blow yet and I'm not looking forward to it. Now I'm afraid to leave any lights on when I'm gone or sleeping.

Originally posted by 1825114
I've had a cfl bulb "burn out" in a similar way. At least I think it was similar. I wasn't there while it was happening, I just came home to a bad smell and the bulb was out and the plastic base was browned, but not fully melted.

There's this stuff too...

Energy saving bulbs 'release cancer-causing chemicals', say scientists

20th April 2011

Energy saving bulbs emit cancer causing chemicals it was claimed last night as new fears were raised about their safety.
Scientists said they should not be left on for long periods of time or placed close to a person's head because they release poisonous materials...


...They should not be used by adults to read or kept near a child's head all night, the experts said.

While it is already known that harmful amounts of Mercury are released if one of the new 'green' bulbs is broken, the latest research shows other carcinogenic chemicals are emitted when they are switched on.

The German research shows that the chemicals are released as a form of steam

The harmful substances include phenol - a poison injected by the Nazis to kill thousands of concentration camp victims during World War II - and the human toxins naphthalene and styrene...

...Andreas Kirchner, from the Federation of German Engineers, said: 'Electrical smog develops around these lamps. I therefore use them only very economically. They should not be used in unventilated areas and definitely not in the proximity of the head.'

www.telegraph.co.uk...

Their report advises that the bulbs should not be left on for extended periods, particularly near someone’s head, as they emit poisonous materials when switched on......Peter Braun, who carried out the tests at the Berlin's Alab Laboratory, said: “For such carcinogenic substances it is important they are kept as far away as possible from the human environment."
...the German scientists claimed that several carcinogenic chemicals and toxins were released when the environmentally-friendly compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) were switched on, including phenol, naphthalene and styrene.

this one is a very interesting read, I won't quote any of it because I'll end up just quoting all of it...

A New Method of Poisoning Us With Radiation: 'High Efficiency' Light Bulbs

edit on 10-2-2012 by 1825114 because: (no reason given)

Thank you! This is it. In case you don't brake it.
Have one vertically so the tube heats up the plastic and after a while SMELL IT! What a nasty toxic plastic do they use and... why the hell?! Glass or ceramics would be so much better.
I smell a stinking conspiracy. There isn't any alternative to mercury? What about sulfur? It works fine in SULFUR LAMP
Btw electro smog is propably the worse thing than UV rays here. What's so bad on UV? Sure it depends on what UV. UV-A,B, or the worst C, but at least you get some vitamin D
No studies after all?

reply to post by nkultra

Yep, I hate these CFL bulbs. Had one fail two nights ago and when it did, it blew our main circuit breaker. Besides the fact that they don't last as long as they claim and yes -- like yours -- they can go up in flames as well and release toxic fumes, I'm concerned for people whose homes have older wiring and perhaps don't have good fuses or circuit breakers.

Where I live, it's now illegal for retailers to even sell the old-style incandescent globes. I bought a nice stockpile of them before they changed the law but as we began to run low on them I used a CFL for a small light in the living room. That's the one that blew... After maybe six months. I can't recall exactly when one of the incandescent ones last failed but it would be about two years ago. And no flames and smoke; just "blink" and it's gone. No drama.

This is one of those cases where the govt here rushed in too darned quick, jumping on the "save energy" bandwagon (while all our politicians still swan around in gas-guzzling limos) without regard to long-term consequences either to our health or the environment. We manage our power use; we don't leave lights on needlessly and I'd rather help to bear the burden of the extra energy costs than risk the effects of inhaling whatever comes out of a fried CFL.

I'm hoping to upgrade all our lights to LEDS eventually. Much more efficient and longer lasting than these stinking CFLs -- and they don't go up in flames, either.

Mike

reply to post by BellaSabre

Definitely do not leave CFLs on when you're not around and awake. Never mind if they say you get 1,000s of hours from one, the fact is that any light globe can let go at any time and with CFLs it's just not worth the risk. If anyone needs to have a night light in a child's room, for example, use a small led "bulb" if you can't get an incandescent one. Much, much safer than a CFL.

Mike

Originally posted by ChaoticOrder
What you need to do is get a bunch of tiny LED's and put them all together, some of the brightest torches I own are LED torches like that, and they run off a few batteries and last for ages. The small LEDs I'm talking about are like less than a dollar each, you don't need one huge expensive LED. The LED bulbs (with a bunch of small LEDs) shouldn't be so expensive, although I think they require a small transformer, but then again I'm pretty sure CFL's need a small transformer in them too.

edit on 10-2-2012 by ChaoticOrder because: (no reason given)

Just saying the 3-5mm leds won't be as efficient as larger types such as the cree leds. Even at lower power ranges the larger leds will be more efficient, and I'm talking about newer ones. These leds shouldn't even be that expensive either, just have to search around for the best price per lumen. The transformer is for stepping the voltage down from 120v. They do sell 120v leds, but they are leds in series on a single die.

Originally posted by RealSpoke
Planned Obsolescence (products designed to fail for maximum short term profit) is one of the downsides to a market driven economy.

Most of you scream FREE MARKET on here... then once confronted with one of its downsides you complain when it affects you negatively. (And yes I know no country is truly free market blablabla).

Not that I have anything against free markets, I'm just sayin..

edit on 10-2-2012 by RealSpoke because: (no reason given)

edit on 10-2-2012 by RealSpoke because: (no reason given)

planned Obsolescence is NOT a neccesity for a free market, absolutely not. the ONLY reason it is needed is to make the rich even richer,

the claims that industries die people loose jobs and suffer is unfounded and nonsensical,

if you didnt have to purchase that product 10 times a year then you wouldnt have to work as much anyhow,

Mercury is one of the most expensive and dangerous things you can dispose of. If only they could figure out a way to dispose of all that mercury and make a serious buck of it at the same time. Hmmm.



Flouride is one most expensive and dangerous things you can dispose of. If only they could figure out a way to dispose of all that flouride and make a serious buck on it was well. Hmmm....



Depleted Uranium is one of the most expensive and dangerous things you can dispose of. If only they could figure out a way to dispose of all that depleted uranium and make a pile of money on it too. Hmmm.




If you're not familiar with this symbol, it means the food you're buying has been irradiated.

Maybe we should get a tax credit or something for disposing of all this toxic waste for these buggers.

This is why we need government out of our lives. Soon they will make it illegal to buy any other kind of bulb. Do they ever get ANYTHING right?

You can still get regular bulbs cheap here in the grocery store.
In fact they got rid of the ban on lightbulbs I do believe, as an add in to a budget proposal a couple
months ago.

It is just the 100 watts that were phased out here. I never used those anyway.

Originally posted by FugitiveSoul
Why can't we just have wind/solar/tidal energy, or some good old fashioned Tesla "energy from the air tech", so we don't have to worry about "energy costs", and then we can get back to our old school, cleaner burning bulbs?

Because the companies manufacturing the bulbs would lose profits! And politicians would lose out on their campaigning sponsorship donors whose hands are also into the bulb basket.

LED is the future and big business already - that's the only reason why it's still so expansive. We just need more better and cheaper LEDs from China. Let's make LEDs tax-free. But no, you will get a toxic waste emitting ugly light.
You can use and combine various LEDs with specific wavelengths. Perfect sun light imitation is near. Or imagine cheap LED solarium with you sunbathing at your bathtub. No problem. Some of them are used for healing. Another wave lengths inducing photosynthesis are usefull for (cheap) growing plants - check this: GROW LIGHT Survival anyone?
I believe there will be no damn CFLs around in few years. Just spread the word.

That exact kind of bulb happened to me once also. It didn't flare up like that, but melted and smoked. Scary stuff. And to think that these bulbs are supposed to be mandatory in the coming years.


U

Originally posted by Skywatcher2011

Originally posted by FugitiveSoul
Why can't we just have wind/solar/tidal energy, or some good old fashioned Tesla "energy from the air tech", so we don't have to worry about "energy costs", and then we can get back to our old school, cleaner burning bulbs?

Because the companies manufacturing the bulbs would lose profits! And politicians would lose out on their campaigning sponsorship donors whose hands are also into the bulb basket.

Such a shame we're so enslaved to money, isn't it? Something so archaic that we'd rather kill ourselves and stunt the growth of humanity rather than progress into the future and actually become something "special."

reply to post by pryingopen3rdeye


Of course it isn't needed, it's just the realistic outcome of a market driven economy. People are greedy.

Let me know when humanity becomes a utopia

There is a peition against CFL's. I personally am tired of buying all my products from China.There should be more studies conducted on CFL's before we are forced to use them.
More info here: lightbulbchoice

reply to post by JaxCavalera


I also use LED lights, got them from E-bay for a third of the price I see on shops . Normally they should least from 30 000 hours to 100 000 hours, depends on your luck but yes, no bad wavelength , no flicker - just very close to natural good light. But yes, you need at least 15 W of LED light to make it up for a 60 watts old one.