Compact fluorescent bulbs...BEWARE...

[zieg72 209]

My dad has slowly converted most of his incandescent bulbs with the compact fluorescent. Anyway a lamp used in his family room that is only on when he is watching TV, maybe 3 hours a day average over a 6 month period, more this time of year because it gets dark so soon. The lamp was flickering some and he started smelling something, just then sparks started flying hitting him and bouncing off his head, the table with newspapers on it. He then as quick as a 72 year old could unplugged the lamp. It took 10 minutes before it was cool enough to touch the bulb and it ruined the socket it was in and surely would have started a fire if he wouldn't have acted so quickly... I am going to write whoever will listen to its potential fire hazard. I wanted to warn my favorite forum friends to not leave any unattended. I took the bulb in case UL was interested and wanted to look at it after I try to contact them...

Feel free to copy and paste it to an email and forward it along

[stevasaurus 23,274]

WOW...lucky he was there when it happened. I have some of them in my house, and now I will be watching. Please keep us informed.

One question...was it a new bulb that had been recently replaced, or one that was there for some time.???

thanks for sharing :ychain:

[zieg72 209]

WOW...lucky he was there when it happened. I have some of them in my house, and now I will be watching. Please keep us informed.

One question...was it a new bulb that had been recently replaced, or one that was there for some time.???

thanks for sharing

He went from an incandescent to the fluorescent in most of his fixtures. He would buy them when they came on sale or with rebates. He really likes Menard's. This was a 23 watt bulb only in service for only about 6 months. I did report this with UL and I will post whatever results are found out.

[DMK855 15]

Zieg, I had one over our kitchen sink in our old house that did the same thing!! It also melted the socket in the recessed fixture. Needles to say, it happened while I was home and smelled it right away!! Thankfully it didn't happen while we were away or in bed, as that light was our "nightlight" so to speak!!

Very glad it all turned out ok for your dad!!!

[HorseFixer 2,013]

YIKES! I like the florecent energy saving idea but with the compact florecent I think they are trying to squeeze 20 lbs of #$&* in a 10lb bag with the addition of a minature ballast starter or whetever in sams hill is in there. At the Jail my crew replaces 30 bulbs a day 365 and we are now 100% switched over to T-8's and electronic ballasts the bulbs we have found last 5 years compared to 1 year with T-12 Bulbs. The technology is proven but I am not so sure with compact flo bulbs!

zieg72 Glad yer dad is okay and didnt encounter too much damage!

~Duke

[zieg72 209]

No, my dad just shrugged it off and threw the bulb in the trash. I dug it out knowing that people may loose their house not to mention their life should something happen while sleeping. I have several throughout my house but none are left on un-attended. I have a lot of recessed lighting on dimmers and ceiling fans with the same so I am waiting for the LED's to come down in price. I have not had a lot of luck with the life of them either.

[wallfish 18,072]

Went over my 80 year old mother in law's house a couple of months ago and the house smelled like something was burning. We couldn't find the source so we called the fire dept. It was one of those lights on the 2nd floor that she hardly ever uses.

The electric company just came out 2 weeks ago and changed ALL of ours for free. They are going to come out this weekend. It sure isn't very green when you have to replace your house and possibly kill your family.

[Operator 7]

This is good information, thanks Carl. I use them outside in our yardlights and I can get years out of them, I put the install date on the base. No problems, yet.

Inside the house I have one by my recliner here. But that is the one we leave on if we won't be home before dark! But not anymore, my two dogs watch the house and couldn't dial 911.

I wonder if this problem is only on certain wattage ones?

Randy

[WheelHorse_of_course 99]

1) What brand?

2) Did it have a UL hologram label?

3) It is not just CFLs. I had a light fixture that did the same thing. It was 6 years old and the insulation on the wires in it had disintegrated and fallen off.

4) Next time you hear talk of "tort reform" keep in mind that the risk of unknown damages in a law suit is the last protection to consumers from companies willing to engage in risky behavior.

5) Make sure you have insurance. Your insurer is better equipped to fight (sue) the manufacturers than you are.

:ychain:

[mowerman1193 42]

Well I switch my whole house over to those about 1.5 years ago and I learned real quick to not buy the cheapys at Menards. They all burned out within 6 months. Consumers energy came to my kids school and handed out box's of energy saving items last year. The box contained a glowing type of night light, a shower head and 2 of the compact lights. They lit up a lot faster than those I had got at Menards. I can't off the top of my head remember the brand they gave me but I will get it if any have interest. But I put all new ones in and knock on wood they have been great. Also like to mention that I did get a couple of the Menards ones that smelled hot just before they quit working.

LED is certainly the way to go when and if they can get the price down to reasonable.

Thanks for the heads up.

Kevin

[rmaynard 16,291]

Two weeks ago, my wife and I were sitting in the family room watching TV when the smoke detector went off. I jumped up to see what was the cause and saw one of our light fixtures on the ceiling flickering, then it flashed and made a couple of sparks.

Here is a picture of what I found. This is a CFL bulb that had been installed for about 2 years.

Where the glass tube comes out of the base, you can see that the plastic is melted and brown.

Anyone that uses these hazardous bulbs should check every one that they have for signs of heat damage before they cause a fire.

I'm glad I was home when this happened.

Bob

[mowerman1193 42]

You know a thought just crossed my mind about these getting hot. I remember seeing on the packages about not putting these in a closed lamp as they will get hot and melt. So I have to ask where did you have them installed? In a confined area perhaps where they cannot get enough air flow around them to help keep them cool?

Also they now have these inside of a bulb that looks just like a regular bulb. I wonder how those work since they are enclosed in that glass bulb considering they have the warning on the others about not enclosing them. I always thought that was a pretty dumb move. Maybe I am missing something here but that sort of like talking backwards LOL

Kevin

[rmaynard 16,291]

You know a thought just crossed my mind about these getting hot. I remember seeing on the packages about not putting these in a closed lamp as they will get hot and melt. So I have to ask where did you have them installed?

It was in a ceiling fixture that was closed. However, I have the packaging that the bulb came in and no where in any of the instructions does it mention placement. The exception is that it says if used outdoors, it must be in an enclosed, watertight fixture.

Bob

[zieg72 209]

1) What brand?

2) Did it have a UL hologram label?

3) It is not just CFLs. I had a light fixture that did the same thing. It was 6 years old and the insulation on the wires in it had disintegrated and fallen off.

4) Next time you hear talk of "tort reform" keep in mind that the risk of unknown damages in a law suit is the last protection to consumers from companies willing to engage in risky behavior.

5) Make sure you have insurance. Your insurer is better equipped to fight (sue) the manufacturers than you are.

Brand unknown, but it does have a UL listing. After I sent the post I reported it to UL via their website email address. There was a message when I got home today and 2 follow up emails. They want me to send the bulb in. I will let you all know what their findings are. As far as location it was a table top lamp with plenty of air around to keep it cool. I know I will be stocking up on the old ones for sure.

[zieg72 209]

You know a thought just crossed my mind about these getting hot. I remember seeing on the packages about not putting these in a closed lamp as they will get hot and melt. So I have to ask where did you have them installed? In a confined area perhaps where they cannot get enough air flow around them to help keep them cool?

Also they now have these inside of a bulb that looks just like a regular bulb. I wonder how those work since they are enclosed in that glass bulb considering they have the warning on the others about not enclosing them. I always thought that was a pretty dumb move. Maybe I am missing something here but that sort of like talking backwards LOL

Kevin

I bought 2 R35 type for a recessed fixture. One didn't last a month while the other is still holding in there. The LED ones seem to be the way to go, just waiting for the cost to come down to earth...

[puddlejumper 67]

You guys are making me nervous just changed all mine over whithin the pst year.

[Raider 2]

Every light fixture and lamp comes with a label listing the appropriate bulb type and wattage to use. Most DO NOT list compact fluorescent bulbs for use (or LED for that matter). The campaign to change out incandescent lamps for CFs has not been forward about this.

[Duff 206]

Guys, I just did a little internet research and came up woth two interesting articles.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/cflbulb.asp

http://synergylightingusa.com/cfl-light-bu...pose-fire-risk/

I was surprised to learn that the end of life failure of some of the bulbs actually involves a small "fire" in the base that's part of the safety mechanism. Seems counterintuitive to me, but I'm no engineer. The other points were not to use them in a circuit controlled by a dimmer unless specifically designed for that application, and to be very careful using them in enclosed fixtures.

I'll be very interested to see what UL reports back on the one Kevin is sending in for testing. It does appear that the "Globe" brand has had some problems.

Duff :ychain:

[WheelHorse_of_course 99]

Every light fixture and lamp comes with a label listing the appropriate bulb type and wattage to use. Most DO NOT list compact fluorescent bulbs for use (or LED for that matter). The campaign to change out incandescent lamps for CFs has not been forward about this.

This label specifies maximum wattage and is required due to limit the amount of heat as that can effect the fixture itself.

Not relevant to the discussion.

[WheelHorse_of_course 99]

Guys, I just did a little internet research and came up woth two interesting articles.

I was surprised to learn that the end of life failure of some of the bulbs actually involves a small "fire" in the base that's part of the safety mechanism. Seems counterintuitive to me, but I'm no engineer.

A fuse blowing is a "small fire".

There is also a "small fire" every time you turn off a light switch.

Safe design requires making sure such "small fires" are:

A - Small

and

B - Contained in a way that the heat can be safely dissipated.

That said, a CFL is a small appliance. It consists of a fluorescent lamp combined with ballast.

Those who have been around traditional fluorescent fixtures know that ballasts eventually go. The transformer style ballasts make really nasty smoke when they go!

As everyone has said, LEDs will be a much more elegant solution - eventually. However CFLs are NOT a new technology, I have been using them for over 20 years. The ones available now are a LOT cheaper than they used to be. That may be a factor in reduced reliability.

It will be very interesting to see what UL says. I know that UL changed to hologram stickers (as have the sports franchises) because of counterfeits.

Frankly, I wish they would raise our taxes so that the government could once again be equipped to protect our safety, but I am told that the miracles of the unfettered free market will protect us evidence notwithstanding.

:D

[Raider 2]

Every light fixture and lamp comes with a label listing the appropriate bulb type and wattage to use. Most DO NOT list compact fluorescent bulbs for use (or LED for that matter). The campaign to change out incandescent lamps for CFs has not been forward about this.

This label specifies maximum wattage and is required due to limit the amount of heat as that can effect the fixture itself.

Not relevant to the discussion.

Look a little closer at that label, it lists the lamp (bulb) TYPE as well as wattage. Most table lamps and light fixtures list the type "A" incandescent lamp primarily (your old fashioned light bulb). This is 100% relevent to the discussion as fixture fires are very common and very often caused by improper lamping of the fixture.

Lamp design has as much to do with heat as wattage, that is why reflector type lamps are required in most recessed incandescent fixtures. They reflect light AND heat downward out of the fixture.

Recessed lights commonly require Type "R" "PAR" or "MR" lamps, enclosed fixtures almost always require a type "A" or "B" lamp and the only enclosed or recessed fixtures I have seen that are designed for compact flourescent lamps have a remote ballast built into the fixture and accept a pin-base lamp not the screw in base.

...and I have seen a LOT of light fixtures :ychain: