Hi, Guest
12-03-2006, 12:51 PM
This is sort of a mini rant and part warning people that maybe never realized this as I never have either.
I recently while going through costo found a big pack of CFL (compact fluorecent lights), the spiral energy saving lights. So after replacing most of the lights in my house I turned one on. Sparks flew and smoke billowed out of this spiral light, while my wife was screaming at me to turn the damn thing off. Immediatly I had just assumed that being the incapable person I am I couldn't even change a light bulb...
So after we cleared the smoke and looked at the bulb the base, was EXTREMELY HOT, and black looking on one side. Replaced with another bulb and everything was fine....
I did some research and found that some of the CFL's on the market apparently are fire hazards even though they are certified by UL, the components that make them up sometimes are not and those components can fail, sometimes causing fires (rare cases). None the less thse litle energy saving puppies can in fact burn down a house under the right situation.
I found a few places where some make bulbs are documented to be fire hazards and some aren't. So far I can see philips bulbs as being on the safe list, but who knows maybe they just don't sell as much.
Net result here is I've removed all the bulbs from my house that have documented cases of "burning" out from pre-mature failure.
Some net links if your interested, maybe others have something to add here, the first link can tell you which kinds of bulbs reported are definetly a hazard, maye a good idea to swap those out with something else, or keep an eye on them.
http://www.execulink.com/~impact/fluorescent_lights.htm
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2004/12/02/...ires041202.html
I recently while going through costo found a big pack of CFL (compact fluorecent lights), the spiral energy saving lights. So after replacing most of the lights in my house I turned one on. Sparks flew and smoke billowed out of this spiral light, while my wife was screaming at me to turn the damn thing off. Immediatly I had just assumed that being the incapable person I am I couldn't even change a light bulb...
So after we cleared the smoke and looked at the bulb the base, was EXTREMELY HOT, and black looking on one side. Replaced with another bulb and everything was fine....
I did some research and found that some of the CFL's on the market apparently are fire hazards even though they are certified by UL, the components that make them up sometimes are not and those components can fail, sometimes causing fires (rare cases). None the less thse litle energy saving puppies can in fact burn down a house under the right situation.
I found a few places where some make bulbs are documented to be fire hazards and some aren't. So far I can see philips bulbs as being on the safe list, but who knows maybe they just don't sell as much.
Net result here is I've removed all the bulbs from my house that have documented cases of "burning" out from pre-mature failure.
Some net links if your interested, maybe others have something to add here, the first link can tell you which kinds of bulbs reported are definetly a hazard, maye a good idea to swap those out with something else, or keep an eye on them.
http://www.execulink.com/~impact/fluorescent_lights.htm
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2004/12/02/...ires041202.html