Here’s a story that suggests that they can. Like any poorly manufactured or quality controlled product, failures can occur. But with CFL bulbs, there’s additional things that can go wrong over the simple and century long proven incandescent bulb. Read on and see below for some technical details on CFL bulbs. Some “explosive” video also follows. – Anthony
Via American Thinker: A compact fluorescent light (CFL) on the ceiling burst and started a fire in a home in Hornell, N.Y. December 23, 2010. “Those are the lights everybody’s been telling us to use,” said Joe Gerych, Steuben County Fire Inspector. “It blew up like a bomb. It spattered all over.” Fire Chief Mike Robbins said the blaze destroyed the room where the fire started and everything in it, and the rest of the house suffered smoke and water damage. The Arkport Village Fire Department as well as the North Hornell Fire Department required about 15 minutes to put out the fire. Link
“Bulb explodes without warning,” reported NBCactionnews.com, May 21, 2010.
“Tom and Nancy Heim were watching TV recently, when Tom decided to turn on the floor lamp next to his recliner chair. ‘I heard this loud pop…I saw what I thought was smoke, coming out of the top of the floor lamp,’ says Tom. Nancy suddenly found glass in her lap. She says, ‘I did not see it. I just heard it, and I noticed I had glass on me.'” Link to story
On February 23, 2011, TV NewsChannel 5 in Tennessee covered “a newly-released investigators’ report that blames a February 12 fatal fire in Gallatin on one of those CFL bulbs.” Ben Rose, an attorney for the rehabilitative facility in which Douglas Johnson, 45, perished, said, “This result is consistent with our own private investigation. …We have heard reports of similar fires being initiated by CFLs across the country.” Link
…
October 5, 2010 the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported: “Trisonic Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs Recalled Due to Fire Hazard” because of four incidents. It’s official notice states: “Hazard: light bulb can overheat and catch fire.” Link
Concerns about the toxic mercury in CFLs are downplayed by the bulbs’ advocates, but they shouldn’t be. According to EPA and other sources, the safe limit is 300 nanograms per cubic meter. When a broken CFL was reported in Maine, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection did the most extensive testing in the nation to evaluate the health risk. Its 160-page report is shocking:
Mercury concentration in the study room air often exceeds the…300 nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3) for some period of time, with short excursions over 25,000 ng/m3, sometimes over 50,000 ng/m3. Link
Full story at the American Thinker
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Some things you may not know about CFL bulbs.
1. They have a built in switching power supply, or “ballast” like full sized fluorescent tubes. But they are not encapsulated or “potted” like those ballasts. See below for an inside view of a CFL base.
2. Capacitors, like the black one shown above, can sometimes fail catastrophically
3. The standard fluorescent lamp ballast can fail. Leaving burned-out lamps in the fixture, using the wrong size lamps, incorrect wiring, incorrect line voltage, operation at temperatures below or above the rated limits, power surges, and even the age can all cause a ballast to fail.
However, not all ballasts fail and stop functioning. Many overheat. Because a failing ballast can get extremely hot, it can become a fire hazard. All modern magnetic ballast designs have an internal temperature sensor that shuts the ballast off it gets too hot. In most designs, when the ballast cools off, the sensor will allow the ballast to turn back on. A fixture where some or all of the lamps shut off by themselves and later come back on is probably a fixture with a failing ballast. However, as shown above, these sorts of ballasts are usually encapsulated, and if a component fails, is contained within.
4. CFL bulbs, being replacements to incandescents, can be closer to things that can catch fire, such as upholstery (a table lamp). Not being fully encased (many CFLs have vent holes for the power supply) they can throw sparks when they fail. They can also breach the plastic case they are enclosed in.
5. CFLS, like any lightbulb, are fragile. However most incandescant bulbs don’t do this when cracked:
This video seems a bit extreme, and I wondered if it was “helped along” like NBC did with the model rocket motors taped to gas tanks fiasco. Though, here’s a news story from Chicago about what happens if homeowners ignore the warning about dimmer switches:
LED lighting is the way to go, in my opinion and experience. See how I retrofitted the biggest power suckers in my own home here:
Swapping my lights: fantastic!
Of course, you can always use your old CFL ballast to make a Jacob’s ladder:
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h/t to Bob Ferguson at SPPI who has this section on mercury issues:
http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/mercury/
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Yup, and they might give you cancer too…if not by the X-rays emitted, then by the chemicals released during routine use?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/8462626/Energy-saving-light-bulbs-contain-cancer-causing-chemicals.html
10 watt LEDS seriously heat up. If for some reason the heatransport fails it’ll also catastrophically fail. The danger lies in the fact that the average buyer doesn’t know this and could well install such a led near an inflammable.
Lesson: Whichever form of power, always count with part of that power being dissipated as heat.
This article from DownUnder gives a lot of detail about ballast failures, and the reasons why you should NOT use CFL’s with dimmer switches:
http://www.sound.westhost.com/articles/incandescent.htm
I’ve used CFL’s since 2001. One caught fire in the ceiling fixture. Fortunately I was in the room when it started to smoke, and managed to extinguish the flames before it spread.
I have CFL’s in most sockets in the house and in some outdoor lights. The outdoor units run 8 hours per day and last about 2 years, or about 6000 hours. Not bad. Some indoor units fail after 2 years, but some of them run only an hour a week or an hour per day. In these cases, the failure mode appears to be infant mortality, perhaps from poor quality electronic components. I have a small box full of dead CFL’s now. I also have incandescent bulbs in closets that have not been changed for at least 10 years. They run so infrequently that replacing them makes no sense.
I am still waiting for a 1000 lumen LED bulb price to drop by a factor of 10. Maybe by 2015 or so…
Hoard incandescent lights until our betters get the message…
11:30 at night, winter. Had CFL in bedroom start sizzling. Very strong odor (mercury?).
Winter, so couldn’t open windows for hours. Went to sleep. Only hope no health issues arise.
I am not sure how common this is but I had a CFL explode about 6 months ago, the envelope blew apart but there was no fire. The reminants mostly just the base section was left in the socket put was exceedingly hot as was the socket, it was a normal central hanging lamp, anyone else?
Alex
REPLY: Probably a capacitor explosion – Anthony
I’ve had several of the 100W replacements fail, but they’ve never “exploded” – some molten brown goop oozes out of the housing where the curly tubes penetrate. For fear of fire, I never leave CFLs on when the house is unattended. Those electrolytic capacitors will explode quite nicely if they’re installed backwards (reverse polarity) at the factory.
Also pay close attention to whether the CFL can be used in an enclosed fixture. I’ve had two explode in my house, one in an enclosed shower fixture and another in a wall box with vents (lights up a stairwell). There was a warning on the box, but foolishly they printed it on the inside cover – in a spot that is easily ripped when trying to get into the box.
LEDs are not CFLs filled with mercury….different product entirely.
All about aluminum electrolytic capacitors:
http://www.cde.com/tech/reliability.pdf
Amazing how the government wants to regulate a harmless trace gas in the air, necessary for all life on earth, but is also encouraging Americans to put mercury containing bulbs all over the house!
The flyback powered Jacob’s ladder was fun. It should be noted the source of the really high voltage comes from the flyback, not the CFL ‘ballast’. That provides a pulsing source of pretty low voltage to the primary of the flyback. So, arriving at the conclusion that CFL ballasts can directly produce maybe 10 kV is not correct.
Tom Bakewell KE7AVZ
REPLY: The CFL ballast makes the high frequency AC needed to drive the flyback transformer, I never said it made the whole high voltage for the JL – Anthony KA9NWM
Mercury does not have an odor, but if you get the urge to wear a felt derby or other hat, you might want to get your blood tested.
In the electronics industry about a year ago, some Chinese companies were taking under voltage or under sized capacitors that cost less and enclosed them in a larger case with a higher rating on them. Some of the pictures showed a small part inside a larger can. Another problem to watch out for is floor sweepings. Those are parts that for some reason didn’t meet specifications and are sold at a discount. In the hobby market they can be fine because the designs often don’t put the part very hard but in the commercial market they can be dangerous.
Our company avoided this problem by being careful about our vendors but we still ran into an IC with one date code that was bad. Any board we received with that date code had all of those chips replaced even if they hadn’t failed yet.
I was replacing the incandescent bulbs in my house with CFL’s to reduce my energy bill. I have stopped and started putting the incandescents back in because of the poor performance and short lifetimes of the CFL’s. To me, this just another good indication that we should let the market pick our preferred technolgies and not rely on the good judgment of government bureaucrats and green advocates.
RE: LED lighting is the way to go, in my opinion and experience. See how I retrofitted the biggest power suckers in my own home here:
LED Lighting has a lot of good things going for it:
(1) Long bulb life.
(2) Instant on.
(3) Can deal with many ON/OFF cycles.
(4) Energy efficiency.
However the high cost per equivalent light output of CFL or standard bulbs is discoursing. The longer life and energy efficiency is not enough to justify using LED lights for most of my home. On the other hand, if a bulb is next to impossible to reach OR we have an application with tons of On/Off Cycles, the LED can be justified.
The only place in my house where we have LED lighting is for our Garage door opener. LEDs survive the frequent On/Off cycles and vibrations better than other bulbs.
I expect that in another 10 to 20 years, improvements in LED Lighting Technology will make the LED the technology of choice.
We don’t have a choice in Europe, as the EU banned traditional incandescent bulbs.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/3174452/Traditional-lightbulbs-banned-by-EU.html
But I have noticed that while Britain has gone purely for CFLs and a few LEDs, in mainland Europe they still hang onto a lot of halogen bulbs. I presume those are allowed under EU law, but I don’t know why the UK does not use them more.
.
Recently I’ve been replacing my incandescent bulbs with adaptors which take G9 halogen capsules, which then have a diffuser globe over the top that looks like a frosted (pearl) lightbulb.
Trying to get a frosted lightbulb in the UK is impossible now, even for decorative bulbs (eg. golf ball bulbs with SBC bases).
A halogen capsule uses about 30% less power for the same light output as an incandescent and is supposed to last for twice as long as the incandescent. They’re also cheaper than CFLs (when you take into account the true lifetime of CFLs). The colour spectrum is a continuum, just like an ordinary incandescent bulb, rather than a series of spikes. They’re more eco-friendly: less glass is used and they can be placed in the ordinary dustbin (trash can) when they die. Just remember not to get any fingerprints on the bulbs when handling them.
There is another hazard with CFL’s. They take a lot longer than incandescent bulbs to emit their full light output. This is dangerous for the elderly if they are used to light staircases and there have been incidents where people have fallen down the stairs.
Am I also right in saying that a few house fires with consequent rebuilding and refurnishing are going to create more carbon dioxide than these bulbs are going to save?
I’ve been present when the CFLs pass on to the great GoreInTheSky. I hear an arcing, then the inevitable ‘Pfffffft’, followed by the smoke and odor. Several times the ballast housing has been significantly blackened on the outside.
I find this article distressing. So, twenty-five percent of Britons consider GW “the most pressing environmental problem.” I suspect that number would be similar here in the U.S. That means that 1 in 4 of those around us is truly Koo Koo…..and there is probably another 1 of 4 who are semi Koo Koo. The rest of us, the sane, are going to have to watch our backs every minute, for many of these environmental wackos are deranged. I don’t like the odds!
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1378483/Do-global-warming-fatigue-Just-25-Britons-think-climate-change-important-environmental-issue.html#ixzz1K5emQap8
New fears: Cancer causing chemicals are released by energy-saving bulbs when they are switched on, scientists said
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.
The EU has unveiled plans to phase out ‘normal’ incandescent bulbs by the end of next year as they try to cut carbon emissions.
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.
Tests showed that the materials used to make the lamps are probably responsible for their potentially harmful side effects.
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.’
‘They should not be used in unventilated areas and definitely not in the proximity of the head.’
The report on German television forced the country’s environmental protection agency to issue a warning against ‘public hysteria.’
The Department for the Environment has insisted that the bulbs are safe.
Dr Michelle Bloor, lecturer in Environmental Science at Portsmouth University, told the Daily Express: ‘Further independent studies would need to be undertaken to back up the presented German research.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1378757/Energy-saving-bulbs-release-cancer-causing-chemicals-say-scientists.html
Energy saving bulbs ‘release cancer causing chemicals’, say scientists
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:07 PM on 20th April 2011
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1378757/Energy-saving-bulbs-release-cancer-causing-chemicals-say-scientists.html#ixzz1K5gYiGbA
I have lived in my current house for about eighteen years. Apart from the living room and a couple of bedside lamps all of our bulbs are compact flourescents. I have never known one to explode and in eighteen years we have had three failures. As for the incandescents, they drop like flies.
These are just observations on my own personal experience. The comparison is complicated when stuff becomes politicised. If everyone could be left alone to make their own decisions about which type of bulb they prefer, life would be so much simpler. Instead we have our government trying to coerce us into using the bulb that they prefer, on very questionable environmental grounds. Incandescents provide a better quality of light, use a tiny bit more power, have a shorter life but are much cheaper to replace. When I say cheaper to replace I don’t limit that judgement to just the retail price but bash the ball into the enviromentalists court and say cheaper with regard to the Earth’s resources that they are so concerned about.
Well I have converted our house almost entirely to LED. There are still a couple of places in the house (front door outside illumination, and wife’s bathroom sink where I still have 60 Watt halogen bulbs. The stupid over the sink makeup mirror, has a line of eight lamp sockets, but only one bulb in there now.
I use Phillips 60, 40 and 15 Watt equivalent LEDs and have removed ALL of the CFLs.
The 40 W LEDs use 8 Watts of juice, and the 15 Watt ones use 3 Watts of juice. I have one of those in the frig. I have a candelabra, that has five 3 Watt decorative (peardrop), and one central 3 W globular LED, so it uses 18 Watts of juice if everything is on. The central one can be turned off, if no one is sitting at the table reading.
I have a bunch of 50 mW “nightlight” lamps all over the place, that turn off in daylight or if you turn a room light on.
LEDs also use some sort of dc-dc converter, so they aren’t necessarily immune to failure. Some LED lamps for some reason are not instant on; they have a definite turn on delay. The ones that exhibit that behavior, also do not seem to be too efficient; and I stopped using one of those for the center lamp in the candelabra, because it is upside down in a poorly vented cone, and was getting quite hot. The Phillips replacement comes on immediately and runs cool even in that confined space. The 40 and 60 Watt equivalent Phillips lamps do get hot; just like an incandescent does; but they all have passive metal heat sinks on them.
I don’t like the CFLs because of all the RFI noise. Haven’t detected any of that from the LEDs. My son has some carnivorous plants growing inside plastic clothing carriers, that he can turn into rain forest (pitcher plants) and he uses some blue/red LED arrays to keep them working all night. They have just about taken over the whole house since he put the lights on them.
The neighbors probably think we have a pot farm, with the eerie glow all night long.
PG&E must be getting paranoid, wondering what happened to our electricity usage. Those dummies recently sent me a notice asking if I wanted to invite them to come and rig my air conditioner, so they could decide whether to let me use it or not, with them setting the Temperature. I haven’t responded yet. I don’t have the heart to tell them that we have lived in this same house for the least eight years or so, and the air conditioner has never ever been turned on. In fact, I can’t swear that there actually is one there. Maybe I should invite them to come and install their smart gizmo; that would be one less to bother some other poor soul.
Nah, I think I’ll just tell them to e-mail me, when they want me to turn up the Thermostat. That wouldn’t work either since I never read my e-mail at home.