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/
Anecdotally I’ve had one explode in my dining room. It was an old fixture and now houses no bulb, as indancescent bulbs are banned in Australia. I was worried about the mercury, but cleaned up the remains thoroughly enough that it shouldn’t pose a threat. The worry is what to do in my kitchen and dining rooms, LED seems my only safe option immature a technology as it is. I loathe the ban on plain bulbs, my bedroom houses the last one I own and I’ll be rather annoyed when it’s blown. Why government feels the need to interfere with the way I use the power I pay for is insulting. It is an assault on my liberty, however small.
I had one of those CFL bulbs explode a few years back. Actually, “explode” is probably an overly dramatic term. “Poof” may be more descriptive. The CFL in question was in a standard Ikea table lamp with a glass shade. The lamp had been on for a couple of hours when I heard the explosion-poof. The light flickered than went out and white smoke started curling out from under the shade. I immediately unplugged the lamp and took it outside. Good thing I was home at the time! I can’t remember off hand if the glass tubing had been damaged or if it was just the base that had cracked, but that was the last time I used a CFL inside my house.
Wet electrolytic capacitors are also in LED bulb electronics, so all reliability concerns must apply here as well. At 100++C, electrolytic cap does not last long. One day I counted more than 20 electronic components in the consumer CFL “ballast”. No electronic components like 120C temps, nor solder joints, especially when assembled by Chinese prison labor. So the 20,000-25,000 advertised life time of CFL bulbs is a lie. More, electrolyte dries out even if not powered.
Also, typical start-up voltage of small CFLs is 1-2kV, then it drops to about 400-600V, this can be found even in your laptop LCD backlit, or in any regular LCD display. So, take care.
I had heard that CFLs are not good in dimmers – but only from a performance standpoint, not a hazard one! Good news to know!
The capacitor over-voltage video bought back memories.
Long, long ago, in a land far, far away, when I was but a whippersnapper, I was doing an apprenticeship with a company that amongst other things, rented TVs. During busy periods (vacation times, Christmas etc.) I was coerced into working on TV repair.
One time, in the workshop, everything was normal, quiet, except for the odd swear-word as someone would drop hot solder on their hand, when suddenly there was this almighty
B A N G
the entire workshop was suddenly filled with bits of “confetti”, white smoke, and an aluminum foil “streamer” which shot upwards, hit the ceiling and bounced around the workshop.
Old aluminum foil electrolytic capacitors (the ones about 6″ long, and 2″ diameter) really get upset when some idiot applies 240v AC directly across them.
Put those modern wimpy things to shame.
Douglas DC says:
April 20, 2011 at 10:39 am
Hoard incandescent lights until our betters get the message…
Definitely stock up, but don’t expect to those in power (certainly not our betters) to change policy. GE is #1 in CFL bulbs and our “President” is a good buddy of Immelt the CEO of GE. GE has positioned itself as being a green company, ready to scoop up large government subsidies for pseudo religious green products.
Y’all are being taken in by something you’d like to believe because you hate the things that greens like. But this just isn’t true. UL-approved CFL bulbs have a fuse in the base. They can’t possibly draw enough current to throw a flame without blowing the fuse. It might smoke a bit of resin/plastic that vaporizes at low temperature before blowing the fuse. Exceptions would be for high wattage bulbs (like a grow-light) but for the normal range of 7-25 watts sold as incadescent replacements it ain’t gonna burn if it’s UL approved.
Did anybody else get the optical illusion of the picture of the bulb seeming to grow while reading the top of the article. Pretty cool.
Hmmm…seems “y’all Dave Springer” can’t read too well – or has lost the power of word recognition.
Now if you would like to drop the “y’all” and address my point individually and tell me that what I have heard is wrong (and what the news report stated as fact based upon the WRITING on the box of a CFL), then please do so. Otherwise, “y’all” don’t know what the word “y’all” means.
Dave Springer says:
April 20, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Y’all are being taken in by something you’d like to believe because you hate the things that greens like. But this just isn’t true. UL-approved CFL bulbs have a fuse in the base. They can’t possibly draw enough current to throw a flame without blowing the fuse.
Dave, I have what’s left of a box of “Sylvania Super Saver Energy Efficient CFL” 23 W (“100 Watt replacement”) bulbs, labeled with the UL Listed logo. I say “what’s left” because two of these bulbs did catch fire. I’ve experienced the same thing with other brands. I do not let these run unattended. I’m shifting back to incandescents. In the long run, I think LEDs are the way to go (bearing in mind that someone may still invent something even better), but they’re too blasted expensive for me now.
Huh? Put up a comment that seems to have vaporized. Did I say something offensive?
REPLY: Don’t see in in que or SPAM, try again. – Anthony
One thing about LED Lights, like may other products, unscrupulous manufacturers can over drive the LEDs to make them brighter, BUT the life is greatly shortened. I’ve known of a few people who picked up some LED lights, only to find them dim rather quickly.
LED Lights that follow the L70 standard will output about 70% (close to the -3dB point) of their initial light output at the end of the product life.
I live in what was once known as Great Britain, where incandescent bulbs are rapidly being phased out on the orders of our unelected Kommisars in the EUSSR.
I have hoarded a couple of hundred 100W incandescent bulbs which, at the present failure rate, will be enough to see my grandchildren being able to read without eye-strain!
A while ago I was sent six CFL ‘bulbs’ by my power supplier (they got their money back through the weird Govt. scheme to count this action as ‘reducing CO2’). I’ve tried two of those bulbs. Neither lasted longer than three months in rooms where it is normal to switch on for at least two or three hours. Both bulbs failed with a “Zzzzt” and a foul smell. Black residue was found around the base of each bulb.
That’s when I started hoarding via internet sales. No CFL bulb is ever going to be used in my house. LEDs? When they are affordable I might give them a try but with the way our economy is going and my being on a fixed income, I don’t think it is going to be any time soon. My latest electricity bill has gone up by almost 15% and I’ve recently been informed that I am going to have to pay for a ‘smart-meter’ to be installed.
My wife and I have agreed that as soon as our daughters have finished at University we are going to return to Central Africa, where we both grew up and where this Green Madness has not (yet) infected the politicians.
“Y’all are being taken in by something you’d like to believe because you hate the things that greens like. ”
There is some truth there — I hate totalitarianism.
I’ve had two twisty CFLs overheat in surface-mounted ceiling fixtures. I could smell them and was able to shut them off before they went any further. They were in fixtures that are rarely used and I’m back to low-watt incandescents in them.
I also had a CFL catch fire in a table lamp. I was in another room and could see the lamp dimming, then flickering. Then I smelled it. By the time I arrived, the base had a steady flame growing from it.
Please don’t take my incandescents away. I don’t like CFLs.
Related:
BARKHAMSTED, Conn. — Fire officials suspect an electric hybrid car may have sparked an overnight blaze in a garage in Barkhamsted on Center Hill Road.
Homeowner Storm Connors and his wife, Dee, said they awoke to the sound of a smoke alarm around 4 a.m. The couple said they have lived in the home for nearly 40 years. They built it and raised their children there, so when the flames took over their attached garage Thursday morning, burning it down to its beams, the couple started to panic. They said they were worried they were going to lose their home and the memories inside.
Now investigators with the state fire marshal’s office and the couple’s insurance company are looking into what exactly in the garage sparked the fire.
Officials said they can’t rule out that the couple’s brand new Chevy Volt hybrid had something to do with the blaze.
LEDs might be preferable in the long run, but right now the economics are problematic. For example, the annual electric cost for a 60-watt equivalent bulb used 4 hours a day here in California is:
Incandescent: $12.65
CFL: $2.74
LED: $1.26
Switching to the LED instead of the CFL saves you an extra $1.50 a year at ten times the upfront cost.
i still use alot of incandecent bulbs. If you go to a dollar store you can get them really cheap and they last just as long as CFls in my house. CFLs didnt work well at all with the dimmer swithes ( alot of buzzing). Plus i just like the light better from the incandecent bulbs. I really dont see what all the hype is about the CFLs. I really dont notice them lasting any longer than the old bulbs.
We’ve used CFLs for 11 years, since we moved into our new house that happened to have dozens of can lights. We have never had an issue with any bulb and most of them lasted 8 years, even with constant use in the kitchen and bathrooms.
We don’t use them in the dining room where we have a dimmer and I have a couple of vintage lamps where the shade sits on the bulb where we can’t use them either.
We just put them in our outdoor lights and I have to say I don’t like them there. They take too long to warm up, it will be interesting to see how they do in the winter.
Our electric bill is high enough with the CFLs, I can’t imagine what it would be with standard incandescent bulbs.
We have CFL bulbs throughout the house – and have had them for many years now – starting with the “straight” ones and then more recently moving to curly as they are replaced.
It is taking a long time to move to the curly — because we would be lucky to replace one bulb every six months — and we have a lot of bulbs — for instance 14 in our main living room and 10 in the next most commonly used room.
Our experience is:
1. We really like the savings in our electricity. I have lots of better ways of spending my money.
2. We really like how much cooler they burn. It makes things like bed lamps much safer.
3. We have never had any explode — and while I can’t remember when we changed it must of been well over five years ago.
4. On the negative side they can take up to 20 seconds to get to full brightness.
5. They are a bit of a pain to get rid of when they die – as we are not allowed to put them in the standard rubbish. I think I had to take 3 bulbs to the disposal centre at the end of last year along with some paint tins which held some paint remnants.
I agree we should have the choice (and in NZ we do) but I would not choose to go back to the old incandescents ever — which does not mean there may not be something better than CFLs — just that I am not aware of it.
Home Depot is selling pretty much the same LED cans that Anthony installed for $50 a pop. The ones he installed are CREE “LR6” and the ones that HD is selling is a branded version of the “CR6”.
Many POCOs are subsidizing them, which brings the price down somewhat. In SE PA, they cost $40. I’ve heard reports of people finding them for $20 subsidized in other parts of the country. You can search for it on HD’s website. Search for “E26”.
Considering I didn’t have to buy a trim kit nor a bulb for the new fixtures I installed, the additional up-charge for me is about $20 a bulb. That amount is well worth it given:
* they only use 10.5W
* at full brightness, produce a color rendering that is indistinguishable from the incandescents they replaced. (When dimmed, they keep the same color temperature instead of getting more yellow like a traditional bulb).
* Will last for 30k hours
* Don’t hum when dimmed (which can be done with a standard dimmer).
* Come on at full brightness instantly
Its still possible to get incandescent GLS bulbs in the UK but I have started replacing failed ones with halogen bulbs (which I buy when I see them on a special offer rather than full price). I originally replaced them with CFLs but don’t like the light quality, dimness, slow start up, etc.
I don’t believe that CFLs, etc., achieve the quoted energy savings in practice, because most of the time I have lights on it is night or the dark days of winter when they contribute to heating my house. Any reduced heating from lights under those conditions has to be made up for by the central heating system, so overall there will not be much energy saving.
I like the LEDs that I have seen, but so far they are expensive and I haven’t seen any of a high output that simply replace a GLS incandescent bulb.
Short life of standard incandescent bulbs is another stretch of truth. I was lucky to install a right dimmer switch in my bathroom. Under “right” I mean a reputable manufacturer like Lutron (not sizzling stuff made by GE), and not just any switch, but the one that ALWAYS starts in soft (low to no light) mode and doesn’t have an option to go straight to full throttle (or any pre-set value). In 15 years I don’t recall seeing a single burned bulb out of eight of them, even if the bathroom is a high-traffic place, and we try not to forget to turn lights off. So, it is on-off-on-off many times per day, for fifteen years and counting … Try to beat this with CFLs…
nano pope says: “…Why government feels the need to interfere with the way I use the power I pay for is insulting. It is an assault on my liberty, however small.”
Little steps for little jack-booted feet.
For Anthony;
OK sir, now my curiosity has been piqued.
When I can I’ll hook a ‘scope up to a CFL ballast just to see what it looks like. Yes, with one hand tucked into a hind pocket. And I’ll look to see if there is an inline fuse somewhere in CFL ballast. If not, Buss is going to get some of my money as I’ll install inline fuses in for all of my CFLs.
What a constant source of brain food you provide!
Thanks again Sir Anthony
Tom Bakewell KE7AVZ ex WB6HLR