Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire what if you break a CFL bulb?

Oh NO
You have to call out a Haz Mat team!

At least if you break one, the room will get lighter.

I'd bet the neutral connection is bad or weak so to speak. I've seen it a lot before and while it could be service from the provider, it could as easily be a single fixutre along with others, on the same switch, where the single one neutral simply isn't in as good a contact as it should be.

I'm sure tehre could be other reasons, but this one has come to the surface more than once with complaints and inspections here.... matter of fact just had it within the last few months again at a house. Tightened all the neutrals on the sub panel which were all loose and no loss to this point... where they'd lost bulbs and CFLs within a week or two of putting em in.

will check that, your the first to give me any sort of a likely cause......thanks.....

Hadn't thought of the bad neutral, I'm more of an electronics guy, but you can make a case for that along with a weak hot connection. Other than that all that comes to mind is a heat difference. Hot is hard on CFLs, I think they all recommend an open fixture, which would mean new fixtures here and there for me. Also heard a recommendation that CFLs should be upright so heat dissipates more easily but don't know how big a deal that is. Good reason to hoard. And heat can shorten incandescent life too though not so much.

Pisses me off, have electric heat so there's no wasted bulb heat for a great part of the year.

I'll check my neutral wires too...thanks.

Try an electric clock...

Yeah, I was watching the other night when he said it, too . . . except Charles kept calling them "CFRs" .

I bought some of the CFLs after we remodeled our kitchen (5 years ago) but for the sole reason that we put more can lights in and I got tired of changing incandescents every 3 to 6 months. The CFLs have been "better" in longevity, but no where near the 5+ years they are supposed to last. When the die, I just chuck them in the trash.

Couple of eight footers threw craps in the garage. I "accidentally" dropped them and they broke. I swept up the detritus put it in the garbage and forgot about it. BFD.

I find a ditch.

I at least want someone to blame for singlehandedly destroying the environment whilst everyone is fighting the evil bastard (me) to keep it "green".

What a [bleep] joke...

I have a bunch of them in recessed light fixtures in my house. I think maybe 17-20, or so. About 4 of them died prematurely. The others are still going strong after 4 years. What I like about them is that they put out much less heat. The old ones would have me sweating in a few minutes if directly under them. I figure it saves on AC usage in addition to the directly lower watts. So I'd buy them anyways just to stay more comfortable. But their quality control appears to lack given the failure rate. I think Home Depot is supposed to take them for recycling ... but not 100% certain on that.

What about all these alleged fires they are suppose to cause????? I think it's internet hype, but wifey is freakin' out over it all. I've never heard of them causing fires any worse than any other electrical device. Kinda like those plug in air fresheners that was all over the internet several years ago. Any word?????

K

I have that funny feeling about our wonderful Goobermint that when Incandescent bulbs are no longer available we will see Gomermind mandated disposal methods and they won't be cheap. I mean,would it surprise any thinking person,you KNOW there will also probably be a fee included too. Government run life is like that.

I've not heard anything about that. I've had no fires or dramatic incidents with mine. Although, I can't recall the actual moments when those that failed did so. I just noticed they weren't working anymore.

Doesn't matter to me.. I'll never, EVER use one of those things or have 'em in the house... Mainly because Big Gov't says I hafta.. SCREW them, both bulbs and gov't..

I've been hoarding regular bulbs over the last 2-3 years.. Nearly enough now to last me the rest of my life..

If you think that's bad you need to look at the MSDS sheet for household bleach, it actually says to use a haz mat suite when using.
Te EPA needs to overkill on safety precautions for the brain dead among us that couldn't find their azzes with both hands and a flashlight, or pour pizz from a boot if the instructions were written on the bottom of the heel.

There it is, right there. Imagine the opportunity to build yet another useless bureaucracy to feed, clothe, house, insure and in every other manner support. Being a gooberment job you know it ain't gonna be a poverty lifestyle for them. They'll need agents all across the land. They'll have to set up and enforce some kind of counting system, probably have to fill out paperwork when purchasing new bulbs proving "proper disposal" of the ones being replaced. They'll have to build disposal stations all across the country.
These miserable "green" bulbs are going to cost hundreds of billions of dollars, probably trillions by the time it's all set up an "running smoothly".

"We're with the government. We're here to help. We know what's best for you."
Job creation.... (roll eyes)

First its light bulbs.

Next thing you know they'll require us to wear seatbelts in our own vehicles.

Then they'll require private business owners to not allow smoking.

Oh wait.....

Know what'll be next?

Mandated state or federal inspections for ANY property that's for sale.. If even a SNIFF of mercury is found, the sale will not be allowed until a full haz-mat cleanup is done and no traces found thereafter..

So, if you break one in your home and clean it up as best you can, then decide a few years later to sell - for whatever reason.. The haz-mat inspection finds a sniff of mercury.. Nope - can't sell.. Gotta spend what could be tens of thousands of dollars to rid the premises of mercury.. Good luck with all that..

I don't mind mercury.. Couldn't care less.. What scares me is all the potential gov't intervention, rules and regs that I'm positive will follow..

Just sweep it up and toss it in the trash.