CFL light bulb fire hazard warning

[spankomatic]

Here is a email that a friend sent me about CFL light bulbs.

Below is a picture of a CFL light bulb from my bathroom. I turned it on the other day and then smelled smoke after a few minutes. Four inch flames were spewing out of the side of the ballast like a blow torch! I immediately turned off the lights. But I'm sure it would have caused a fire if I was not right there. Imagine if the kids had left the lights on as usual when they were not in the room.

I took the bulb to the Fire Department to report the incident. The Fireman wasn't at all surprised and said that it was not an uncommon occurrence. Apparently, sometimes when the bulb burns out there is a chance that the ballast can start a fire. He told me that the Fire Marshall had issued reports about the dangers of these bulbs.

Upon doing some Internet research, it seems that bulbs made by “Globe” in China seem to have the lion’s share of problems. Lots of fires have been blamed on misuse of CFL bulbs, like using them in recessed lighting, pot lights, dimmers or in track lighting. Mine was installed in a normal light socket.

I bought these at Wal-Mart. I will be removing all the Globe bulbs from my house. CFL bulbs are a great energy saver but make sure you buy a name brand like Sylvania , Phillips or GE and not the ones from China .

I never have liked these light bulbs....

Jim

View attachment spankomatic++2-3-2011-07-02-32.jpg

 

[a440]

<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: medium;">This is scary Jim!</span>

<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: medium;">I am glad that you were home when this occurred!  </span>

<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: medium;">Thanks for the warning!</span>

<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: medium;">Brent</span>

 

[toggleswitch]

I don't believe in hoarding, but since traditional incandescent light-bulbs are now $0.25 each in the junk store, and I don't DO fluorescents, I am officially hoarding them in large plastic storage bins.

 

[3beltwesty]

Here I have used fluorescent lamps that screw into an Edison base since 1995, ie 16 years. They were not called CFL then.

Back in 1995 the fluorescent lamps that screw into an Edison base had the bulb with pins; the Edison base and ballast was kept and one replaced just the bulb. One would get about 1 to 3 uses out of the "edison base-ballast" part before the ballast failed. There were several makers of this scheme; with DIFFERENT pin layouts. After awhile replacement bulbs got hard to find, except by internet and ebay.

The combo of the entire assembly thus came out and I used these. Later the buzzword CFL was coined.

The instructions for the old 1995 bulbs clearly mentioned to screw the base first; then pin the bulb. ie never screw the bulb in by the tube.

I had one fail in the late 1990's that looks like the breach in your photo. I have had this happen several times now.

Here I have bought many hundreds of CFL bulbs. Like any ballast in a fluorescent bulb a failure can cause overheating. They did this in 1945 too; that is why a ballast is normally in a metal fixture.

About all CFL bulbs are made overseas. Lower quality ones have higher failures. Ones that are tightened by the glass often fail early.

A Fluorescent lamp in 1945 and a CFL today both can run 14,000 hours if they are left one all the time. If you constantly turn them on and off, a fluorescent bulb dies radically sooner. The life is boxed in by the number of starts too. A fluorescent bulb can be a poor choice where they are turned on and off many times a day, the bulb dies in only a few months to 2 years; instead of 7 years.

I have had CFL bulbs of all brands (Sylvania , Phillips too) have their ballast blow and one gets a tiny bit of odd smoke; but no fire.

As far as dimmers, most fluorescent bulbs do not work with them. Today oine has special bulbs that the ballast works better with a dimmer. The same goes for auto on off electronic light switches, the cheaper ones often do not work with many lower cost fluorescent bulbs. Here with one fixture I have with a dimmer; I have 3 14 watt Chinese CFL bulbs and a dumb old 15 watt Edison bulb so my dimmer sees a more resistive load. I have done this now for about 9 years.

 

[joe_in_philly]

This email has been going around for a while. Here is a link to the article on snopes.com

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

 

[a440]

LOL!

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;">Jim,</span>

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;">I just caught on that this was not at your house!</span>

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;">Thanks for posting this however.</span>

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;">I went through the house and made sure the bulbs I have installed are not this company.</span>

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino;">Brent</span>

 

[dirtybuck]

I wonder if the bulb shown in the picture was a newer bulb. I have a mixture of GE/Walmart bulbs (GE were bought in either '05-06 and WM bought in '09)in my apartment, and to this day, have NEVER had any problems with them. I only turn them on only when I need them (they are in the main fixture in my living room and bedroom, along with some small lamps on my nightstand and dresser).

 

[appnut]

I was gonna say, haven't we seen this before on here?

 

[supersuds]

Haven't we seen this before?

Yes, the exact same email -- thread 32219.

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?32219

 

[a440]

I have never seen it.  And glad that I did see it this round!

I called my mom and she had 5 of this brand installed in her lamps in the dining room.

So it was a good re-post!

Thanks again!

Brent

 

[sudsmaster]

Snopes says...

... IT'S FALSE!!!

 

Globe CFL's apparently have never been found to catch fire, and CFL's  are designed to fail without flaming out.

 

The only recorded instances (2) of a flaming out CFL are a Chinese made brand called Trisonic, and these have been recalled.

 

I've had no fire safety issues with the CFL's I've been using over the past 15 years. The FEIT, GE, Sylvania, Phillips, etc have all operated safely. Occasionally one will fail with a brown heat spot on the plastic ballast casing, but that's about it.

 

Oh, and incandescents can burn stuff. I once had a landlady's cat tip over a lamp with a 60 watt bulb - it was in a homemade aluminum bread tin that functioned as a heat source for a small turtle aquarium. The thing landed on the carpet with the bulb down. When I came home, the bulb had melted a hole in the synthetic carpet, and ruined the hardwood flooring underneath (charred it fairly deeply). The room was filled with smoke, too. Close call!

 

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml11/11001.html

 

[countryguy]

The problem with Globe bulbs was reported here in Canada a couple of years ago.  I had forgotten about it and just happened to replace a bulb in one of my ceiling fixtures in the utility room.  I checked last night and it was a Globe.  The base had a bit of a burnt tinge to it as did the socket cover itself which was not there before I replaced the bulb.  It has only been in use for a few weeks but I've removed it.

 

Gary

 

[3beltwesty]

With my long usage of CFL type bulbs I have arrived home and found twice where 14 watt CFL bulb was out and the house stank with that burned electrical smell. The bases did have that burned through look and hole, but smaller. I was not there to see if the bulb shot out flames.

Just because a CFL is designed not to flame out doesnt mean that it doesnt happen in rare cases. The CFL that had a hole through its base left some deposits on the bathroom U shaped glass cover. *IF there was a piece of dry paper magically right by that breach, yes there might have been a fire.

One can also have a fire start by hitting an Edison bulb and have some paper right by there.

 

[3beltwesty]

CFL's plastic bases

The base on a CFL bulb is typically plastic.

There are a zillion combinations of plastics, fills, blends with plastics.

There are mixed standards around the world about the fire resistance of the CFL's bases.

Marginally fire resistant Plastic also may self extingish it lit from the top; or "feed itself" if lit from the bottom.

A dumb Edison bulb typically has no plastic base.

A CFL bulb is typically built overseas in a sweat shop with maybe Kilroy filling that plastic hopper with a mix from another product, it might be spues and runners from some toy model airplane parts. To cut costs an old gambit is to use a better material to get qualified; then use whatever when in production, since costs matter. You would not believe what is done in some shops. In fire fighting overseas production problems with plastic parts, I have seen the most goofy things done. Parts that are rejected to a vendor magically get back in to production. Purchasing agent gets a new TV, bad parts shunt the inspection via kickbacks. In some places this culture is ingrained. One place will copay anothers design and use a cheaper material.