Be careful with that CFL

[Just thinking]

Or its energy cost benefits just might not be offset.

How much money does it take to screw in a compact fluorescent light bulb? About US$4.28 for the bulb and labour -- unless you break the bulb. Then you, like Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine, could be looking at a cost of about US$2,004.28, which doesn't include the costs of frayed nerves and risks to health.

 

[corplinx]

Any lazy husband like myself will testify that not having to change a lightbulb as often is worth 2000 dollars. I have many CFLs installed. My buttery fingers havent dropped a single one.

 

[Just thinking]

Any lazy husband like myself will testify that not having to change a lightbulb as often is worth 2000 dollars. I have many CFLs installed. My buttery fingers havent dropped a single one.

Great ... now, about those landfills where they will likely end up.

 

[Bandersnatch]

For a second, I thought this was about the Rough Riders vs. Roughriders game.

 

[frank462]

Great ... now, about those landfills where they will likely end up.

Don't muddy the discussion with inconvenient facts. So what if there will soon be hundreds of millions of these bulbs in landfills polluting the ground water with mercury. The "high priests" of environmentalism will just have another concert to raise awareness. And then we will once again be saved from ourselves. Cumbya!

 

[bjornart]

I think I'll go with GE's procedure rather than Maine's DEP's hysteria:

Because there is such a small amount of mercury in CFLs, your greatest risk if a bulb breaks is getting cut from glass shards. Research indicates that there is no immediate health risk to you or your family should a bulb break and it's cleaned up properly. You can minimize any risks by following these proper clean-up and disposal guidelines:
Sweep up—don't vacuum—all of the glass fragments and fine particles.
Place broken pieces in a sealed plastic bag and wipe the area with a damp paper towel to pick up any stray shards of glass or fine particles. Put the used towel in the plastic bag as well.
If weather permits, open windows to allow the room to ventilate.

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb (CFL) FAQs

(Nicked from a Straight Dope thread)

 

[Just thinking]

I think I'll go with GE's procedure rather than Maine's DEP's hysteria:

Well let's see what they say, according to you ... Research indicates that there is no immediate health risk to you or your family should a bulb break and it's cleaned up properly.

Hmmm ... and just what is properly? Are you going to have that final say? Besides, local laws may override GE's recommendations.

Also ... Sweep up—don't vacuum—all of the glass fragments and fine particles.

Not so easy to do if on a rug, concrete or other porous surface.

Plus ... is this really small?

... each CFL contains five milligrams of mercury ...

A mere 1000 bulbs has 5 grams of Hg ... 10,000 has 50 grams. A single store could easily sell that in 1 year, if not more.

 

[casebro]

So why are CFL made of glass anyway? The don't get as hot as incandescents, so there ought to be a plastic option. Too bad that resins cost so much more than sand, I guess.

 

[Ziggurat]

Yet another thread title which had me wondering what Claus did this time.

So why are CFL made of glass anyway? The don't get as hot as incandescents, so there ought to be a plastic option. Too bad that resins cost so much more than sand, I guess.

It may not get very hot, but there's probably enough UV light to degrade the plastics over time. I don't think it would work.

As for mercury contamination, well, coal power plants spit out mercury too, so reducing power consumption reduces that source of mercury pollution.

 

[Just thinking]

As for mercury contamination, well, coal power plants spit out mercury too, so reducing power consumption reduces that source of mercury pollution.

True ... and it may in fact offset the total amount of Hg in the environment. However, there is a far greater risk of Hg concentration in one's home should a bulb break in an inconvenient place.

 

[BPSCG]

If I see someone with a CFL on a plane, I'll kill him!

ETA: Are thermometers still made with mercury inside them? My mom must have taken my temperature dozens of times when I was a kid, with a mercury thermometer. Maybe I should sue her for a couple of million bucks, just to be on the safe side.

 

[Just thinking]

If I see someone with a CFL on a plane, I'll kill him!

ETA: Are thermometers still made with mercury inside them? My mom must have taken my temperature dozens of times when I was a kid, with a mercury thermometer. Maybe I should sue her for a couple of million bucks, just to be on the safe side.

If I recall, there have been (and maybe still ongoing) thermometer exchange programs where you get an alcohol (or some other not so toxic substance) thermometer in return for your nasty Hg one.

 

[Ziggurat]

If I see someone with a CFL on a plane, I'll kill him!

Fixed that for you.

ETA: Are thermometers still made with mercury inside them?

They generally use an alcohol solution now (that's what's in those red liquid ones).

 

[jdhammer]

Like I said in the other thread....

....the article is written by this guy so I'd at least be a little careful in reading what he says because of his track record.

CFLs are perfectly safe, otherwise they wouldn't be in millions of households as we speak.

But if you want, keep insisting on attacking the solutions and ignoring the issues....it's what we do best.

 

[Smart_Cookie]

They may be safe, but they may not always work very well.

A letter-writer to the local paper pointed out that CFLs don't work very well in winter temps. That means below -10 or -15 C. For us here in Canada, or in the northern states, is there another option for the fixture in the garage, or outside the house?

(considering the government wants to ban incandescent bulbs in the future)

 

[jdhammer]

They may be safe, but they may not always work very well.

A letter-writer to the local paper pointed out that CFLs don't work very well in winter temps. That means below -10 or -15 C. For us here in Canada, or in the northern states, is there another option for the fixture in the garage, or outside the house?

(considering the government wants to ban incandescent bulbs in the future)

My parents use fluorescent tube lighting in their garage here in Canada. They do pretty well in cold temps, although sometimes one bulb won't switch on right away.

LED lighting is becoming more economical and cheaper to make, and as far as I know there would be no temperature constraints on that type of lighting.

There is no reason why we need to keep using incandescents when new lighting technologies are taking off. It's not just CFLs anymore.....

 

[Ziggurat]

A letter-writer to the local paper pointed out that CFLs don't work very well in winter temps. That means below -10 or -15 C. For us here in Canada, or in the northern states, is there another option for the fixture in the garage, or outside the house?

(considering the government wants to ban incandescent bulbs in the future)

LED's work fine in low temperature, they last longer than CFL's, they're even higher efficiency, and they're much less fragile than CFL's or incandescents.

They're also a LOT more expensive (even compared to CFLs), often quite bulky, and most of the ones I've seen are 40 watt equivalent or less in terms of light output. But they exist. And given a decade, I expect that they'll have improved enough that they'll become the prefered replacement rather than CFL's.

 

[Michael Redman]

I think I'm just going to convert my house back to gas lights, and not worry about all these different light bulb technologies. The gas lines are all still in place. I just need to find some fixtures. . .

 

[corplinx]

There is no mercury risk with CFLs being disposed of in landfills........ down south. Down here we take bad lightbulbs out and use them in place of clay pigeons for target practice.

 

[fuelair]

Well let's see what they say, according to you ... Research indicates that there is no immediate health risk to you or your family should a bulb break and it's cleaned up properly.

Hmmm ... and just what is properly? Are you going to have that final say? Besides, local laws may override GE's recommendations.

Also ... Sweep up—don't vacuum—all of the glass fragments and fine particles.

Not so easy to do if on a rug, concrete or other porous surface.

Plus ... is this really small?

... each CFL contains five milligrams of mercury ...

A mere 1000 bulbs has 5 grams of Hg ... 10,000 has 50 grams. A single store could easily sell that in 1 year, if not more.

Environmental supporter - not environmental idjit - here. On rough surfaces, use repeated applications of wide masking or Scotch type tape patting gently to pick up the particles. use several changes of tape and - just for safety purposes - wear a fiber surgical type mask (cheap, disposable) discard all in a sealed plastic bag. Do not call the EPA or local equivalent - that is a clear signal for victim victimization.

In addition, as a child and teenager and college student I had, played with, coated, cleaned, learned from (using), watched class demonstrations with (etc.) mercury. By wild coincidence, I have not become mad as a hatter, been functionally (noticeably) sickened, developed any unexplained conditions, etc. I do not deny that in the right situation mercury can be toxic to the point of causing death, near-death, permanent damage, madness, weirdness etc. But not quite like most people have been led to believe out there. (No, I never drank it, tasted it, sniffed it -except in HS chem. when the teacher heated cinnabar and it gave off Hg.