I am in the UK.

In my kitchen I have a five foot tube (1.5 inches diameter)
marked Philips F65W/35 which has been there for about 15
years.

Can a triposphor tube simply be put in where this old style
(halophosphate?) tube has been?



On 30 Nov 2006, Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Yes, providing it has switch-start control gear (i.e. a plug-in
starter and the tube flashes a few times when switched on).

When I switch on the tube glows orange at each end for about a full
second and then the whole tube lights up.

Is this as good as the "few flashes" you write?


The tube will operate with some other types of control gear,
but at the wrong power rating, which may or may not matter.
A T8 58W tube is designed to run on a ballast for a T12 65W tube.

My fluorescent fitting has a 65W choke. (This is a ballast, it it?).

The lettering on the choke is truly ancient looking and I think it says
Thorn in the letters around a logo. The whole thing is about 5 inches
long. Hope fully this is ok.

Out of interest what is the difference if this was rated at 80W and the
T8 58W tube you mentioned was used?

So, in theory you should check the fitting has a 65W ballast
rather than an 80W ballast. (5' fittings were originally 80W
in the UK, but were reduced to 65W around 1970, although 5' T12
tubes remained dual rated 65/80W for a further 10 years. If the
fitting is only 15 years old, it should be a 65W ballast.)