"Peter Hucker" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:32:50 -0000, Meat Plow wrote:

On Mon, 1 Dec 2008 17:53:16 -0000, "ian field"
wrote:


wrote in message
...
I only two of them in my house.One in my kitchen and the other one in my
bathroom, I never turn them off.Just now I was in my kitchen getting me
a ''cold one''.That flourscent light bulb blipped a couple of
times.What
does that suppose to mean?
cuhulin


Maybe a "brown-out" on the power line?

The one I leave on 24/7 usually conspires to fail when I'm out. Common
failure modes are the tube or the mains in reservoir electrolytic,
typically
they start flickering or just go "phutt".


Back in 2003 I saw a 13 watt Osram CFL end its life in bursts of
sparks and smoke through a hole melted in the side of the ballast
container. I called Sylvania/Osram and they offered a replacement free
of charge. I told them no thanks I prefer to not have my home burn
down if another one of these failed while I wasn't present to
disconnect its power source. That scared me away from CFLs for a long
time.

But incandescents are hotter, and more likely to set fire to other things.
Like the light socket.


This from someone who claims to have a physics degree! (although he did
admit on another group to cheating on the exam).