Jeff Wisnia wrote:
Blue wrote:

I talked with a guy in a large department store replacing
flourescent bulbs about the 1-2 problem. He said a failing bulb
also extinguished the good bulb but his procedure was to rather than
try to find the bad bulb to simply replace them both as they are
cheap and aged at the same rate so that the "good" bulb was nearly
aged out anyway.


Apples and oranges....

That guy was probably referring to lamps in fixtures where two bulbs
are fed by one ballast. That's not the case with the kind of CFs you
describe.

That makes sense. It would also make sense to replace all the CF's that
are in the same fixture and have had the same usage as the ones that still
work are likely close to the end of their life and are likely now not as
bright as when new.


There is no technical reason I can think of relating to the bulbs
themselves which would explain why two CFs fail "about the same time"
other than excellent design life calculations and manufacture with
identical molecules in the same places in all the components of the
bulbs. G

But, possibly the second CF in the event you described was damaged by
an inductive spike caused by the first bulb arcing across the line.
That's more of a cause and effect relating to the type of failure of
the first bulb than it would be a design life factor.

Your "short life" problems are likely due to poor quality bulbs or
something strange about your home's power, like frequent spikes and
surges. I've been using about 15 CFs for over 5 years in various spots
in our home, including in the outside lamps straddling our front door,
and haven't lost one yet.

Jeff

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit