Hello all,
I replaced my kitchen "cheapo" fluorescent light last year with a nicer
model that uses F32T8 style bulbs.

After about 4 months, one of the bulbs went bad. These are supposed to
last 5 years. I replaced it. Then the other went bad 3-4 months later.
I went through this a few times.

I tried different bulbs from different brands and stores. No luck. I
thought maybe the ballast went bad so I bought new, good quality, and
replaced that. I did that this past September and now one of the bulbs
is going bad again!

The wiring is fine, all the connections are tight and in correct order.
No signs of burning or charring.

What is going on? How can I fix this? Now I don't even care about the
light...as much as solving my curiosity!!! lol

In article om, "Brian" wrote:
Hello all,
I replaced my kitchen "cheapo" fluorescent light last year with a nicer
model that uses F32T8 style bulbs.

After about 4 months, one of the bulbs went bad. These are supposed to
last 5 years. I replaced it. Then the other went bad 3-4 months later.
I went through this a few times.

I tried different bulbs from different brands and stores. No luck. I
thought maybe the ballast went bad so I bought new, good quality, and
replaced that. I did that this past September and now one of the bulbs
is going bad again!

The wiring is fine, all the connections are tight and in correct order.
No signs of burning or charring.

What is going on? How can I fix this? Now I don't even care about the
light...as much as solving my curiosity!!! lol

Seems like you've been through this too many times for it
to be coincidental.

Turn on the lamps for a few hours and then remove the
diffuser to see if there's a build up of heat in the
fitting. It could be warm enough to cause premature
failures without being suffiently hot to show any scorch
or similar marks.

I guess you can check for moisture at the same time
although I wouldn't expect humidity to be a factor.

Remove and reinstall the tube that is showing signs of
failure. Does that help? Perhaps you have some corrosion
or other contaminent building up on the contacts?

Also, is the fitting installed close to a fan, or other
source of vibration? That will certainly shorten the life.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brian wrote:
Hello all,
I replaced my kitchen "cheapo" fluorescent light last year with a nicer
model that uses F32T8 style bulbs.

After about 4 months, one of the bulbs went bad. These are supposed to
last 5 years. I replaced it. Then the other went bad 3-4 months later.
I went through this a few times.

I tried different bulbs from different brands and stores. No luck. I
thought maybe the ballast went bad so I bought new, good quality, and
replaced that. I did that this past September and now one of the bulbs
is going bad again!

The wiring is fine, all the connections are tight and in correct order.
No signs of burning or charring.

What is going on? How can I fix this? Now I don't even care about the
light...as much as solving my curiosity!!! lol

Make sure your ground is good. Fluorescent lights are said to be prone
to failure if not grounded properly. Not sure, just propogating a
rumor I heard.

Check your manual and check for stickers on your fixture. Often, these
kind of fixtures are very picky on what type of tube they use. Pay
attention to any requirement for a "rapid start" tube, etc. Sometimes
they can be hard to find because they sell out quick.

Other than heat I can't understand what would shorten their life so much. I
have small under the counter fluorescent lamps that only last 6 months or
so. While buying more at HD somebody else was buying the same bulb, I asked
him if he had the same problem. Yep. I replaced two small fixtures under
one cabinet with a longer one (takes a 34" long bulb). On the box GE claims
will last 15,000 hours. Time will tell.



"Brian" wrote in message
ps.com...
Hello all,
I replaced my kitchen "cheapo" fluorescent light last year with a nicer
model that uses F32T8 style bulbs.

After about 4 months, one of the bulbs went bad. These are supposed to
last 5 years. I replaced it. Then the other went bad 3-4 months later.
I went through this a few times.

I tried different bulbs from different brands and stores. No luck. I
thought maybe the ballast went bad so I bought new, good quality, and
replaced that. I did that this past September and now one of the bulbs
is going bad again!

The wiring is fine, all the connections are tight and in correct order.
No signs of burning or charring.

What is going on? How can I fix this? Now I don't even care about the
light...as much as solving my curiosity!!! lol

Brian wrote:
Hello all,
I replaced my kitchen "cheapo" fluorescent light last year with a nicer
model that uses F32T8 style bulbs.

After about 4 months, one of the bulbs went bad. These are supposed to
last 5 years. I replaced it. Then the other went bad 3-4 months later.
I went through this a few times.

I tried different bulbs from different brands and stores. No luck. I
thought maybe the ballast went bad so I bought new, good quality, and
replaced that. I did that this past September and now one of the bulbs
is going bad again!

The wiring is fine, all the connections are tight and in correct order.
No signs of burning or charring.

What is going on? How can I fix this? Now I don't even care about the
light...as much as solving my curiosity!!! lol
..
Sounds like defective lamps!
I have just bought ten T8s, mixture of two manuafacturers. No problems
do far.
But btw i tried a couple of T8s in an older fixture which uses the
older non-electronic ballast and while they worked the ballast
overheated after a while and became intermittent.
The newer fixtures which use the T8s have electronic ballasts.

"Brian" wrote in message
ps.com...
Hello all,
I replaced my kitchen "cheapo" fluorescent light last year with a nicer
model that uses F32T8 style bulbs.

After about 4 months, one of the bulbs went bad. These are supposed to
last 5 years. I replaced it. Then the other went bad 3-4 months later.
I went through this a few times.

I tried different bulbs from different brands and stores. No luck. I
thought maybe the ballast went bad so I bought new, good quality, and
replaced that. I did that this past September and now one of the bulbs
is going bad again!

The wiring is fine, all the connections are tight and in correct order.
No signs of burning or charring.

What is going on? How can I fix this? Now I don't even care about the
light...as much as solving my curiosity!!! lol


I have the same issue with florescent lamps, and in particular with circle
line, and compact fluorescents. The rating on lamp life is based on
continuous burn hours but once you starts turning the fixtures on and off,
it will kill the fluorescents. Remember years ago before the energy crises,
you see floors all lit up 24/7 in high rise buildings - that is for
maintenance so they don't have to change out the lamps as often. My lamps,
like the ones in the hallways and bathrooms where its switched a lot, may
last only six months with a burn life of only 10 or so hours. So at some
point, incandescent lamps will be much more energy efficient than
fluorescents if you take the life-cycle energy cost into account including
the energy to manufacture the lamps.

I installed a lot of F32T8 fixtures in my basement (24 in total) and have
also had a lot of failures. The cheap ballasts used in these (Home Depot)
fixtures have been the culprit.

Are you quite certain the tubes themselves are going bad?

Smarty


"an_old_friend" wrote in message
ups.com...

Brian wrote:
Hello all,
I replaced my kitchen "cheapo" fluorescent light last year with a nicer
model that uses F32T8 style bulbs.

After about 4 months, one of the bulbs went bad. These are supposed to
last 5 years. I replaced it. Then the other went bad 3-4 months later.
I went through this a few times.

I tried different bulbs from different brands and stores. No luck. I
thought maybe the ballast went bad so I bought new, good quality, and
replaced that. I did that this past September and now one of the bulbs
is going bad again!

The wiring is fine, all the connections are tight and in correct order.
No signs of burning or charring.

What is going on? How can I fix this? Now I don't even care about the
light...as much as solving my curiosity!!!

light bulbs work much better if you screw them into your asshole first.
ass juice makes a good conductor.

Both of you are a disgrace to the amateur radio community. In my 40 plus
years of ham radio involvement, I have never, ever, once seen such a
disgusting display of bad judgment. I will make every effort to notify the
FCC of this public posting as a means to challenge your privilege of holding
a government broadcasting license. This license is a privilege and not a
right, and your activities debase this privilege and the entire amateur
radio community.


Cut it out !!!!!


Smarty

wrote in message
...

you will have all seen the rsults today of K4YZ obessive stalking of
Myself One KB9RQZ

as I said more than a year ago I would not stand for the constant
libel of Robeson and few other in NG for more than year we have been
"treated" to steve effort to wera me down under his torrent of filth
and lies

whe n I saw 100 plus posts on this subject from obviously I could
answer them indivualy, unlike Robeson I have life

I may have steamrolled over something other than steve diatribe if I
steamrooled over you missing your content for this I am sorry

this message will be sent multitime in hope in may survive

following is at this point is the cut and paste at it full measure bit
got afdded as I noted charged made again that I wished to adress

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


Morkie, I will conceed that you know two things that I will never
know...What it's like to lick my excrement off of another man's
genitals, and the going welfare rates in Michigan. steve goes claiming
othermen eat his ****
stop the lying stop the vandalism and stop the bull at this point my
server say you have post 8o plus itme titled with **** or a synoym in
the title

stop lying syaing I eat your ****

stop lying about being miiss quoted
get a life and get help since you are clearly obessed with staking a
man sexualy

the truth I trick you in 1998 when you thrented to MURDER me

stop this whining and face facts you are the one that is sick with
your obesstion for ****

the ruth is you are truly MAD robeson get help

and please stop the lie I have seen that you are doing ANYTHING for my
benifit

and stop lying about the ToS of Google they expressly prohibit your
cyvervandalism

and stop lying about my Military service I have my DD 214 as I guess
you do likely yours list section 8 as reason for discharge
http://kb9rqz.blogspot.com/

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Actually, lamp manufacturers generally rate fluorescent lamp life
based on three hour starts (3 hours on and 20 minutes off), in
accordance with IES LM-40-1987 testing standards.

Lamp life can be extended by increasing burn cycles but perhaps not as
much as you might expect. For example, a standard GE F32T8 has a
rated life of 20,000 hours based on 3 hours per start and a 24,000
hour life expectancy at 12 hours per start.

Source:
http://www.gelighting.com/na/busines...inear_fluo.pdf

A typical CFL would have a rated service life of anywhere from 6,000
to 15,000 hours, based on the aforementioned 3 hour testing cycle. By
comparison, a standard incandescent bulb has a rated life of just
1,000 hours.

A 100-watt incandescent bulb would consume approximately 100 kWh over
its normal life. At $0.10 per kWh, a consumer would expect to pay
$10.00 in electricity costs to operate this bulb. An equivalent
23-watt CFL would consume 23 kWh over this same timeframe, for a net
savings of $7.70.

A good quality, name brand CFL now costs as little as $2.00 to $3.00
when bought in multi-packs. Given that the cost of energy in the
manufacture and distribution of these bulbs would be a small fraction
of its retail price, even if a CFL were to fail at one-tenth its rated
life (i.e., 1,000 hours versus 10,000 hours), the value of energy it
would have saved would still exceed that of its purchase price.

In any event, I would expect a CFL with a rated life of 10,000 hours
to be capable of withstanding over 3,000 starts (i.e., 3 hours per
start x 3,333 starts = 9,999 hours). If you were to turn this CFL on
and off an average of ten times per day, it should (presumably)
continue to provide service for close to a full year.

If you turn lights on and off more frequently than this, you might
consider a "cold cathode" CFL. These CFLs can be turned on and off as
frequently as you wish, with no material impact on lamp life.

See:
http://www.tcpi.com/PDF/495_01116%20...Globe%20SS.pdf

Cheers,
Paul

On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 13:25:37 -0800, "# Fred #"
wrote:


I have the same issue with florescent lamps, and in particular with circle
line, and compact fluorescents. The rating on lamp life is based on
continuous burn hours but once you starts turning the fixtures on and off,
it will kill the fluorescents. Remember years ago before the energy crises,
you see floors all lit up 24/7 in high rise buildings - that is for
maintenance so they don't have to change out the lamps as often. My lamps,
like the ones in the hallways and bathrooms where its switched a lot, may
last only six months with a burn life of only 10 or so hours. So at some
point, incandescent lamps will be much more energy efficient than
fluorescents if you take the life-cycle energy cost into account including
the energy to manufacture the lamps.

Smarty wrote:

**** smarty

smarty wanna pecker?

go suck smarty's shorty dick
wrote:
On 14 Dec 2006 15:44:47 -0800, "MarQueerMyDear"
wrote:


Smarty wrote:

**** smarty

smarty wanna pecker?

stop the cyber vandalism steve
http://kb9rqz.blogspot.com/

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Paul M. Eldridge" wrote in message
...
Actually, lamp manufacturers generally rate fluorescent lamp life
based on three hour starts (3 hours on and 20 minutes off), in
accordance with IES LM-40-1987 testing standards.

Lamp life can be extended by increasing burn cycles but perhaps not as
much as you might expect. For example, a standard GE F32T8 has a
rated life of 20,000 hours based on 3 hours per start and a 24,000
hour life expectancy at 12 hours per start.

Source:
http://www.gelighting.com/na/busines...inear_fluo.pdf

A typical CFL would have a rated service life of anywhere from 6,000
to 15,000 hours, based on the aforementioned 3 hour testing cycle. By
comparison, a standard incandescent bulb has a rated life of just
1,000 hours.


More like 2,000 hours for an A-19 lamps and if you believe the ad for the
Lite-Saver it will last 200,000 hours.

http://base.google.com/base/a/418661...80019568649787 (Somewhere in the
next town in a fire station there is an incandescent at reduced voltage that
is continuously on for over 100 years.)



Anyway, I have no argument for your burn life data as I've seen them as
well. But those burn figures are as good as the EPA gas mileage rating for
hybrid cars. Are those tested average burn life done under ideal controlled
lab conditions with controlled temperature, super clean power conditioned
with perfect sine waveforms, zero switching crossover, etc.? None of my
fluorescent lamps (circle-lines and compacts) have lasted anywhere near its
rated burn life even with the ones not switched as often.



Lets look at one case, not scientific, just my observation, where I have a
compact fluorescent above the staircase. This fixture is only turn on about
5 seconds most of the time which is just enough for me to go up or down the
staircase and once or twice we leave it on for about a minute or two but its
switched perhaps 20 times in a day and burn out is around 6 month but not
longer than a year and that seems to be the case for the last 10 years. This
comes out to about 10.5 to 21 hours which is ridiculously short burn time.
With the same duty cycle my incandescent lamp will last 2-3 years. In other
words it will take 2 to 6 compacts by the time one incandescent lamp is burn
out and you don't even have to do the math for this situation. I do it
because I have converted to compacts and have cases of this stuff and we
have no more 60W incandescent lamps in the house. I also have similar short
burn life for the circle-lines in the bathrooms but those lamps run about
$10 per pop. (The ones in the bathrooms are switched a lot but no more than
10 minutes on at any time.) In my area we can't even dispose the
fluorescents in the regular trashcan so it requires extra handling and
energy to recycle both the lamp and the electronics. As suggested I'll look
into the "cold cathode" CFLs.





A 100-watt incandescent bulb would consume approximately 100 kWh over
its normal life. At $0.10 per kWh, a consumer would expect to pay
$10.00 in electricity costs to operate this bulb. An equivalent
23-watt CFL would consume 23 kWh over this same timeframe, for a net
savings of $7.70.

A good quality, name brand CFL now costs as little as $2.00 to $3.00
when bought in multi-packs. Given that the cost of energy in the
manufacture and distribution of these bulbs would be a small fraction
of its retail price, even if a CFL were to fail at one-tenth its rated
life (i.e., 1,000 hours versus 10,000 hours), the value of energy it
would have saved would still exceed that of its purchase price.

In any event, I would expect a CFL with a rated life of 10,000 hours
to be capable of withstanding over 3,000 starts (i.e., 3 hours per
start x 3,333 starts = 9,999 hours). If you were to turn this CFL on
and off an average of ten times per day, it should (presumably)
continue to provide service for close to a full year.

If you turn lights on and off more frequently than this, you might
consider a "cold cathode" CFL. These CFLs can be turned on and off as
frequently as you wish, with no material impact on lamp life.

See:
http://www.tcpi.com/PDF/495_01116%20...Globe%20SS.pdf

Cheers,
Paul

On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 13:25:37 -0800, "# Fred #"
wrote:


I have the same issue with florescent lamps, and in particular with circle
line, and compact fluorescents. The rating on lamp life is based on
continuous burn hours but once you starts turning the fixtures on and off,
it will kill the fluorescents. Remember years ago before the energy
crises,
you see floors all lit up 24/7 in high rise buildings - that is for
maintenance so they don't have to change out the lamps as often. My lamps,
like the ones in the hallways and bathrooms where its switched a lot, may
last only six months with a burn life of only 10 or so hours. So at some
point, incandescent lamps will be much more energy efficient than
fluorescents if you take the life-cycle energy cost into account including
the energy to manufacture the lamps.

In article , # Fred # wrote:

"Paul M. Eldridge" wrote in message
.. .
Actually, lamp manufacturers generally rate fluorescent lamp life
based on three hour starts (3 hours on and 20 minutes off), in
accordance with IES LM-40-1987 testing standards.

Lamp life can be extended by increasing burn cycles but perhaps not as
much as you might expect. For example, a standard GE F32T8 has a
rated life of 20,000 hours based on 3 hours per start and a 24,000
hour life expectancy at 12 hours per start.

Source:
http://www.gelighting.com/na/busines...inear_fluo.pdf

A typical CFL would have a rated service life of anywhere from 6,000
to 15,000 hours, based on the aforementioned 3 hour testing cycle. By
comparison, a standard incandescent bulb has a rated life of just
1,000 hours.


More like 2,000 hours for an A-19 lamps

Full-light-output ones by USA "standards" are rated to have typical
life expectancy of 250 hours.

and if you believe the ad for the
Lite-Saver it will last 200,000 hours.

Sounds to me like a device that is a bit common, which will extend life
of an incandescent (non-halogen one, that is) lightbulb by a factor of
optimistically somewhere around 64 (can at least sometimes actually get
difficult to dispute that item),
while reducing power consumption by about 40% (not 50% since cooler
filament has less resistance due to resistance varying with temperature),
AND...
light output is reduced about 70% and energy efficiency is roughly
halved.

A 100W lightbulb with what I consider the usual such device consumes
about 60 watts while producing about as much light as a 40W lightbulb
(whose light output is more like 30% than 40% of that of a 100W one).

http://base.google.com/base/a/418661...80019568649787 (Somewhere in the
next town in a fire station there is an incandescent at reduced voltage that
is continuously on for over 100 years.)

That is the "Centennial Bulb" - where I have an impression of lasting so
long due to design/production variation/"noise". That one has brightness
close to that of high end of a 7 watt nightlight while having a few times
that in power consumption.

Please consider that usually most of the cost of incandescent lighting
is the cost of the electricity, so energy efficiency is a factor
significant enough to force some allowance for burnouts and replacements
due to shorter life incandescents being more energy-efficient than longer
life ones.

Anyway, I have no argument for your burn life data as I've seen them as
well. But those burn figures are as good as the EPA gas mileage rating for
hybrid cars. Are those tested average burn life done under ideal controlled
lab conditions with controlled temperature, super clean power conditioned
with perfect sine waveforms, zero switching crossover, etc.? None of my
fluorescent lamps (circle-lines and compacts) have lasted anywhere near its
rated burn life even with the ones not switched as often.

You may have junky ballasts. You may be using bulbs damaged by being
driven by 2-bulb ballasts that have spent time with a bad bulb downstream
of such ballasts - that can actually dfamage "bulbs"/"tubes"/"lamps".
Also, if you have starters, bad bulbs can damage starters, and bad
starters can damage bulbs.

Lets look at one case, not scientific, just my observation, where I have a
compact fluorescent above the staircase. This fixture is only turn on about
5 seconds most of the time which is just enough for me to go up or down the
staircase and once or twice we leave it on for about a minute or two but its
switched perhaps 20 times in a day

Strong candidate for incandescents! Such duty is a case for
incandescents (preferably non-halogen) and not fluorescents!

As suggested I'll look into the "cold cathode" CFLs.

However, the only cold cathode one that sense as being on the market
easily usable for such use is a 3-watt one that is a bit on the dim side
of "15-watt incandescent equivalence" and may be dimmer than that prior to
warmup. That is a candelabra base N:Vision brand one availabe at Home
Depot, at least some Home Depots. I forget whether or not it comes with a
medium-candelabra adapter. I do know that the hot-cathode nominally
4-watt similar ones usually have such adapters.

- Don Klipstein )

On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 20:27:31 -0800, "# Fred #"
wrote:

More like 2,000 hours for an A-19 lamps and if you believe the ad for the
Lite-Saver it will last 200,000 hours.

According to my Sylvania catalogue, a standard "general purpose"
60-watt A19 bulb has a rated life of 1,000 hours and its 100-watt A19
counterpart is rated at 750 hours. Sylvania's "double life" bulbs
have a life expectancy of between 1,500 to 3,000 hours depending upon
the wattage. The trade-off in the case of longer life incandescent
bubs is lower light output (fewer lumens per watt).

[...snip...]

Lets look at one case, not scientific, just my observation, where I have a
compact fluorescent above the staircase. This fixture is only turn on about
5 seconds most of the time which is just enough for me to go up or down the
staircase and once or twice we leave it on for about a minute or two but its
switched perhaps 20 times in a day and burn out is around 6 month but not
longer than a year and that seems to be the case for the last 10 years. This
comes out to about 10.5 to 21 hours which is ridiculously short burn time.
With the same duty cycle my incandescent lamp will last 2-3 years. In other
words it will take 2 to 6 compacts by the time one incandescent lamp is burn
out and you don't even have to do the math for this situation. I do it
because I have converted to compacts and have cases of this stuff and we
have no more 60W incandescent lamps in the house. I also have similar short
burn life for the circle-lines in the bathrooms but those lamps run about
$10 per pop. (The ones in the bathrooms are switched a lot but no more than
10 minutes on at any time.) In my area we can't even dispose the
fluorescents in the regular trashcan so it requires extra handling and
energy to recycle both the lamp and the electronics. As suggested I'll look
into the "cold cathode" CFLs.

If you have duty cycles as short as five seconds and you turn your
lights on and off an average of twenty times a day, you should stick
with a halogen or incandescent bulb. Cold cathode CFLs are another
option but as Don points out, these lamps are currently available only
at the lower end of the wattage scale. A 5-watt TCP CC-CFL produces
just 230 lumens or about the same amount of light as a standard
25-watt incandescent. In a six bulb bathroom vanity light that may
not be a problem but for a single socket stairwell fixture it would be
a rather poor choice.

Cheers,
Paul

Lets look at one case, not scientific, just my observation, where I have a
compact fluorescent above the staircase. This fixture is only turn on about
5 seconds most of the time which is just enough for me to go up or down the
staircase and once or twice we leave it on for about a minute or two but its
switched perhaps 20 times in a day and burn out is around 6 month but not
longer than a year and that seems to be the case for the last 10 years. This
comes out to about 10.5 to 21 hours which is ridiculously short burn time.
With the same duty cycle my incandescent lamp will last 2-3 years. In other
words it will take 2 to 6 compacts by the time one incandescent lamp is burn
out and you don't even have to do the math for this situation. I do it
because I have converted to compacts and have cases of this stuff and we
have no more 60W incandescent lamps in the house. I also have similar short
burn life for the circle-lines in the bathrooms but those lamps run about
$10 per pop. (The ones in the bathrooms are switched a lot but no more than
10 minutes on at any time.) In my area we can't even dispose the
fluorescents in the regular trashcan so it requires extra handling and
energy to recycle both the lamp and the electronics. As suggested I'll look
into the "cold cathode" CFLs.If you have duty cycles as short as five seconds and you turn your
lights on and off an average of twenty times a day, you should stick
with a halogen or incandescent bulb. Cold cathode CFLs are another
option but as Don points out, these lamps are currently available only
at the lower end of the wattage scale. A 5-watt TCP CC-CFL produces
just 230 lumens or about the same amount of light as a standard
25-watt incandescent. In a six bulb bathroom vanity light that may
not be a problem but for a single socket stairwell fixture it would be
a rather poor choice.

Cheers,
Paul

I can see that others have been down this road. I also have a small
"under the counter" light that fails regularly too. The bulbs last for
maybe 6 months at most. They are the T F8 style bulbs. I think they are
9 or 10 inches. I am going to replace the lights completely and go with
what I had before. They may not have been energy savers, but they sure
lasted for years before I had to change them. That alone is going to
save me a lot of money at the rate I am currently spending on bulbs,
ballasts, etc.

Thanks everyone for all the great advice. I appreciate it. Great group!

Hi Brian,

For what it's worth, I installed six 20-watt T4 fluorescent cabinet
lights about four and a half years ago. The fixture over the kitchen
sink is left on six to eight hours a day, while the others might
average perhaps two or three. So far, I've had to replace just one
tube (the one over the kitchen sink). The lamps have a rated life of
10,000 hours and that seems to be in line with my own experience.

The fixtures are very similar to the ones shown he
http://www.brodwax.com/SleekT4.htm

I did remove the plastic sleeve/diffuser so that these fixtures
operate at a lower temperature and I'm hoping this will help extend
the life of both the bulb and ballast (heat being the major killer of
all things electronic).

Cheers,
Paul

On 15 Dec 2006 08:25:48 -0800, "Brian"
wrote:

I can see that others have been down this road. I also have a small
"under the counter" light that fails regularly too. The bulbs last for
maybe 6 months at most. They are the T F8 style bulbs. I think they are
9 or 10 inches. I am going to replace the lights completely and go with
what I had before. They may not have been energy savers, but they sure
lasted for years before I had to change them. That alone is going to
save me a lot of money at the rate I am currently spending on bulbs,
ballasts, etc.

Thanks everyone for all the great advice. I appreciate it. Great group!

"Smarty" wrote in message
...
I installed a lot of F32T8 fixtures in my basement (24 in total) and have
also had a lot of failures. The cheap ballasts used in these (Home Depot)
fixtures have been the culprit.

Are you quite certain the tubes themselves are going bad?

Smarty


"an_old_friend" wrote in message
ups.com...

Brian wrote:
Hello all,
I replaced my kitchen "cheapo" fluorescent light last year with a nicer
model that uses F32T8 style bulbs.

After about 4 months, one of the bulbs went bad. These are supposed to
last 5 years. I replaced it. Then the other went bad 3-4 months later.
I went through this a few times.

I tried different bulbs from different brands and stores. No luck. I
thought maybe the ballast went bad so I bought new, good quality, and
replaced that. I did that this past September and now one of the bulbs
is going bad again!

The wiring is fine, all the connections are tight and in correct order.
No signs of burning or charring.

What is going on? How can I fix this? Now I don't even care about the
light...as much as solving my curiosity!!!

light bulbs work much better if you screw them into your asshole first.
ass juice makes a good conductor.



LIfe of a flourescent bulb is measured more in on/off cycles than on time. I
keep a small lamp on in the kitchen it has been on ever since we moved into
this house which is now over 15 years, only going off during power failures.
On the other hand the other florescent lights in the kitchen are switched
several times a day and only last 2 or 3 years.