Yesterday during a storm, my reading lamp flickered a bit (not unusual
during a storm). Then it started making fizzy noises, emitted sparks,
and finished off with a few puffs of smoke. The tube now has a small,
burnt-looking hole and appears to have cracked, and the base was far too
hot to touch.

Reading the 'warranty' for the bulb rather surprised me - "In certain
circumstances at the end of its life,a CFL may emit smoke and a melting,
plastic-like odor. This is a common occurrence in all brands of CFLs and
is not considered dangerous."

Is this truly a _common_ occurrence? I've been using CFLs for years, and
have never seen one die like this before.

No not in my experience. I did have an el cheapo b/Q one actually lose its
tube completely once. Found it on the carpet, but they swapped it for a new
one as it was only about 3 months old. They reckon it had used the wrong
glue to hold it in. You just can't trust these Chinese makers can you..
grin.
What worried me was that ok the glue gave way,but surely the tube was held
in by solder or a socket for the wire ends?
Brian

--
--
From the sofa of Brian Gaff -

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"S Viemeister" wrote in message
...
Yesterday during a storm, my reading lamp flickered a bit (not unusual
during a storm). Then it started making fizzy noises, emitted sparks, and
finished off with a few puffs of smoke. The tube now has a small,
burnt-looking hole and appears to have cracked, and the base was far too
hot to touch.

Reading the 'warranty' for the bulb rather surprised me - "In certain
circumstances at the end of its life,a CFL may emit smoke and a melting,
plastic-like odor. This is a common occurrence in all brands of CFLs and
is not considered dangerous."

Is this truly a _common_ occurrence? I've been using CFLs for years, and
have never seen one die like this before.

On Wed, 19 Sep 2012 18:48:16 -0400, S Viemeister
wrote:

Yesterday during a storm, my reading lamp flickered a bit (not unusual
during a storm). Then it started making fizzy noises, emitted sparks,
and finished off with a few puffs of smoke. The tube now has a small,
burnt-looking hole and appears to have cracked, and the base was far too
hot to touch.

Reading the 'warranty' for the bulb rather surprised me - "In certain
circumstances at the end of its life,a CFL may emit smoke and a melting,
plastic-like odor. This is a common occurrence in all brands of CFLs and
is not considered dangerous."

Is this truly a _common_ occurrence? I've been using CFLs for years, and
have never seen one die like this before.

Many years ago I experienced a CFL that after fitting lasted about one mains
cycle before doing that. Huge ear shattering bang on power up and the external
temperature of the base got way above the point of contemplating holding it.

Can't fault the distributor (Farnell) as they were very proactive in withdrawing
them from sale and giving an immediate refund not just on that lamp but the
other ones purchased. Some days later their supplier contacted me for further
information but they left the distinct impression they couldn't give a toss
about it, hardly surprising as it was 'Ring'




--