Do unused floricient bulbs go bad?

I asume there is a certain ammount of diffusion in and out of the buld . That would kill it in the long run. But 5 years seems like a very short shelflife. Do they get a lot of temperature changes? Henning

Try to flip a tube end for end around. That sometimes works.

"Typically, the lamp shelf life is over five years. However, long term storage should include packaging with desiccants."

Are you using 40 watt bulbs in the 34 watt light?

I had a better look at the light fixture. There is no ballast transformer, only two plastic boxes that have two wires attached. There is no label giving wattage rating. The original bulbs say F40CW and "made in USA", no brand name.

The new (bad) bulbs say Philips Econ-O-Watt F40CW/RS/EW 34 watt USA.

If I swap the remaining old but good bulbs around, the fixtures work OK.

Pete.

That would kill it in the long run. But 5 years seems like a very short shelflife. Do they

They are stored above a heating duct. Thus they cycle on and off with the furnace. Could this kill them?

Pete.

I tried your suggestion but no improvement.

Thanks, Pete.

Ordinarily, tubes don't deteriorate just sitting there. I supposed you could get enough vibration to bust the starting filaments or the contacts could get corroded from too much moisture, but they're like normal light bulbs, nothing much to go bad from just sitting there.

You might have a marginal ballast, new tubes are harder to start and will usually flicker a little(or a lot) until the discharge stabilizes as the tube warms up. Sometimes takes a half hour or better, depending on the ambient temperature. You could also have some corroded contacts on either the tube or the fixture.

Is your shop inside or outside? If it's an unheated shop outside in the winter, you won't get satisfactory results with regular tubes in cold weather, you'd need outside-rated flourescent tubes. These are higher pressure inside to make cold starting easier and have a shorter life. There's some higher-voltage ballasts rated for outside use, too, same reason. I've never used one but my dad installed a lot of them at service stations.

Stan

Some fixtures state that they are only for 40 watt bulbs and will not work with 34 watt bulbs. Dan

There's also the difference between "rapid-start" and "conventional" tubes to worry about - Rapid-starts won't fire in conventional fixtures, and although I've never researched it myself, I've been told (by people who *SHOULD* know, since lighting is their profession) that conventionals in rapid-start fixtures frequently misbehave. Sometimes quietly (simply refusing to start) sometimes violently (actually exploding when powered on)

Are those the ones with the green ring around one or both ends ? - a bit skinny also ? They require different ballast units. I remember when the (prior) company changed out the old ones for the new type - got them free with rebate from the city. Saved tons of electricity...

Wondering -

Martin

company changed out the

Saved tons of electricity...

They do have green rings around both ends. They are the normal diameter. What does the green ring mean?

Thanks, Pete.

Energy saving bulb, needs an energy saving balast to run correctly.

--Glenn Lyford

Don't say that to the 20 or so I've installed at my office. They don't know and they've been working fine for about 4 years.

OK, so what is the payback time for these tubes and ballasts assuming an eight hour per day "on" time. How long before I see significant savings in my pocket. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

I thought the green ends were :

1. more efficient
2. requires special ballasts
3. No Hg within. (requiring different ballasts to start...)

That is what I got in passing.

I think you can find something on the web at Phillips or Ge or somewhere.

Martin

If those are the cheapie Lights Of America fixtures, they have either simple reactance ballasts and some sort of a starter - old-style preheat system. Or a homebrew electronic ballast that isn't worth the powder it'd take to blow it to...

If you paid under $10 for the fixtures, they're junk. The cheapest half-decent Lithonia (or other real name brand) shop lights are about $15 each, and have a real rapid start ballast inside that can handle the ES/EW lamps.

I toss the LOA or other ultra-cheap imported fixtures at the first sign of trouble, they aren't even worth messing with.

Preheat ballasts and newer Rapid Start lamps do not get along, especially Energy Saver 34W lamps and double especially the low-mercury Alto lamps with the green end-shells.

And consider that the lower mercury bulbs may need to be warm to start - the old rule was 50F to 60F range to start a regular 40W fluorescent, and the Alto is probably more sensitive. Cold temperatures require High Output lamps, special ballasts, or both.

-->--

Energy saving bulbs are really a crock. The bulbs are lower wattage bulbs ( 34 watts instead of 40 ). So they use less power, but guess what they produce less light. So if whoever did the lighting design installed more fixtures than necessary, you can use energy saving bulbs and save some money. You would have saved more by installing fewer fixtures and using the full wattage bulbs.

Assuming 8 hr a day and 34 watts instead of 40, well that would be 48 watt hours a day. Assuming 50 weeks at 5 days a week, that would be

Dan

They probably are LOA.

I think that you are probably right on. It looks like I will be changing some fixtures.

Thanks, Pete.