Friday, February 27, 2015

CFL Bulb Fire Hazard?

A Facebook Friend posted mention from someone who said one of those compact fluorescent bulbs almost started a house fire. That's good to know and I was going to post something here to warn about that. Then I got to thinking that I'd never heard of a fire caused by a CFL lightbulb and would think I would have read of such a thing if it was common.

Did a quick search and the first hit was from Snopes. Apparently this is one of those internet hoaxes that are partly true. The bulbs can get discolored when they go out (none of ours have) but that's normal because of the way they're designed. Here's the link to the Snopes entry if interested. 

BTW; CFL bulbs are considered hazardous wasted which means you're not supposed to throw them in the trash. I was pleased to find out City Garbage takes the first 8 (or 10?) of them for free at their West Hawthorne Street recycling center.

6 Comments:

At 11:17 AM, Anonymous Tom L said...

We had a fire from one of those CFL lamps in a ceiling fixture at work that burned up the entire insides of the fixture. I can tell you for a fact all you need is a tiny hairline crack in the glass and they WILL burn after the inert gas in the lamp leaks out. Been there, dealt with that.

I don't trust those lamps much considering how cheap they are and the fact they are made in China, who sends us a lot of poorly made CRAP.

 
At 11:43 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

a couple years ago there was warning on china made compact bulbs . they burn or explode . cant remember but now i only buy MADE IN THE U.S.A. bulbs

 
At 11:48 AM, Blogger Julie Timmons said...

Thanks for posting, Fred. Good info.

 
At 12:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

People confuse a faulty fixture with a bulb causing a fire.

 
At 12:59 PM, Blogger Tom Sebourn said...

I have seen this too. Almost had a fire at my house. I have replaced almost all of my CFL bulbs with LED bulbs. They use about half the electricity of CFL's but last longer and so far, have not tried to start any fires at my place.

 
At 1:56 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

I suppose something might go wrong and they'd get hot enough to start a fire. I turned in maybe 8 burned out ones to City Garbage a month or so ago. None of them had any discoloration at all. They just stopped working.

 

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