CFL lights, they suck!!!

[undergroundpanther]

Yesterday I broke one of my normal light bulbs. I got one of the twisty ones that was given to me. I was out of incandescent ones so I put the twisty one in .I got a headache and there was that whine. So I took it out put it back in the packaging. I went out to get new bulbs.I noticed these stupid CFL bulbs are everywhere and I had to HUNT for the regular bulbs.I dunno what to do with the twisty one now.I read the packaging on the CFL bulbs and *shudder* these fuckers are nasty.Did you know CFL bulbs because they are florescent lights, they have mercury in them?

When I was younger we had one fluorescent light in the house.It was a circular tube mounted in a metal holder with a cover that came off mounted to the kitchen ceiling.One day it got broke somehow.Everything went into emergency mode. All of us kids got shooed out of the house,pronto and mom flung open all the windows.Than we all sat outside for like 20 minutes until my father went in there for what seemed forever and came back out with the shards from the light in a jar.And after that we waited another 10 minutes.Then we went inside.
Apparently someone in my house knew something about mercury cleanup.

I have cats in my house and occasionally a lamp gets knocked over.I have sometimes knocked over my nightstand lamp because I am friggin clumsy.. I have broken bulbs when tipping a floor lamp and not grabbing it fast enough.And there are other situations where light bulbs just get broke.

If I got to do my own fucking Hazmat operation every time a bulb gets broke?? WTF!

I can't imagine doing this evacuation thing every time a bulb in a lamp breaks,especially in the middle of the night,

Say,I knock my nightstand lamp over trying to turn it on to go to the bathroom,I struggle awake in my boxers,because it's a damn twisty bulb I am huffing mercury vapor while trying to grab my confused cats,and to put them in their carriers,which are downstairs to sit them both outside shivering their little paws off as I warn my just waking up roomie stumbling into the hallway asking me what's going on..to get out of the house,as I fling open all the windows, half asleep, And...I gotta remember to cut off the heat too,than I go running outside in my boxers in 10 degrees cold in January ,standing around freezing my ass off wishing I had a coat but I can't go inside to get it.. until I can get some gloves on, go find a glass jar and duct tape...Fuck NO! Energy efficiency is blown right there,because after the Hazmat style cleanup I gotta reheat the house!! Somebody is going to be making alot of money off these stupid bulbs.

And you know you can't chuck these "energy saver" bulbs in the trash you gotta waste energy driving them to recyclers.I have no car,so am I to just let these mercury tainted bulbs pile up somewhere hope they don't ever get busted until I can score a ride or what?? And people I know tried them and they don't last all that much longer than regular bulbs.
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/hazard/wastetypes/universal/lamps/basic.htm
So thinking on it,I like my nice inefficient incandescent non-headache producing, not whiny regular non-Hazmat infested light bulbs. I hope like hell incandescent bulbs are around for a good long time.I don't look forward to having occasional mercury spills in my house. Hmm what would happen to the environment if you got get 600 or so million households along with the businesses all using mercury containing florescent light bulbs,and what is the chances the mercury contamination in the environment will rise more?and what are the chances at least one person with kids and/or pets in all those millions of people won't know the broken CFL bulb is contaminated, And how many people do you know ,know what to do if one of these damn twisty lights break?

You do the same as my parents did years ago when the circular florescent kitchen light broke.IMHO If you want efficiency fuck the CFL crap, go for LED's.


http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/hazard/wastetypes/universal/lamps/basic.htm

Check out the EPA instructions for cleanup ...
1. Evacuate the room immediately.

2. Shut down central air or heat to avoid spreading the poisons to other rooms.

3. Open a window and air out the room for 15 minutes before returning to pick up pieces.

4. Never use a vacuum cleaner to remove pieces as this will fill the air with poisons that go through the machine and into the air.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mercury concentration in the study room air often exceeds the Maine Ambient Air Guideline (MAAG) of 300 nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3) for some period of time, with short excursions over 25,000 ng/m3, sometimes over 50,000 ng/m3, and possibly over 100,000 ng/m3 from the breakage of a single compact fluorescent lamp.

Although following the pre-study cleanup guidance produces visibly clean flooring surfaces for both wood and carpets (shag and short nap), all types of flooring surfaces tested can retain mercury sources even when visibly clean. Flooring surfaces, once visibly clean, can emit mercury immediately at the source that can be greater than 50,000 ng/m3.

Flooring surfaces that still contain mercury sources emit more mercury when agitated than when not agitated.

This mercury source in the carpeting has particular significance for children rolling around on a floor, babies crawling, or non mobile infants placed on the floor.

Cleaning up a broken CFL by vacuuming up the smaller debris particles in an un-vented room can elevate mercury concentrations over the MAAG in the room and it can linger at these levels for hours.

Vacuuming tends to mix the air within the room such that the one foot and five foot heights are similar immediately after vacuuming. A vacuum can become contaminated by mercury such that it cannot be easily decontaminated. Vacuuming a carpet where a lamp has broken and been visibly cleaned up, even weeks after the cleanup, can elevate the mercury readings over the MAAG in an un-vented room.

http://www.maine.gov/dep/rwm/homeowner/cflreport.htm

Ugh..

[Virginian]

1. LED light bulbs for lamps

I have seen them on the internet, but not in stores and tbey are not cheap. But at least they don't that a clean up issue.

[undergroundpanther]

6. I got an LED bulb for my birthday

It is the coolest light EVER!!
Check it out I got the one that looks like an ice cream cone.
http://www.coolstuffcheap.com/lighttro.html

[WCGreen]

2. I'm not buying anymore simply for that reason...

It's ridiculous that all the mercury stuff want spelled out by environmentalists.

Hell I thought if environmentalists endorse a product then it is safe.

[shintao]

3. What you might try.........

You do the same as my parents did years ago when the circular florescent kitchen light broke.IMHO If you want efficiency fuck the CFL crap, go for LED's.

I see you can buy some inexpensive solar LEDs for the yard. Let them charge up on your porch and then position them through your house at night. I haven't tried it yet, buy I have thought about it. Work great if your power goes out when the Saturday night drunk hits the power pole. I think they had them over at UBid.com - check the shipping!

[Journeyman]

4. We put them into the 3-lamp overhead fixture in our office back in November. . .

since then, two bulbs have burned out and had to be replaced. They may be energy efficient but they're burning through my budget.

Think I'm going to look into the LED bulbs, see if the added cost is offset by the need to not replace them every three weeks.

And as you point out, undergroundpanther, who needs the kind of hazmat concerns posed by the mercury in those twisted bulbs.

[Raine]

5. I had a twisty one that scorched my ceiling

luckily it didn't catch fire but I've heard horror stories of some that have caused fires. I would never ever leave one on while I was away from home. I try to stay away from using them, they save money but they sure can be hazardous.

[notesdev]

7. The incandescent ban must be overturned

CFL bulbs have their place but they aren't for everybody. I know for my own part they give me headaches. There are others who report skin conditions as a result of using the bulbs. And then, yes, there's the hazardous-waste mercury element to the issue.

Personally, I'll be hoarding incandescent light bulbs, enough to last me for many years, should the ban actually go into place as scheduled.

[Jack_DeLeon]

8. I've not had much problem with the lightbulbs...

:shrug:

[4lbs]

9. My entire house uses CFL with the exception of the bathrooms and kitchen.

Rooms that have lights that are turned on/off many times a day shouldn't use CFL, but normal incandescent. Also rooms that get humid, i.e. bathrooms like when someone takes a shower or shaves, should also stay away from CFL.

CFL's are limited in the number of times they can be turned on/off. It's about 5000 cycles (1 cycle is turning ON then turning OFF), versus 10 or 20 times that for regular bulbs. It's best to use them in places where they'll be on for hours at a time, so the number of times they are turned on/off is minimized. Also, do not use CFLs with a dimmer switch. CFLs need full power.

I use the 23-watt CFL for most rooms since that is most like a 100-watt incandescent in terms of light intensity.

However, for a room where I do most of my reading, I use a 30-watt CFL, which is similar to a 125-watt bulb.

With proper use, CFLs DO LAST LONGER than incandescent. The current CFLs I'm using have been working fine for more than 3 years now. I've never had an incandescent bulb last longer than 14 months with normal use.

[undergroundpanther]

10. yeah

but if one breaks you could have a hazmat clean up.
Does that issue concern you? Do you have pets/kids?

[boppers]

11. Incandescent bulbs contain lead.

Oh, and they release more mercury into the atmosphere than CFL does, if your house is powered by a coal plant.

Decisions, decisions. :P