Cleaning up a broken CFL bulb

[jyl]

Originally Posted by Tobra

It is open to debate if CFL bulbs are progress. I know a fair number of folks who can't handle fluorescent light very well at all.

Last I checked they were $5 each, prior to the mandate $0.99, have not priced the multipacks lately. Have about 10 burned out ones at the house, as it is unclear what the appropriate means of disposal is.

Which would be better, 0.0 mg or 0.12 mg per cubic meter?

If you break one and dispose of the debris in the regular trash have you committed a crime?

The stuff you are uncertain about is easy to find out.

Prices are a click of the mouse away. Home Improvement Made Easy with New Lower Prices | Improve & Repair with The Home Depot When you're there at the Orange box, take the old ones for recycling.

0.0 mg/m^3 or 0.12 mg/m^3? For something that maybe happens once every several years, I think it is irrelevant either way. Unless you're the kind of person who is too scared to eat tuna, swordfish, etc, once in a while, it is hard to understand why you're stressed out about CFL mercury.

As for people who can't handle fluorescent light, if they really can't handle CFLs (rather than the old-time flickering tubes - very different) then they need another solution. They could use an incandescent bulb smaller than 100w. Or they can use 70w halogens (these are okay under the CA regs, so I imagine you'll be seeing more of them soon), or (spendy) LEDs. Or they can take advantage of the exemption for specialty bulbs and use three-way bulbs, "heavy duty" bulbs, etc. Frequently Asked Questions - New Light Bulb Standards for a More Efficient California

[jyl]

Originally Posted by Rot 911

Not in my experience. The ones I have bought haven't lasted much more than 1 to 11/2 years. About the same as incandescent.

Some of the early CFLs I bought were short-lived. One type was dim when first switched on. All of the dimmable CFLs I have tried have been disappointing (turns out the dimmer may need to be different). The CFLs I've bought in the past 3 years have been all fine. I think they have gotten the bugs out, as it were.

So, you might want to revisit the CFL.

I do have one down-facing light fixture that traps heat terribly, and that one seems to prematurely kill high-wattage bulbs - of all types, my 100w halogens burned out in 6 months, 100w incandescents were burning out in 3. I have stepped down to 13w CFLs there, and they are doing fine.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

You forgot to mention that fluorescents trigger my wife's migraine headaches. She's not alone in having this reaction.

CFLs, or fluorescent tubes, or both, do this?

[dennis in se pa]

RE:"This more proof that we, the collective we, have elected idiots".

Problem is they are the only ones running for office.

Intelligent productive people can get jobs in the private sector. There are a few exceptions to this, I will admit.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by jyl

CFLs, or fluorescent tubes, or both, do this?

Both. I tied to "fool" Cindy by placing a CFL inside a round white globe light we have...Bingo, she knew it was CFL right away...it bothered her...somehow, she can sense the flickering...

[jyl]

I wonder if LEDs will bother her? You might try one and see. If they are okay, then you've no need to fill your garage with incandescents, since LEDs will be affordable and of pleasing color, in a few years. Right now, I don't think LEDs are an attractive option - too spendy - although I know some people are using them.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by jyl

I wonder if LEDs will bother her? You might try one and see. If they are okay, then you've no need to fill your garage with incandescents, since LEDs will be affordable and of pleasing color, in a few years. Right now, I don't think LEDs are an attractive option - too spendy - although I know some people are using them.

LED flashlights don't bother her. But you're too late. Garage is already full of incadescents. Since I have spent the $$$ I'm sure not going to toss those bulbs!

[jyl]

I see eBay profits in your future . . . I wonder what kind of market there will be for 100w incandescents in 5 years? Could you buy, say, 5,000 for $0.70 each now, and in 5 years resell them to desperate migraine sufferers and unreconstructed curmudgeons for $5 each plus rapacious shipping charges? Or in 10 years for $20 each?

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by jyl

I see eBay profits in your future . . . I wonder what kind of market there will be for 100w incandescents in 5 years? Could you buy, say, 5,000 for $0.70 each now, and in 5 years resell them to desperate migraine sufferers and unreconstructed curmudgeons for $5 each plus rapacious shipping charges? Or in 10 years for $20 each?

LOL! Think I'll keep 'em and use 'em. But I did get moving on buying them after a friend wrote from Germany that he had made a "great buy" in a flea market of two incadescent bulbs for 2.5 Euros each!

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

LED flashlights don't bother her. But you're too late. Garage is already full of incadescents. Since I have spent the $$$ I'm sure not going to toss those bulbs!

I bought some LEDs from SAMS club. They said they were equal to 40W bulbs. Nope. I replaced 4 x 40W bulbs in a ceiling fan. The LEDs are dim. I left 2 LEDs and 2 regular 40W bulbs and it is OK.

[Tobra]

John, your links were every bit as helpful as California run agencies typically are, not at all.

Did not answer any of the questions I posed.

[slakjaw]

CFL's also mess with my AM radio reception.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by Tobra

John, your links were every bit as helpful as California run agencies typically are, not at all.

Did not answer any of the questions I posed.

Q: "Last I checked they were $5 each, prior to the mandate $0.99, have not priced the multipacks lately. Have about 10 burned out ones at the house, as it is unclear what the appropriate means of disposal is."

I gave you the price link on the Home Depot website, you can poke around there and find the bulb you want.

As for recycling, see Home Depot website. "CFL Recycling Program - As a part of our long term commitment to the environment and sustainability, The Home Depot is pleased to offer free in-store compact fluorescnt light (CFL) bulb recycling at all of our stores nationwide. Just look for the signs and collection units in our stores.

Bring in any expired, unbroken CFLs, place them in a plastic bac and deposit them both into one of the bright orance collection units in any Home Depot store in the United States. The bulbs will the be managed responsibly by an environmental management company who will coordinate CFL packaging, transporation and recycling to maximize safety and ensure environmental compliance. "

Q: "Which would be better, 0.0 mg or 0.12 mg per cubic meter?"

A rhetorical question. You have to decide how afraid you personally are.

Q: "If you break one and dispose of the debris in the regular trash have you committed a crime?"

Yes, you can be fined - in theory. In practice, I suspect it is more like jaywalking.

[Tobra]

Still did not answer any of the questions I posed. You were pretty glib and non-responsive here, but at least not insulting, so that is pretty good, perhaps some clarification would be in order.

"0.0 mg/m^3 or 0.12 mg/m^3? For something that maybe happens once every several years, I think it is irrelevant either way. Unless you're the kind of person who is too scared to eat tuna, swordfish, etc, once in a while, it is hard to understand why you're stressed out about CFL mercury."
If I were concerned about it, I can choose not to eat tuna or swordfish; the state chooses for me in this case. So you are saying that it is no big deal and people are over reacting. I have some old batteries I need to dispose of, but not too many. Can I just bury them in your vegetable garden?

At least half of the CFLs I have changed out had lost integrity, were no longer sealed. None have proven to be as long lived as advertised. In an environment that has some variation in temperature and humidity, say in a front porch light that faces South, they are not as long lasting as incandescent.

"As for people who can't handle fluorescent light, if they really can't handle CFLs"
So people are making up the symptoms secondary to fluorescent lights? Very insensitive and uninformed of you to imply that.

You seem to have missed the point of this thread. Just because some legislator decides how everyone should do something, or more accurately a lobbyist tells them what to decide, it is not necessarily better, and if it were, the government would not have to mandate it. We are taking something that works well and is not toxic at all and trading it for something that many people either can't or don't want to use that is considered hazardous waste. That is better to you, really?

Small wonder that California will be BK soon, the lunatics are running the asylum.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by red-beard

I bought some LEDs from SAMS club. They said they were equal to 40W bulbs. Nope. I replaced 4 x 40W bulbs in a ceiling fan. The LEDs are dim. I left 2 LEDs and 2 regular 40W bulbs and it is OK.

LED bulbs have much improvement to come - price, brightness, color, maybe reliability of the electronics. I haven't converted to them and don't intend to, for 1-3 years anyway.

[dhoward]

Originally Posted by slakjaw

CFL's also mess with my AM radio reception.

THAT'S funny.

[slakjaw]

I like AM radio. I am old school like that.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by slakjaw

I like AM radio. I am old school like that.

+1...FM is for music, AM is for news/talk. Both serve an audience.

[Taz's Master]

Originally Posted by jyl

Q: "Last I checked they were $5 each, prior to the mandate $0.99, have not priced the multipacks lately. Have about 10 burned out ones at the house, as it is unclear what the appropriate means of disposal is."

I gave you the price link on the Home Depot website, you can poke around there and find the bulb you want.

As for recycling, see Home Depot website. "CFL Recycling Program - As a part of our long term commitment to the environment and sustainability, The Home Depot is pleased to offer free in-store compact fluorescnt light (CFL) bulb recycling at all of our stores nationwide. Just look for the signs and collection units in our stores.

Bring in any expired, unbroken CFLs, place them in a plastic bac and deposit them both into one of the bright orance collection units in any Home Depot store in the United States. The bulbs will the be managed responsibly by an environmental management company who will coordinate CFL packaging, transporation and recycling to maximize safety and ensure environmental compliance. "

Q: "Which would be better, 0.0 mg or 0.12 mg per cubic meter?"

A rhetorical question. You have to decide how afraid you personally are.

Q: "If you break one and dispose of the debris in the regular trash have you committed a crime?"

Yes, you can be fined - in theory. In practice, I suspect it is more like jaywalking.

Just fyi, when pressed a local Home Depot representative admitted that he could not say with certainty that the mercury would be removed prior to disposal when a group I am associated with researched providing cfl disposal for our community. We are having the mercury reclaimed from burned out cfl's and it is NOT free.

I am not impressed with the willingness of the government to mandate cfl usage while ignoring the need to provide for disposal. I am skeptical that this perceived progress is the result of anything other than corporate sponsored government regulations under the guise of protecting the environment, with disregard to the actual impact other than headlines and profits.

[gtc]

I have tried a lot of different CFLs and some ARE better than incandescents. Unfortunately though, finding the ones that put off a decent color light and don't flicker is mostly just trial and error. I bought a selection of wattages at costco a few months ago. They were pretty cheap after the rebate - basically the same price as decent incandescent bulbs.
Considering that they use less power and last many times longer, I will continue to use them until something better comes along.