cfl
Links
- epa.gov: Cleaning Up a Broken CFL
- Limitations of CFLs and where they can't be used
- Test: When used in an enclosure
- Remember that this is a highly optimistic test -
not too many CFLs are operated in such a large
sealed enclosure with a metal top, and a rather
tiny 10W lamp as the test subject.
- Many of the popular fittings typically have no
ventilation at all - especially the "oyster'
style, which has a glass dome clipped over a
metal ceiling mount unit.
- The heat will build up quite quickly, and
because it has nowhere to go, will remain in the
fitting. Since the maximum ambient temperature
for an operating CFL is 50°C, it will only take
a few minutes to reach this temperature.
- Do not use CFLs in fully enclosed light fittings!
- From: http://ask.metafilter.com/57651/Do-compact-florescents-change-maximum-wattage-allowed
- Some CF are meant to burn only bulb up. Others can
burn base up. Read the box, and choose correctly -- a
base-down CF installed base-up can fail rapidly, because
while there isn't nearly as much heat, there still is
heat, and the lamp is counting on convection to keep the
heat off the driver package in the base. Installing a
base-down only lamp base-up means convection carries
more heat to the driver package.
- Incandescent bulbs produce a lot of heat, but they are
not at all temperature sensitive themselves, so a light
fixture is going to fail before an incandescent bulb
does. This is not true for compact fluorescents, which
can overheat fairly easily.
- From: http://ask.metafilter.com/19179/Will-I-burn-down-my-apartment
- The temperature on the surface of a 100W bulb is not
likely to ever get high enough to be a fire hazard in
itself. It just doesn't get hot enough to be an ignition
source. In general temperature ratings are not based on
ignition temperature, but on the temperature at which
material begins to degrade (discolour, soften/melt,
become brittle, dielectric breakdown, whatever). Of
course this could lead indirectly to a more serious
failure, including a fire hazard.
- Things to look for:
Is it made of fire retardant plastic?
