PSA: We had two compact fluorescent bulbs catch fire

[LGK]

I came downstairs after lunch today and found the hall filled with smoke and that awful burnt-electric stench in the air. One of the compact fluorescent bulbs in a chandelier had burned- there were burn marks all over it. Dunno if there were actual flames but it sure looked like it.

The maintenance guy at our antique mall had the same thing happen at his home, *with* flames. Scary! I''m totally throwing all of the ones we have in our house away. We usually don''t use them but some of our new light fixtures came with free ones so we have about half a dozen right now. (The light they emit sucks too, so I''m not sorry to see them go.)

Just wanted to mention it here since I know they''ve been marketed heavily. But I have never in my life had an incandescent bulb do *that*!

Plus they do no favors for diamonds!

 

[CasaBlanca]

Thank you so much for taking the time to tell us. Had no idea that could or would ever happen.

I noticed some cheap store brand ones I bought were extremely yellow, not consistant and they didn't have longevity. So we have since bumped up to the better brands.

Do you know if it was a specific brand that was used? Do you still have the remnants? I would like to make an inquiry to the manufacturer and see if they had a recall or suggestion to why it happened. Sure would like to know if it was a certain type or first generation...or what to avoid when purchasing new ones.

Agree with you on the old school ones. Shhhh...just between you and me and hubby, he is secretly starting to hoard the incandescent ones. He is planing on using them underground, behind closed doors with all curtains drawn, where no one else (but you, me and he) is aware. Surely there is going to be some satelite radar sonar thing that reveals hiis little secret. But so far is set on his old school secret club bulb plans.

Please let us know if you learn anything further. Thanks again...I pray you are have met your quota on the firework show, and one is your limit!

PS...do your bulbs glow after they are turned off? We have replaced all our canned lighting that was flood lights with small wattage CFL, and they sortof glow dimly after you have turned them off. It scares the begebers out of me. Hubby says there is no cause for alarm. (and yet he hasn't heard your story...)

 

[chelsea3]

Thank you so much for sharing this information. Now you have me worried about the lighting in my home and the safety of my kids. Can you give more information about the type of light or what the light bulb looks light and/or post a picture of the compact florescent light? Thanks in advance!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

This is really scary!!! I work for the National Fire Protection Association and I''ve never heard of these posing a potential fire hazard. I''ll look into it a little more and pass the word!

 

[Alistra]

I recently had a friend mention that this happened to her.

I thought it was a strange one time thing. I will have to tell her about your experience! Thanks for sharing.

 

[asscherisme]

Yikes! I won''t buy Halogen bulbs due to fire hazard but never thought about the mini flourscent ones. I don''t buy them because they give my son headaches but I will definately pass this info on to my firiends and family who do.

 

[LGK]

I'll ask our maintenance guy if he still has the burnt one- he may have chucked it already though (he got the ladder and pulled my flaming light bulb for me today). But the others in the chandelier should be the same batch. I know there's at least one left in there, that I can check the brand of. I have *no* idea if it was a name brand one- my guess is it was a cheaper variety, since we tend to buy lighting in huge amounts for the antique mall.

Yeah it would have been *bad* if we'd had something flammable near the bulb. It worries me thinking about families with kids, ours are at least in a commercial space with not much stuff near the lighting.

Lol @ hoarding the incandescents- they're so much nicer of a light, for sure! Always good to be prepared for the zombie apocalypse. I dunno if they glow after they're turned off- the ones we have are in a hallway where the lights stay on 24/7... that's creepy though!

 

[iheartscience]

I''m scared now! We have some, but not too many because I HATE them and fight my husband on it constantly. I like regular light bulbs, damn it-the compact fluorescent ones give off ugly light. Guess now I have more ammunition against them, but yikes!

 

[studyer83]

Same happened here a few days ago. Made a popping noise. I guess they burn out more often when there are severe temperature swings?

Ours smelled awful. It really freaked me out because the bulbs do contain mercury. I only did a little bit of searching, but I guess the mercury only escapes when the bulb cracks, not when it shorts out?

 

[Madam Bijoux]

I''ve also begun hoarding incandescent bulbs. Can''t stand compact flourescent lights. I use flourescent tubes in my African Violet light carts, and I''ve never had trouble with them.

 

[HVVS]

Date: 1/7/2010 9:29:20 PM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
This is really scary!!! I work for the National Fire Protection Association and I've never heard of these posing a potential fire hazard. I'll look into it a little more and pass the word!

I had a three-way fluorescent coil bulb arc and weld itself to the lamp socket. If I hadn't had it on a small circuit it might have burned the house down. I was alerted to the problem when the lights in that room started deeply browning out. Before I could figure out what was causing it, that lamp was almost literally toasted.

Do the single light intensity fluorescent bulbs also keep coming loose in the sockets??

3-ways loosened themselves all the time and had to be constantly checked. Were not making good proper contact in the socket. They were all a POS, as far am I'm concerned. The first setting would be dim as expected, then the second was brighter, and the third you'd expect to be brightest but it was dimmer than setting two. This was 5 years ago. I don't use any more of those bulbs.

 

[LGK]

OK, I pulled the other bulb and *thought* I put it in my purse to write down the info off it but now it''s not there... did DH toss it? Did the cat eat it? Am I just imagining I put it there? Who knows...

Anyway, it was a GE helical bulb, I think the equivalent of 60 watts. It was upright in the chandelier, not pointing down. The one that was left in the chandelier that was still working that I pulled out had some darkening around the bulb parts too, like it was thinking of combusting as well. Nice!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Scary. Glad nobody was hurt. Is this a problem with most fluorescent bulbs? We only have one in a lamp, however one of my fish tanks uses a flourescent bulb and it seems okay - the fish looks really cool under that lighting. I hope that one isn''t the type to cause problems.

 

[LGK]

Date: 1/9/2010 4:20:39 PM
Author: MC
Scary. Glad nobody was hurt. Is this a problem with most fluorescent bulbs? We only have one in a lamp, however one of my fish tanks uses a flourescent bulb and it seems okay - the fish looks really cool under that lighting. I hope that one isn''t the type to cause problems.

The antique mall has a billion long fluoro tubes and we''ve never, ever had one burn in the 10 years I''ve been here. Just the spiral compacts. We''ve literally gone through thousands of the big tubes over the years and no problems. Those, I trust!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 1/9/2010 6:22:24 PM
Author: LittleGreyKitten

Date: 1/9/2010 4:20:39 PM
Author: MC
Scary. Glad nobody was hurt. Is this a problem with most fluorescent bulbs? We only have one in a lamp, however one of my fish tanks uses a flourescent bulb and it seems okay - the fish looks really cool under that lighting. I hope that one isn''t the type to cause problems.

The antique mall has a billion long fluoro tubes and we''ve never, ever had one burn in the 10 years I''ve been here. Just the spiral compacts. We''ve literally gone through thousands of the big tubes over the years and no problems. Those, I trust!

Good to hear. I''ll switch out the one bulb that is in the lamp. Yahhh! My fish is safe.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Yikes! Glad you are ok...