any opinions on the safety of CFL bulbs?

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The apartment complex installed CFL bulbs in our downstairs bathroom a year or two ago. The other night I heard a noise that sounded like something broke. I thought one of the cats knocked something onto the floor. Then, there was a strong odor that smelled like an electrical fire that lasted for days. I read about CFL lights and thought one exploded but when I looked they were intact. I looked up odor with CFL bulbs and found information about when they expire, there is an odor. I gently tried to unscrew one of the three bulbs that were out and it broke (a clean break into two pieces). I feel like the original odor was probably toxic but there was no smoke.

Anyone have an experience like this?

http://www.hamptons.com/Lifestyle/Hampt ... Light.html

Thank you, auntblabby. That had more information than the sites I read.

Honestly there's no way to say this without causing you stress, but I will not use one of those indoors. Since they came out a few years ago, and the local power company was pushing them on the public by tax benefits and give-aways, they have become a major cause of house fires. One of ours burst into flames, and rained flaming plastic all over the floor. Thank goodness it was a concrete floor in a utility room, and no fire spread. But it would have burned the house down if it had been on carpet or near anything flammable. I have had several others turn dark brown and start smoking as well.

That article is somewhat muted, as it does not disclose the truth about how many fires are attributed to CFL bulbs. The Fire Chief of Ventura County, CA replied to an eMail which I wrote to him in 2006 after our incident with the CFL bursting into flames, and his reply acknowledged that there IS A PROBLEM, but said that he is encouraged to "find and state an alternate plausible cause if a second possibility for cause exists" for any fire where a CFL bulb was present. I assume this is for political pressure from the Green movement.

If you have no choice as to what bulbs are installed, at least don't leave any of them on unattended, unless they're in a place where there isn't anything to burn right underneath, and CERTAINLY not in a lamp with a paper lampshade. And be sure to have fresh batteries in your smoke alarms, so that you hopefully will be made aware if one of those bulbs is starting to act up, and you can go shut it off in time.

With that said, anything can cause a fire if it's plugged in. But for some reason, these CFL bulbs seem to be more likely to burst into flames than to just quit working and stink, as is often the case with other small electronics. It's good common sense to unplug everything while you're not using it... Cellphone chargers, toasters, etc.. You just never know.

Charles

luckily, so far, I have not had such incidents with my CFLs, they just [more often than not] winked out way ahead of schedule, after only a month or so of use.

Well, I think some people are proftting while others are left with the mess. The article auntblabby posted said "UL listing of CFLs is not mandatory...UL does have established criteria for CFLs, including a requirement that all bases be made of non-combustible materials. CFLs meeting UL criteria will display the trademark UL seal on the exterior of the bulbs base housing."

I have four CFL bulbs in my downstairs bathroom. Three burned out. When I tried to gently unscrew one of the burned out bulbs, it broke into two pieces. I tried to unscrew the remaining working bulb and the people who installed it screwed it too tightly for me to undo (without likely breaking another bulb). I can have the apartment maintenance try to deal with it but what if more bulbs break?

Thank you, auntblabby and kx250rider.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0x3rbHFwQU&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

We have some of these bulbs in my house and they make me nervous that they will burn the house down. Even if I replaced them all with something else my downstairs neighbor probably used them too so that wouldn't help much.

I've thought of someday switching to the led ones when we have more money but those might have their own problems too.

CFL retrofit lamps generally have low quality electronics in them to make them cheap, and are far from a good design. Basically, for a regular fluorescent lamp, the ballast would be kept separate to the lamp, but this is not possible in a CFL. The ballast needs to be integrated into the lamp itself and kept in a tight space.

This results in low quality electronics generating heat in a cramped space. Not ideal, but it didn't ought to be a safety issue.

Are these dying and fire catching lamps used in confined spaces? If so, that's not too surprising, as they will just get hot and fail. If it is in a more open space where the heat can escape, you should be fine.

But it still shouldn't catch fire. If it catches fire, that suggests there was some kind of fault. Perhaps bad components in the lamp.

The light fixture I mentioned earlier, was in a non-enclosed indoor-outdoor type; designed for any bulbs (150 watt regular, etc) so it was basically fire-resistant. The fixture was made of an aluminum socket housing with a heavy glass shroud; vented on top and open on the bottom. Had it been enclosed, it might have exploded if the heat built up that fast, and that could have spewed the flaming melted plastic sideways into flammable materials...

In most buildings, the main fire hazard would be from things underneath the bulb (carpeting, furniture, papers, etc). Ceiling light fixtures typically have a metal backing with fiberglass insulation above. The only danger there, would be if the flames got hot enough to travel through the electrical box in the attic (or between floors in a 2-story), and set fire to the wood framing. Unlikely but can happen. The best thing you can do, is to be sure nothing flammable is sitting underneath any lights with those CFL bulbs.

Charles