Lighting question
 

"Mark Carver" wrote in message
...
Max Demian wrote:

You've got it the wrong way round. It's CFLs that contain mercury (and if
one blows up you are supposed to abandon the house and call in a
decontamination team).

Remind me how long fluorescent tubes have been in use domestically in the
UK ?

Why?

--
Max Demian

Lighting question
 

T depends what you mean by "domestically". When I bought this house in
1973 the garage was lit by fluorescent tubes (it still is). There was
nothing unusual about that.

Some people had fluorescent tubes in their kitchens at that time.

Indeed, my parents had them in use in their house from new in 1966, I'm
too young to remember their house before that. Anyway, I don't recall any
safety fears about broken tubes from the last century, it's all started up
in recent 'nanny state' years, and CFLs are no more hazardous than good
old fluorescent tubes ?

I can recall my grandparents having a round fluorescent fitting in their
lounge in the early 1970s

My Saturday job working for an independent electrical retailer in the early
1980s included dealing with all the rubbish for the week. This included
smashing fluorescent tubes in a dustbin with a stick and then burning the
bits in the yard. No face masks, gloves or goggles.

We also sold refills for Braun Independent hair stylers. The highlight of
the rubbish session was throwing the empty gas cylinders brought in by
customers ("Have you got a new one of these - can you chuck this empty one
away for me") on the bonfire and trying to get them to explode over the
Co-op behind the shop.

Lighting question
 

"Max Demian" wrote in message ...
"Graham." wrote in message ...
"Bill Wright" wrote in message ...
I'm going to fit two lights in the same room. The problem is they don't have line and neutral marked. If I get one the wrong way
round will they be in antiphase, and will this make the room get darker when I turn the light on?

This is UK-DIY isn't it? I posted this message earlier but it didn't appear.

Tesco were doing an offer of 11W CFL candle bulbs for 10p, so I got a basket full
for the hall chandeliers here at Graham Mansions.
I kid you not, when you turn them on the room gets darker!

It takes three full minutes for the brightness to approach that of those
that are already warmed up.
There's no good reason to keep Hg out of our children's brains if they
are going to die from falling down the stairs due light-bulbs deficient of same...

You've got it the wrong way round. It's CFLs that contain mercury (and if one blows up you are supposed to abandon the house and
call in a decontamination team).

I don't think there's much harmful in ordinary light bulbs. (Some people eat them.)

I know CFLs and linier fluorescents contain Hg, what I was trying to say is the CFLs
in question don't contain *enough* Hg. Is that clearer?

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

Lighting question
 

"J G Miller" wrote in message ...
On Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:19:36 +0100, Ian Jackson wrote:

As the Americans might say "CFL sucks"

Because in the CFL they always punt on the 3rd down? ;)

I had to Google that before I got it!

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

Lighting question
 

On Oct 9, 4:21*pm, Mark Carver wrote:
Remind me how long fluorescent tubes have been in use domestically in
the UK ?

When I was at junior school in the mid/late 1950s the classrooms had
fluorescents. We were told when the school opened that it was the
first school in the West Riding to have them, but that probably wasn't
quite true because a lot of identical schools were built at that time.
The lights were unreliable and the teachers used to have to whack the
starters with their canes.

When I moved to a secondary modern built in 1929 the lights in the
hall were eight huge 250W bulbs in lampshades, fixed as pendants.
During the 1960s these were removed and fluorescents fitted. I was
able to remove some lamps and holders from the contractor's trailer
one evening after school.

Bill

Lighting question
 

Oh, I forgot. PS and all that. On the subject of lights and the olden
days, when we went on a school trip it was usually by train so we used
to steal the light bubs out of the carriages. I can't remember what
voltage they were but they were the normal BC fitting. It was good fun
to put one in a pendant fitting at school or at home and then watch
when an aldult turned the light on. They flashed very bright indeed
then of course went out. Happy days of innocent childhood.

Bill

Lighting question
 

" wrote in message
...

When I was at junior school in the mid/late 1950s the classrooms had
fluorescents. We were told when the school opened that it was the
first school in the West Riding to have them, but that probably wasn't
quite true because a lot of identical schools were built at that time.
The lights were unreliable and the teachers used to have to whack the
starters with their canes.

Are you making this up? In an traditional glow-type starter, the switching is
done by a bimetallic strip (similar to the ones used in some thermostats)
encased in an airtight glass bubble filled with a special gas. When you power up
the fluorescent light, the gas heats up (and glows of course), causing the two
strips of metal to bend and touch, which then switches on the heater filmaent at
each end of the flourescent tube.
As soon as the strips touch and make the circuit, the gas cools down again, the
strips separate again, and the lamp starts glowing.

How could "whacking the starters with canes" have any effect on this process?
Was there some other starting mechanism in use way back then?

I've noticed the early starter modules were larger and had four pins instead of
two, but when I took one apart, only the two larger pins were connected
internally, and it contained the above-mentioned glow-type technology.

jamie.
--

Lighting question
 

"Thieving Pikey" wrote in message
...

Oh, I forgot. PS and all that. On the subject of lights and the olden
days, when we went on a school trip it was usually by train so we used
to steal the light bubs out of the carriages. I can't remember what
voltage they were but they were the normal BC fitting.

Damn thieving pikeys.

fwiw the very early fluorescent lights (early 60s perhaps?) used the normal
bayonet fitting at each end of the tube(!).
I've seen some working examples, retrofitted with bayonet-to-modern-type
convertor adapters (a simple passive adapter as far as I could tell), which
allowed the user to fit a modern tube in the old lamp fitting.

jamie.
--

Lighting question
 

"Graham." wrote:

I know CFLs and linier fluorescents contain Hg, what I was trying to say is the CFLs
in question don't contain *enough* Hg. Is that clearer?

The Health Protection Agency more or less agrees. Their guide says pick
up all the bits and open the doors and windows for 15 minutes.

http://tinyurl.com/3yg45yj which points at

http://www.hpa.org.uk/ProductsServic...rcuryandMCFLs/

Lighting question
 

In article , j r powell
wrote:

" wrote in message
...

When I was at junior school in the mid/late 1950s the classrooms had
fluorescents. We were told when the school opened that it was the first
school in the West Riding to have them, but that probably wasn't quite
true because a lot of identical schools were built at that time. The
lights were unreliable and the teachers used to have to whack the
starters with their canes.

Are you making this up? In an traditional glow-type starter, the
switching is done by a bimetallic strip (similar to the ones used in
some thermostats) encased in an airtight glass bubble filled with a
special gas. When you power up the fluorescent light, the gas heats up
(and glows of course), causing the two strips of metal to bend and
touch, which then switches on the heater filmaent at each end of the
flourescent tube. As soon as the strips touch and make the circuit, the
gas cools down again, the strips separate again, and the lamp starts
glowing.

How could "whacking the starters with canes" have any effect on this
process? Was there some other starting mechanism in use way back then?

It could have been dirty contacts that needed a jolt. I certainly know
that hitting older starters made them work.

--
From KT24

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