Faulty CFL? Look at this bulb.

[sammon287]

My 2nd floor hallway light went out. It came back on when I touched it, but did not seem loose in the socket. It looks like it overheated. Needless to say, I replaced it, but would like to know how this could happen. The glass portion of the bulb turned from white to gray. It's a Commercial Electric 60W bulb..

 

[GSSFC]

Some sort of short! Be glad you caught it, could have been a lot worse!

Tim

 

[t. jones]

Had the same thing happen in a ceiling fixture. I know they recalled a bunch here in Canada. Ours was worse than that, house should of burned down! Thanx Trevor

 

[Crzydmnd72]

I bought some cheap ones at Wal Mart a few years ago. Most died a quick quiet death but I had one that rolled smoke, it was still working but we heard some crackling sort of noise and looked up.

I only have a few in service currently and they are Sylvania or GE. yes they cost more.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Commercial Electric is Home Depot's house brand. I've used quite a few of them and have experienced slight burning, yellowing of the plastic, and color changing of the glass tube also, not nearly as bad as yours however.

Charles

 

[BackAgain]

but would like to know how this could happen.

A little place called China where they make everything you own, as quickly and as cheaply as possible. I'm sure nearly all CFLs are made in China but you even picked the cheap brand. The guy in china making that bulb for 3 cents/day doesn't care if your house burns down.

With that said I don't think I have EVER had a CFL bulb last the claimed 8-10,000 hours on the package. I've had burned ones like you pictured more than once. Often the tube part just comes loose, but the bulb still works. This can cause a short. I keep all my old CFLs in a box because I haven't bothered to recycle them, and it's getting ridiculous how many bad ones I have now. Technically I've only been using CFLs for about 9 years so I should have never ever had to throw one away...they all claim something like a 10 year life span.

 

[Gary S]

Bulbs are expendable. They are also cheap. I buy my CFLs today for about $2 each or less. Get some spares and replace them like you did all your life with incandescent bulbs.
I started replacing the old school incandescents in my house and garage 6 years ago. Right now I'm at about 98% florescent, and even the 6 year old ones are still going strong. With incandescent bulbs, I was constantly replacing, and my power bill was about 4x what the CFLs use.

 

[Norcal]

That fault is common on CFL's, they are just cheap Chinese products.

 

[Kevin54]

Check this out on "failures" although the typing is a little bad. http://www.pavouk.org/hw/lamp/en_index.html

A good little read from PM http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/how_your_house_works/4299370.html

 

[nate379]

I'm sure bulb life depends on how many on off cycles.

I had a CFL in the light over the kitchen sink that I rarely turned off and it still was going fine after 4 years of almost non-stop use, around 30,000 hours.

A little place called China where they make everything you own, as quickly and as cheaply as possible. I'm sure nearly all CFLs are made in China but you even picked the cheap brand. The guy in china making that bulb for 3 cents/day doesn't care if your house burns down.

With that said I don't think I have EVER had a CFL bulb last the claimed 8-10,000 hours on the package. I've had burned ones like you pictured more than once. Often the tube part just comes loose, but the bulb still works. This can cause a short. I keep all my old CFLs in a box because I haven't bothered to recycle them, and it's getting ridiculous how many bad ones I have now. Technically I've only been using CFLs for about 9 years so I should have never ever had to throw one away...they all claim something like a 10 year life span.

 

[Kevin54]

They use types similar to these at work, triple tube screw ins. Where they are mounted, the lamp is upside down. The shop is lucky to get 6 months of continuous use out of them. In the upside down mode, they generate too much heat. When they do, the lamps will start to fall out of the base. The only thing that holds the tubes in are the actual wires and silicone. One they start to fail, then they blow. I have actually pulled some out a 1/2" or more out of the base with the wires still attached. So the wires are just wadded up inside and close to the circuit board. The pic shown is not exactly like our style as the type we use has the tubes around the base every 120 degrees. So some of the CFL's are not met be to mounted upside down, but you can convince some of it. At $14 a pop and to only last 6 months gets to be very expensive. BTW...the ones we use see no cycle time. On 24/7 in a ceiling enviorment.

 

[Norcal]

Here in PG&E territory they subsidize CFL lamps at retailers, Costco had a 4-pack of frosty bulbs (CFL's) for 99 cents this week, at that price who cares how long they last. BTW the "average rated life" is determined when 50 % of a test group has failed,some will fail right away & others will last well beyond the rated life.

The malfunction in the OP's picture is not unusual.

 

[DURAMAT]

You get what you pay for. Better quality lamps will cost you more. I would stick with GE, Sylvania, and Phillips brands. Keep in mind that they do get hot and the heat can and will shorten the life of the lamp. You may want to consider a lower wattage CFL if heat is an issue. Just because your can light says it's good for 75watts may not mean that your CFL can handle the heat build up.

 

[Coach James]

You get what you pay for. Better quality lamps will cost you more. I would stick with GE, Sylvania, and Phillips brands. Keep in mind that they do get hot and the heat can and will shorten the life of the lamp. You may want to consider a lower wattage CFL if heat is an issue. Just because your can light says it's good for 75watts may not mean that your CFL can handle the heat build up.

So what are the differences between the GE etc and the less big name brand bulbs?

Coach

 

[Kevin54]

So what are the differences between the GE etc and the less big name brand bulbs?

Coach

Circuitry.

 

[Torque1st]

I have had real good luck with the GE and Commercial electric bulbs, but not so good with the others like invision, feit, and other home box store types. I have not used Phillips or Sylvania.

I still caution people about installing a CFL into a powered socket. I have had several bulbs fail after the were installed in hot sockets. With each one I heard arcing and popping when I screwed them in due to the electronic ballast. Some of them did not reach full brightness either and failed quickly.

 

[trythis]

I have bought a few types. The GE bulbs are the only ones that work for very long. The cheaper ones have never lasted more than a few months. I have a GE outside in a shielded light fixture that has been on for 6 months. It will come on when it is -2 F outside. I really will only buy the GE models. I am sure they will start to get cheap and crappy too. Everything does.

 

[DURAMAT]

I put some remodel cans in my kitchen and was using PAR30's. After a while I thoughti would kill my electric bill and changed all to CFLS. I cut my bill in half by switching to 26W CFL's. My problem has has been premature burnouts in my cans with a no name brand cause they've been cheap. Just ticks me off only to see it burn out after a months usage, I could get that easy with the ol' PAR30's

Kevin is correct on the "circuitry". Subpar products with subpar materials

 

[DURAMAT]

When at work I live in a "mancamp" (work in the arctic). Anyways they had a cheap o brand screw-in CFL in a bedroom that burned up pretty bad and could of started a fire, so now this stupid saftey memo is being passed around that they are unsafe and not to use them. If they had just bought/used a better quality lamp I doubt there would of been an issue.

 

[Coach James]

Circuitry.

In what way?

Coach

 

[BackAgain]

In what way?

Coach

Somebody was paid a higher wage to do a better job of assembling it, additionally, they probably use higher quality materials to start out with. (like the glue that holds the tube in place - that seems to be a common failure point)

 

[Torque1st]

In what way?

Coach

The quality of components used along with protection devices and circuits.

 

[rhastings80]

I have had the same thing happen to 2 bulbs from Home Depot. I'm also very leery of the CF bulbs now too. They don't last long at all and sometimes have a fiery ending. I was just reading today in the local newspaper saying this is rare but normal....

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyl...rksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsZ

 

[Torque1st]

GE CFL's on sale at ACE Hardware:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53667

 

[Stuart in MN]

I have had the same thing happen to 2 bulbs from Home Depot. I'm also very leery of the CF bulbs now too. They don't last long at all and sometimes have a fiery ending. I was just reading today in the local newspaper saying this is rare but normal....

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyl...rksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsZ

I get the Strib, too...I was just going to post the same link.