Sunavab!tch!!!

[madosta]

This is awesome. Great way to start a morning. Ran to the hardware, picked up some lumber to build some shelves, get home and start building them.

The first shelf is up, grab the OSB to deck it, knock over an umbrella, because it's in the way, because my garage is a CLUSTER $##$ because I NEED SHELVES and it falls onto 12 T12 light bulbs! EXPLODING EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM.

Thoughts of fury raged through my brain as I exited the garage quickly trying not to breathe any of the dust. I pondered at the doorsteps to the house "wtf man, can't I catch a break?!" I came inside and had some leftovers and here I am sitting on my couch staring out into the garage as the mercury vapors slowly creep onto my tools.

WTF am I to do now? Sweep it up? Dust mask?

BAH!!!!

Public service announcement, recycle your bulbs ASAP. It's been nice knowing you guys.

 

[DirtRoad]

I wouldn't worry about it. Just sweep it all up.

It's not radioactive

 

[Kevin C]

http://www2.epa.gov/cfl/cleaning-broken-cfl

Info from a CFL... Same basic idea. Don't eat the white powder, get the dog out of the area, the cat can stay.

Before Cleanup
Have people and pets leave the room.
Air out the room for 5-10 minutes by opening a window or door to the outdoor environment.
Shut off the central forced air heating/air-conditioning system, if you have one.
Collect materials needed to clean up broken bulb:
stiff paper or cardboard;
sticky tape;
damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes (for hard surfaces); and
a glass jar with a metal lid or a sealable plastic bag.

During Cleanup
DO NOT VACUUM. Vacuuming is not recommended unless broken glass remains after all other cleanup steps have been taken. Vacuuming could spread mercury-containing powder or mercury vapor.
Be thorough in collecting broken glass and visible powder. Scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder. Place the used tape in the glass jar or plastic bag. See the detailed cleanup instructions for more information, and for differences in cleaning up hard surfaces versus carpeting or rugs.
Place cleanup materials in a sealable container.

After Cleanup
Promptly place all bulb debris and cleanup materials, including vacuum cleaner bags, outdoors in a trash container or protected area until materials can be disposed of. Avoid leaving any bulb fragments or cleanup materials indoors.
Next, check with your local government about disposal requirements in your area, because some localities require fluorescent bulbs (broken or unbroken) be taken to a local recycling center. If there is no such requirement in your area, you can dispose of the materials with your household trash.
If practical, continue to air out the room where the bulb was broken and leave the heating/air conditioning system shut off for several hours.

EDIT: 12 bulbs at once is a lot..... Seems like you did the right thing by getting out of the area.

Another cleanup blurb.

http://www.des.umd.edu/hw/spill/bulbcleanup.pdf

 

[crepr12]

Are these bulbs/lights worth all this hassle?

 

[rabidsquirrel]

Just a slight over reaction. Sweep up the mess and move on. You probably ingest more mercury eating a can of tuna.

 

[jd_1138]

At least you will have some shelving now, so this type of stuff won't happen again. I built some shelves in my shed, and it really helped to get all the misc. small stuff off the bench. Add I screwed some hooks into the beams so I could get the weedwhacker and other large bulky stuff out of the way.

 

[ForceFed70]

T12? You did yourself a favor - now you're motivated to upgrade to a modern fixture

 

[Okolowicz]

Well... The bulbs won't be in your way anymore.

 

[BD1]

See, that's what happens when you try to get organize. I know the feeling.
You gotta make a mess to get organized. It's just the way it works. Wait and see how great it will be when done.
Intoxication maybe required and helpful.

 

[madosta]

Overreaction maybe.

GJ Withdrawal, definitely.

You guys wanna come over and have a few beers with me now that I got the ectoplasam cleaned up?

The T12s were from fixtures I replaced, I just hadn't gotten rid of them yet.

Needless to say I got it cleaned up, built another workbench, tore apart a 130HP Honda Outboard and found a cracked head... now what to do with it.

Bonfire tonight. Summer time and relaxation!!!

 

[G_P]

Depending on how old you are you probably have mercury based fillings in your teeth!

When I break a flourescent bulb I just avoid breathing the dust and then sweep up the mess and toss it in the trash.

No need to break out the pressurized full body suits and call in the EPA!

 

[John in OH]

Madosta'a sonofab.... event reminds me of a similar disaster that occurred a few years ago when I was helping my brother move out of his house. He owned an antique mercury barometer … a really old thing that was essentially a “U” tube filled with liquid mercury. This barometer “U” tube was closed at one end, but open to the atmosphere at the other end (remember freshman general science class??).

So, my brother, a couple of his friends and I were racing about trying to help get the last few items out of the house before the new owner arrived in the late afternoon for a final inspection for closing. One of the friends, grabs the barometer off the wall, immediately tilts it onto its side and dumps all of the liquid mercury out onto the tile floor of the sun porch! That mercury hit the floor and splashed into a million small beads about the size of bb’s that flew in every direction!

We stood there in shock!! What a mess!!

So, how to clean this up?? Gentle sweeping only broke the beads into smaller beads. Mercury was too heavy to pick up with a turkey baster. Mercury won’t absorb into a paper towel. Vacuum cleaner out of the question. Liquid mercury is a bizarre substance to handle, very heavy, high surface tension … like molten lead, but it never solidifies.

Clock ticking, lots of stuff still to move out and new owner coming.

Final solution was all six guys on their hands and knees with small pieces of cardboard pushing the individual bb’s together until they glommed into bigger beads that could then be pushed up onto a thin piece of cardboard and dumped into a jar. After about an hour of work most mercury was cleaned up, except for a multitude of tiny, glistening, beads in the floor tile grout seams. OK, last resort, drag out the vacuum and **** up remaining tiny beads.

Job finally done, but only saving grace was the mercury dumped on tile, not carpet!

Fortunately, none of my children were present and we weren't planning on having any more!!

 

[VHF]

In my college chemistry class we had a jar with a special sponge on the inside of the lid for soaking up spilled mercury. Once someone broke a mercury thermometer. Most of the mercury got soaked up, but a few tiny dropplets went down the drain of a nearby lab sink. Two days later the professor got a call from the sewage treatment plant asking if we had let any mercury go down the drain!