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Forum Index : Electronics : Light Bulb Danger
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| VK4AYQ Guru  Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi All I received this post from a Dr in US I have heard simular on the media here, for us guys trying to maximize power savings it could become an issue. Quote: Filling your home with mercury If you've fallen for the compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulb scam, you're the one getting screwed – in more ways than one. Not only are these things expensive and dim, they're also dangerous. A reader named Ken wrote in to say that these bulbs did a number on him. "I think the new CFL light bulbs are death," he wrote. "I am extremely angry at them for allowing them to be sold without a warning on the box!!" There's emerging evidence that these bulbs can cause seizures and dizziness, worsen migraine headaches and send lupus patients doubling over in agony. They've been linked to skin disorders and even cancer. I can only wonder what else they'll discover when hundreds of millions of people are forced to sit under these bulbs all day, every day… at home, at work, and everywhere in between. Even worse, CFL bulbs are filled with mercury. They'll tell you it's a "tiny" amount, but a single bulb contains enough mercury to contaminate over 20,000 liters of water. Does that sound safe to you? Let me shine a little light in this one: Small amounts of mercury can lay waste to your central nervous system, and all it takes is a whiff, taste or touch. Mercury can damage your vision, ruin your speech, wreck your hearing, turn you into a herky-jerky spastic, and give you the rash of a lifetime. Ever hear the phrase "mad as a hatter?" It's because hatters worked with mercury – and it literally drove them nuts. And when the greenies get their way, we'll all be mad hatters. After all, light bulbs break – and it's just a matter of time before you and your family are exposed to mercury from a shattered CFL bulb. All that, and I haven't even touched on what's going to happen when all the mercury from discarded and "recycled" bulbs seeps into the ground and ends up in the already- filthy water supply. I'm no fan of ordinary incandescent lights, either – I'm convinced they're responsible for poor health and cataracts. But in this case it's a lesser of two evils. And if you hope to keep using them, you'd better stock up now. Soon, you won't have a choice. End Quote: It looks like a good reason to use LED lighting to me. ALL the best Bob Foolin Around |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5024 |
Hi Bob. The "Dr" is basically full of poo. Its like I tell my Dad, the stuff you read in emails is 1% truth, 9% exaggeration and 90% crap. There's an article in the latest Silicon Magazine along the same line, and they point out most of the claims against compact fluro's, and fluro's in general, are rubbish. The only real concern is the small amount of mercury, but so long as they are disposed of correctly there is very little to worry about. Who hasn't broken a fluro tube or two in their lives? Anyone here died from mercury poisoning? Hands up! You do more health damage to yourself by walking past a idling car than you would ever do with one ot two broken fluros in a lifetime. Another point these emailers raise is colour temperature, and how reading under fluro light gives you eyestrain. Well go out side and read under full sun, and then you'll experience some real eye strain! Ignore them, its just ranting and raving to make people feel uneasy about change. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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GWatPE Senior Member  Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127 |
I think we forget that these devices are "Compact" fluorescent lights. These are essentially the same principle as the big brother type we are familiar with that became popular in the 50's & 60's in our homes and still fill a majority of commercial buildings lighting requirements. The phosphor, that converts the UV light emitted from the mercury vapour discharge light works in a similar fashion to that in the bigger tubes. The tube is much shorter and the device smaller, so an electronic ballast is used that operates at a much higher frequency to the usual 50Hz on the bigger tubes. The mercury is still in the bigger tubes. The UV light from the mercury discharge still fades paint and fabrics and contributes to eye damage as the phosphor wears, even though we think the tube is still OK, as "it still works", yet it should have been replaced. There may be health problems with using the CFL's as a bedside lamp, or reading lamp etc. I now have a mixture of LED lighting and CFL's at home. I have seen similar lifetime problems with LED's as occured with CFL's, in first generation units. At least the LED's can be operated with an alternate power source when the converter goes U/S. I would like to go all DC, but this is not always practicle. Maybe when all the 240VAC GU type lamps power supplies fail, I may have enough to do a full DC system. The OLED panels may be the future for room lighting, with a mix of LED spots for effect and reading needs. Most readers would still find that cost dictates what they have. Gordon. become more energy aware |
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| VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Gizmo Thanks for the comment, however I do believe they are a bit more dangerous than you think, from personal experience I was working a lathe for twelve hours a day at one stage , the lighting was 3 x 2 tube 40 watts fluros mounted in a panel 5 ft above the lathe, after a few days my vision started to blur, and my hair started to fall out, trip to the doctor, found nothing wrong, but after several more weeks the bad headaches started, more tests, nothing wrong, got a week of work and got better, week back at work, and back to usual sore head headache blurred vision. By this time I had lost a lot of hair and had to wear a hat to keep chips of metal off my head, felt a bit better. The penny dropped so I threw the fluro lights out and fitted incandescent, all good no more problems, even my hair grew back a bit,this happened to me, and this is the only email its been in, back then I was 25 and since then I have been very cautious of fluros, as for the mercury, I have broken and done all sorts of horrible things with the dead tubes and I'm not much sillier than I was before, I think anyway, others may have different views. We used mercury on the gold capture plates, and distilled it every day when I had a gold mine, 1/2 share anyway. So my exposure to mercury was much more than the average. I have converted most of my lights to LED and a few CFL where better light is needed. The light transferred energy was the most dangerous part of the fluro, and I concede that not many would spend 12 hours a day under high intensity fluro light, but its still there. In office blocks people work all day under high intensity fluro fittings with four and six tubes in one fitting. Makes me wonder? On the exaggeration of effect in the email, I think he is making a point as if he said only 15% worse no body would take any notice, we are a slack lot.. All the best Bob Foolin Around |
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| dwyer Guru Joined: 19/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 573 |
Hi to all Well In that year of 1963 i did play around with carbon, zinc, mercury AA batteries and hit with a hammer and squeezed mercury out of the batteries which held about a 5 cent size of mercury on my hand palm. I got one penny and spent ½ hour rubbing mercery with my two fingers on the one penny both side (copper) until become like a mirror or silvery. I did play around with other things and there was no warning or any information on the batteries where very easy to buy at the shop however not anymore and i am still alive. I have had multiple blood tests in my lifetime and there was no mercery was tract in my blood systems. However mercury still dangerous same with some sea fish we eat have mercury on their body skin but very small dose but best is removed it before l goes into my mouth Dwyer  |
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oztules Guru Joined: 26/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1686 |
Bob, I seem to suffer none of the effects you mention..... but I would never use machine tools under fluro light, as the strobe effects can make the machine appear slow or stopped, and actually it is still full bore (stroboscope effect) . I suspect this had the very most to do with your malaise, headaches, blurry vision from the low frequency light flicker, and the hair.... maybe the stress from 1 & 2. The millions of folks in offices where it is bright as day for 40 years, seem to suffer no great ills..... but they don't have the brain problem of things rotating, and strobing in front of their eyes.... a disco strobe tells the story best.... makes me sick. I built a led array on my lathe (in the saddle light).... had to filter the DC very well from the supply transformer to stop the ripple making the leds strobe the chuck. ............oztules Village idiot...or... just another hack out of his depth |
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| VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Oz I did notice the strobeing effect but it was the radiation that was the worst on me, when I replaced them with incandescent globes I got more strobeing so I went to 32 volt DC and that was much better. I will set up a set of LED lights on the lathe when I get time as windmill is priority at the moment. I can feel the radiation on my solar panel when close to a light with my head even now. Hi Dwyer I did the same as a kid with the penny and a few other things, no long term effects as I was already stupid. They used to use mercury as a medicine up till the 50's and there is a lot in the food we eat now, maybe that,s what they feed politicians on. I think we get more mercury from leaching of fillings than anything else. I have seen the Mercury vapor lights explode and that is a high concentrate also and the old mercury vapor rectifiers we used on high voltage made a mes when the blew. Life is a hazard mate we have to duck and weave and take the odd hit and try to survive long enough to be a pain in the neck to the kids. All the best Bob Foolin Around |
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