By:
Jim Stansbury
Here is a picture of a CFL light bulb from my bathroom. I turned it on the othe
r day and then smelled smoke after a few minutes. Four inch flames were
spewing out of the side of the ballast like a blow torch! I immediately
turned off the lights. But I’m sure it would have caused a fire if I was
not right there. Imagine if the kids had left the lights on as usual
when they were not in the room.
I took the bulb to the Fire
Department to report the incident. The Fireman wasn’t at all surprised
and said that it was not an uncommon occurrence. Apparently, sometimes
when the bulb burns out there is a chance that the ballast can start a
fire. He told me that the Fire Marshall had issued reports about the
dangers of these bulbs.
Upon doing some Internet research, it
seems that bulbs made by “Globe” in China (lack of quality control) have
the lion’s share of problems. Lots of fires have been blamed on misuse
of CFL bulbs, like using them in recessed lighting, pot lights, dimmers
or in track lighting. Mine was installed in a normal light socket.
I
bought these at Wal-Mart. I will be removing all the Globe bulbs from
my house. CFL bulbs are a great energy saver but make sure you buy a
name brand like Sylvania, Phillips or GE, not the ones from China
(Globe).See More