Originally Posted April 2007
Today was one of those mornings we could sleep in. Which, as anyone with children knows, means past 6:30. Which, as we also know, means that because we can, we won’t be able to.
Our son, who is slowly learning not to wake us up just because he is awake, could be heard shuffling around in his room. Well and good, we can work on the “do things a little more quietly please” later. At least he is not standing beside our bed begging us to get up and turn on the light for him.
So, he pads heavily down the stairs. He comes back up. His little brother wakes up and goes back downstairs with him.
All hell breaks loose. “Dad! Dad! Dad! I smell something burning in the kitchen.” They come running upstairs, shrieking. “There’s a smell of burning rubber or something in the kitchen. Is the oven on fire?”
How do I know if the oven is on fire? I ‘m supposed to be sleeping. But I dutifully rush downstairs in my drawers to solve the mystery with my usual parental calm. Then I smell the burning rubber smell. Not quite as wholly debilitating as a tire burning on my kitchen, but definitely off, and certainly not a normal wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee kind of aroma one would which to associate with a vacation morning. Unless you are following a Ford Pickup down a steep mountain hill on a vacation morning. A Ford Pickup that is dragging a huge vacation home, the driver of which has never heard of low gear and who is pressing the brake all the way down the mountain.
Speaking of coffee, I get some. Luckily it is not the coffee pot element burning out, and the timed coffee maker has finished its cycle so I can pour a cup while I try to figure out this smell. By this time the whole family is standing there, all of us sagely remarking how this smell is definitely not a good thing. We give a sniff test to all the appliances, and even to the new, odd, rubber-esque toy my younger son got for his birthday yesterday. Nope, nothing smells strange. Other than the air in the room.
Then, over the sink, one of my new CFL’s goes, in approximately this order, “flicker, flicker, sputter, flicker, sputter, sputter, POP!”
(A CFL is, for those of you who are not trying to save the world via your home energy choices, a “Compact Flourescent Lamp.” For those of you who are trying to save the world and also know how to spell, a CFL is a “Compact Fluorescent Lamp.”)
“Hmm…Let’s turn off that light switch” I say to nobody in particular, and to the situation in general. There’s no smoke, the circuit is off. I can go upstairs and drink my coffee, while I boot up the computer to see whatsup.
Whatsup is that these CFL’s have some “product performance issues” which are not, um, fully discussed on the packaging. Not only do they “fail” more frequently than to be expected, they do not always have the full life that is indicated on the package. But, most concerning, the method of failure often involves nasty smells, inappropriate heating, smoke, melting plastic, and other tings that make me wonder whether I am really saving the planet.
The bulb I was using had its ballast overheat, and the lower end starting to discolor and smell. I think the pop was the internal fuse giving out, which is a safety feature to prevent, oh, house fires and other actionable consequences.
Advisory aims to allay fluorescent bulb fears
Shedding light on compact fluorescents
Now, anything in the world that is in anyway debatable will get a healthy share of nut-jobs ranting on about the evils of this or the benefits of that, so when surfing the web to find information you need to be cautious. These sites, however, brought home for me a few concerns that on the surface at least seem valid. The usual line is that every CFL can prevent more than 450 pounds of emissions from a power plant, or something like that. How many burn out prematurely, though? How much more energy does it take to make each bulb? (They are heavier and have many more, and more complicated, parts.)
I am still going to use them. The light is not bad, I like my lower electric bills, and I really do think they are a good thing. But I certainly have taken pause, and I need to find out more information on any true safety issues that these present.
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