I had the ceiling light on in my bedroom while getting dressed this morning when I saw a flash, followed by a puff of smoke, followed by the noxious smell of burning electrical matter. After opening the window to air out the room, I gingerly removed the twisty bulb--which had a distinct burn mark at the part that screwed into the socket--knowing that as long as it hadn't burst, thereby spewing hazardous crap all over my bedspread, I was probably safe and didn't have to resort to Haz-Mat mode.
I recently had almost exactly the same experience with one of the helical fluorescents in the light fixture of my bedroom ceiling fan!
ReplyDeleteI think the problem is that the vibrations from the fan tends to loosen the bulbs in their sockets, increasing the electrical impedance at the socket-electrical contact connection, thereby heating it and precipitating CFL failure. I've since replaced the CFLs in all of my ceiling fan light fixtures with old-fashioned filament bulbs.
I think you're right re the vibrations.
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