Tuesday, March 27, 2012

One of Those Annoying Twisty Eco-Light Bulbs Almost Started a Fire at My House

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.

2 comments:

Carlos Perera said...

I recently had almost exactly the same experience with one of the helical fluorescents in the light fixture of my bedroom ceiling fan!

I 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.

scaramouche said...

I think you're right re the vibrations.