Burnout, they do not last forever.We have been pulling out a few blown out t8 bulbs (right at the ends) lately. What would be the main cause of this? Power surges or overheating ?
If the "blowout" is a mechanical failure or is very early in the predicted life, I would suspect wrong ballast or socket wiring.We have been pulling out a few blown out t8 bulbs (right at the ends) lately. What would be the main cause of this? Power surges or overheating ?
If the "blowout" is a mechanical failure or is very early in the predicted life, I would suspect wrong ballast or socket wiring.
A breached envelope will release mercury and is not a normal failure.
Tell us more!
That is an extremely unsafe result given the mercury content, and a hazmat evaluation should be made just in case.Not much really to tell. Just went to a facilty to change out around 500 t8's to new. We had around 5-10 that the ends where just blown out. Around 3-5" of end of bulb was just gone. Silver cap was still in socket. We a pia to get caps out. They do have power quality problems (mostly 3-5am in morning) and lot's of outages in area as well. None of bulb were totally blown, just last few inches of glass gone
I'm leaning towards the instant start theory as I have heard this as well keeping the anode "ON" all the time. This whole place is just a bunch of old (15-20yrs) warehouse style track lights with a hodgepodge of old magnetic ballast and new electronic ones (instant and other types). Already told owner he needs to replace all have given several estimates but not pulling trigger on it. Over 50k to take old down and new up in this place. I'll warn him of dangers and see if this helps the sale.
These are the ones i'm proposing for this application below. They are very nice...and pricey
http://www.gelighting.com/LightingW...umination-linear-suspended/overview/index.jsp
Appreciate the tips
If the "blowout" is a mechanical failure or is very early in the predicted life, I would suspect wrong ballast or socket wiring.
A breached envelope will release mercury and is not a normal failure.
Tell us more!
I've heard that "instant start" ballast cause the ends to stay "hot" while the lamp is on. I see this type of T8 lamp failure frequently with IS ballast and I would say that it is normal, notwithstanding Golddigger's observation that this is a potentially hazardous condition. I see it in all manufacturers ballasts and bulbs.
I would recommend sleeves or shatterproof lamps for strips in areas where a broken lamp could drop onto someone. Troffers with lenses also prevent failed lamps from falling out of the overhead.
Not much really to tell. Just went to a facilty to change out around 500 t8's to new. We had around 5-10 that the ends where just blown out. Around 3-5" of end of bulb was just gone.
What do you mean by "blown" ? If the glass actually broke, the lamps would fall out of sockets. If you meant totally blackened, that's normal when they reach the end life.