T 12 Tubes

[jmellc]

I had not been part of any recent discussions on T 12 tubes. My last understanding was that they were being phased out of production sometime this year. I sold a few customers on changing to T 8 lights. Talked with a guy at a supply house this week who said manufacturers have made the T12 more efficient & it will likely stay around awhile longer.

What have you guys been hearing? Anything official out there?

 

[John120/240]

From what I've heard the 4 ft T-12 are ones that are obsolete. Probably because 4 ft T-12 were

one of the most common flourscent tubes. 8 ft single pin T-12 are not affected.

I have been wrong before, once maybe

 

[Electric-Light]

I had not been part of any recent discussions on T 12 tubes. My last understanding was that they were being phased out of production sometime this year. I sold a few customers on changing to T 8 lights. Talked with a guy at a supply house this week who said manufacturers have made the T12 more efficient & it will likely stay around awhile longer.

What have you guys been hearing? Anything official out there?

T12s are just as good as T5s and T8s. It's just that the development of lamps and ballasts and fixtures for it already ceased long time ago.

There were premium RE80 T12s like Philips Ultralume but they were discontinued years ago. I don't think they were big seller anyways and they were like $7-8/ea.

The manufacturing of RE70 T8s and T12s were basically banned this July. Not because they are RE70 or that they're T12, but the performance criteria were such that they weren't able to pass them.

4' T8-T12s that has a rated efficacy of 89lm/W or less are already illegal to make in the USA.
The guy at supply house probably just wants to clear their inventory. Lamps are hazardous waste and they cost like a buck a piece to dispose.

Here's the law on it:
http://assets.sylvania.com/assets/Documents/Prod.0bbbbb5d-fb92-4ebe-830f-621b9a13306b.pdf

The performance difference between the average RE70s (which fails the reqs by a hair) and average RE80s are negligible in real life. So, if there's no requirement for PoCo/.gov rebates, RE70s are still good for use.

It depends on the quantity of lamps you have to dispose, but T12s cost more to dispose as recyclers often rate by the box as opposed to per lamp and since you can fit more T8s into disposal box, next group relamp would be a good time for T8 or T5 change over.

one of the most common flourscent tubes. 8 ft single pin T-12 are not affected.

I have been wrong before, once maybe

Yes they're. 75W and 110W/HO = bye bye.

 

[TNBaer]

I've made a good living replacing T12s for the last seven years. I've never found a reason not to do it. It's just good sense to replace it with T8.