: Below is a picture of a CFL light bulb from my bathroom.

: I turned it on the other day and then smelled smoke after

: a few minutes. Four-inch flames were spewing out of the

: side of the ballast like a blow torch! I immediately turned

: off the lights! I'm sure it would have caused a fire if I

: was not right there! Imagine if the kids had left the lights

: on as usual when they were not in the room!

: I took the bulb to the Fire Department to report the incident.

: The fireman wasn't at all surprised, and said that it was not

: an uncommon occurrence. Apparently, sometimes when the bulb

: burns out, there is a chance that the ballast can start a fire. He
: told

: me that the Fire Marshall had issued reports about the dangers of

: these bulbs.

: Upon doing some Internet research, it seems that bulbs made by

: “Globe” in China seem to have the lion’s share of problems.
: Lots

: of fires have been blamed on misuse of CFL bulbs, like using them

: in recessed lighting, pot lights, dimmers or in track lighting.

: Mine was installed in a normal light socket.

: I bought these at Wal-Mart. I will be removing all the Globe bulbs

: from my house. CFL bulbs are great energy-savers, but make sure

: you buy a name brand like Sylvania , Phillips or GE --and NOT the

: ones from China . PASS THE WORD, PLEASE.

: "I have a pix if you want to see it, happened to a friend of
: mine, beware of Chinese CFC's.

: Bill H.

Hi Bill,
Glad you caught that.
I have CFL's all over the house except for the bathroom. Not because they may be problematic there but that it wouldn't be on long enough to be economical with purchase cost V savings ratio. On and off regularly isn't good for CFL's, it shortens the life to close to an incandescent.

I agree about buying reliable ones, the companies you mentioned are reliable producers.

Mike Savage
South West Cork