So, I was just sitting around in my room with the lights on when I hear this loud-ass popping noise. Didn't see anything change when it happened, but it came from above me, so I figured it was either the ceiling fan or the lights...

Anyway, when I left my room, it smelled heavily of... this sort of acidic-metallic smell that I'm assuming is a component of fluorescent lights, and it was making me light headed just from the few times I sniffed it to try to figure out what it was. The weird thing is that the lights could all still turn on... I'd thought the glass broke or something on one of them, but if that were the case I don't see how it would stay lit...

So, people of TWW, does anyone have some advice? Know anything about those coiled-up little fluorescent bulbs? Know what mercury smells like? Anything helps. Hopefully.

10/13/2010 6:13:10 AM

Mercury poisoning.

10/13/2010 6:27:14 AM

lol.
It's not like there's enough in those CFL bulbs to poison someone that quickly... though I am glad I didn't fall asleep before it happened. Breathing in that shit for that long actually could have some bad effects.

Mostly I'm just trying to figure out if the CFL bulbs were the problem at all, or if there's something else I need to fix before it goes away. A bulb releasing mercury without breaking or turning off seems weird.

[Edited on October 13, 2010 at 6:34 AM. Reason : .]

10/13/2010 6:34:34 AM

write your will... you gonna die

10/13/2010 6:58:46 AM

What kind of cfl exactly? Are they the kind that screw into an incandescent light socket or the longer skinny kind that just snap in? It sounds kind of like a magnetic ballast is going bad but most cfls that i know of (and the ones we use at work) use electronic ballasts.

edit: could be the fan motor but i dont know as much about what happens when they go bad

[Edited on October 13, 2010 at 8:19 AM. Reason : ]

10/13/2010 7:53:40 AM

i have CFLs everywhere in my house, and this has never happened

they just stop burning, then i throw them out with the regular trash

10/13/2010 8:39:15 AM

^ where do you have them burning out?

10/13/2010 8:40:22 AM

two in the kitchen so far, and one in the living room (the most usage areas)

you can tell when they are due cause the bases start to turn brown

the ones in the bedroom and lamps should go strong for years

10/13/2010 8:44:01 AM

how many tdubbers does it take to change a fluorescent lightbulb?

10/13/2010 9:17:50 AM

question was not brief, I claim false advertising

10/13/2010 9:21:01 AM

sounds like bad lamps, it happens even with CFLs. Did you recently screw them in or have they been there for awhile?

10/13/2010 9:31:51 AM