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While swapping tubes in our kitchen fixture today I wondered why
fluorescent bulbs always seem to burn out in pairs? When one goes, does
that create a surge which weakens the other? Or is the impedance when
burned out lower than when not so that the other starts running at higher
current and burns out too (assuming they're in series)? Or what - and is
this a "conspiracy" to force us consumers to buy them in pairs, or does the
cost savings on the starter circuit justify wiring them this way?
By the way, it turns out that the ballast died too and seems to have died
*after* the tubes burned out. Is there a reason to expect this - ie. is
procrastinating on changing fluorescent bulbs a bad thing? (The fixture has
4 lamps, so I just kept running on two for a while.)
Oh yes, one more thing. What's the environmentally minded way of disposing
of used bulbs?
Dr. Carl E. Mungan, Assistant Professor http://www.uwf.edu/~cmungan/
Dept. of Physics, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL 32514-5751
office: 850-474-2645 (secretary -2267, FAX -3323) email: cmungan@uwf.edu