Something else to start hording!

[rcmodel]

Shop-light bulbs!

I just found out conventional F40w 48" fluorescent light bulbs have been outlawed by the government, and will no longer be sold after Jan. 2014.

What does this have to do with Reloading??

Well, I don't know about you, but I have 8 shop-lights in the basement, 2 ea over both reloading benches, 1 over my lathe, 1 over my grinder & belt sander stands, 1 over my table saw, and 1 over the the washer & dryer!

I'm getting me some spare 40w shop-light bulbs while the getting is good!

rc

 

[Drail]

We can probably thank Al Gore for that also.

 

[floydster]

Who is Al Gore?

Smokeyloads

 

[Elkins45]

What is supposed to replace them?

 

[rcmodel]

During his term as Vice President under Bill Clinton, Al Gore invented the Internet.

Bill was in the oval office playing around with cigars, or something.

rc

 

[Elkins45]

Maybe I should stock up on some 100 watt incandescent bulbs to replace them?

 

[rcmodel]

What is supposed to replace them?

As I understand it?
New light fixtures.
Or new ballest and sockets for your old fixtures.

The new bulb is a 1" dia, and new ballast and T8 lamp sockets will be necessary to work with them.
The old T12 sockets won't fit.
And the old ballests burn out the new bulbs.

rc

 

[Coop45]

RC, are you sure about that? Incandescent bulbs are going away in 2014, but I find it hard to believe that fluorescents are going too. Those weird looking lights that are replacing incandescents are fluorescent.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Things aren't what they used to be, are they? I'm loading up on 60w edison base incondescents before they all disappear. Lighting over a loading bench is very important.

 

[rcmodel]

Yes, I'm sure.
Not all flourescent lights are going away.
Just the T12 40w ones that fit the 100 gazillion shop & ceiling lights in the USA!

There was a DIY story in the paper the other day about converting your shop lights.

And the Westlake Hardware store manager told me the same thing today when I went to get bulbs.

The law was to take effect July 1, 2012.
But there was enough hell raising they have extended the deadline to Jan 1, 2014 now.


Now I'm wondering if a change from a 40w bulb to a 32w bulb will ever save enough energy to make up for the all the energy they will use making 100 gazillion new light fixtures??

rc

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

T8 and T12 use the same sockets (correct term is "lampholder"). you just have to change the ballast. while i was in college, i worked doing maintenance in the dorms and changed countless ballasts from T12 to T8. never had to change the lampholders.

if i remember correctly, the reason for the change is because the T8 lamps contain less mercury.

 

[rcmodel]

Well maybe it's not T8 then??

At any rate the new "green" bulbs susposedly don't fit the old T12 sockets.
And the old magnetic ballests burn out the new bulbs.

rc

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

a 1" diameter lamp is a T8

the format is TX where X = diameter/8 inches

so 8/8 = 1 in.

 

[cfullgraf]

Good to know the T12 bulbs are being discontinued. In 30 or 40 years I may have change just a few in my shop and reloading area so not a big concern. But the newer ones I added in the new house have not been as long lived.

I think I will lay in a few spares, replace fixtures once in a while ( mine are the inexpensive hanging shop lights), and save the old bulbs until the old stuff is exhausted or been replaced.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

i think T5 lamps are another replacement option, but they use different lampholders.

 

[floydster]

The gov. just wants to get rid of the old ballast's that run the old T 12 bulbs.

Smokeyloads --- I do know what Billy was playing with in the Oval Office

 

[rcmodel]

O.K., I might have been wrong about the sockets not fitting.

Here was the newspaper story I was thinking said that.
But it doesn't.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/nov/19/fix-it-chick-retrofit-t-12-light-fixture/

rc

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

The gov. just wants to get rid of the old ballast's that run the old T 12 bulbs.

yeah, because they're old, inefficient magnetic ballasts. they're already illegal to make or import. if your ballast goes out, you have to go to a T8 electronic ballast. a T8 retrofit uses ~35% less energy. i would just retrofit as the ballasts or lamps fail.

 

[blarby]

If you run all of those lights fairly constantly RC, it will indeed save you some cash- you can buy the ballasts cheaper than your DIY store has them, I'm certain........


Look for a local co. that does energy audits- they could probably turn you on to some cheap ones.

 

[rcmodel]

Yea, but I don't anymore.

Years ago, I did run them all the time when I wasn't at work.
But the older I get, the less shop projects I have going on all the time.

The one over the washer only gets used when we wash clothes, and I haven't used the table saw in the last year or two.

I will not live long enough to save the cost of replacing the 8 ballasts in electricity savings.

rc

 

[Coop45]

The older I get, the more I didn't know. Thanks for the lighting lesson, RC.

 

[buck460XVR]

Local electrician tipped me off on this a while back. He said many Big Box stores were puttin' the old fixtures on sale before they couldn't get rid of them.Of course they weren't tellin' anyone that the bulbs would be unobtainable soon.

 

[Fat_46]

Great. I have 34 of these in the house. I guess I got the change, still waiting on the hope.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

the legislation that phased out T12 lamps was The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Obama had nothing to do with it

i'm not very fond of our president either, but do some research before you start blaming POTUS for everything.

in other words:

 

[presspuller]

Any lamps you see now with a green cap on the end is the no/less mercury, those have been out for many years. The new version is all about the energy savings. Imagine how many industries have those lamps and the total dollars that can be saved from it.