[tiberiustibz]

Originally Posted by organiceverafter

just want to let everyone know I am now using those 13 watt bulbs and wow are they nice. they are bright and light up a room much nicer than those standard lights and yes they only use 13 watts. how cool!!

Might I inform you that those are quite hazardous to the environment and must be disposed of with care. There's mercury in them. Plus if you accidentally break them you'll have mercury poisoning.

[Roguegal]

Okay guys, I'm confused. Are these the lightbulbs that look like a spiral? Because if they are, I will only be using them as my outside lights. I am a klutz and I do not need to worry about mercury poisoning. Both my mother and I have lung problems.

[stav]

Originally Posted by tiberiustibz

Might I inform you that those are quite hazardous to the environment and must be disposed of with care. There's mercury in them. Plus if you accidentally break them you'll have mercury poisoning.

if you read the whole thread tibz you will see that the disposal of them has been discussed.. as has the mercury aspect... saying you'll have mercury poisoning if you break one is scaremongering.

Roguegal, there is a small risk, but these bulbs are more sturdy than the old kind, and how often did you ever break one of those?

[Roguegal]

Okay, I will stop worrying now. Thank you stav for clearing things up for me. The thought of mercury poisoning was not a very good thought.

[stav]

The amount in a bulb is so tiny, and some manufacturers (Phillips for certain) have been working on reducing the amount even further.

Of course there is always a small risk, and care needs to be taken with them, but simple common sense, like opening windows and making sure the room you break a bulb in is well ventilated so that the mercury vapours disperse, and using a damp disposable cloth to wipe up any fragments. (Not your vacuum) A bulb has less mercury than a standard thermometer. just to give you an idea of the amounts involved.

There is a good no nonsense article here..

Fluorescent Lights' Mercury Poses Dim Threat

[mollyL]

About a month ago I broke one of the new light bulbs; I cleaned around the area of the lamp and washed my hands quite carefully. I'm not losing my teeth or hair; I'm satisfied I did not suffer mercury poisoning.

[horselover]

We use a mix at our place. I find the CF's to be extremely bright depending on which kind you get.

Yesterday I replaced the overhead fluorescent tubes, they really needed to be changed. They're very bright as well.

My husband was foolish and broke one yesterday. He said he couldn't get it into the garbage unless he broke it. I told him he shouldn't have done that.

I read a couple weeks back that if you had a lot of the CF bulbs in your house, they would make you sick. My mother in law prompted me to do some research on this because she complained about them, and said she was going to throw ours out.

We only use 2 bulbs full time, otherwise our overhead normal bulbs are on, or the kitchen fluorescent bulbs are on. We don't have a lot of lights in the house.

[Roguegal]

My mother taught me well. In the evening there is only one lamp on in the living room and only one light on in my home office. When we leave the room for longer than 5-10 minutes it goes off. But both my outside lights, front and back, stay on all night. These have the CFL bulbs. They are just as bright and last longer. I am very happy to find out that I do not have to worry about mercury poisoning. Again, thank you stav for the article and all the information.

[horselover]

Well, I pulled a no-no today and broke one.

I didn't know it was broken until I tried to turn it on.

I was feeling a little bad at the time, but once I got the broken mess out of the apartment I was fine.

I have to watch one cat, he was sitting by it earlier.