Those new curly bulbs, do they emit UV?

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They are evil:mad:

They must stay on for 20 minutes every time they are turned on or the life span is much shorter. The 7 year claim is for 2 hours a day only. And it skunks beer. I have incandesent bulbs everywhere I have beer
 
niquejim said:
They are evil:mad:

They must stay on for 20 minutes every time they are turned on or the life span is much shorter. The 7 year claim is for 2 hours a day only. And it skunks beer. I have incandesent bulbs everywhere I have beer
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I'm not convinced that they will skunk beer. I had some green grolsch bottles in my basement for the last 4 months and they were exposed to fluorescent light for about 2 hours every day. I stumbled across them on friday and the beer was very good not a hint of skunk to be found. I'm not recommending this to anyone but I don't think limited exposure would be a problem at all.
 
I use fluorescent bulbs to start seeds for my garden BECAUSE they emit nearly the entire spectrum of light, including UV. They're great for plants, but bad for brews.
 
niquejim said:
They are evil:mad:

They must stay on for 20 minutes every time they are turned on or the life span is much shorter. The 7 year claim is for 2 hours a day only. And it skunks beer. I have incandesent bulbs everywhere I have beer
Click to expand...

I have used CFLs almost exclusively for over five years now. I've had a pretty high failure rate with "specialty CFLs" like those for bathroom lighting, but I've only had to replace two of the normal ones ever.

I have never experienced any skunking of my beers, although I bottle in brown bottles and keep my carboys covered most of the time.

YMMV. For me, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
 
Yeah I am pretty much convinced that CFLs are the light bulbs of Satan....Save electricity by turning your house into a haz-mat clean up site if your break one... BLEH..
 
I've been using compact florescents for a long time (you wouldn't believe what was being sold 15 years ago). Never had any trouble with skunking.
 
I've used only CFLs for quite some time. Some of the ones I'm running now have been with me through 3 apartments and lasted 4 years. The best upgrade was putting one in my desk lamp since it use to get so hot the desk below the lamp would be warm. Now I have to put my hand up to the bulb to feel the heat it's releasing. I've only had one fail on me and that was a small one I tried outside for the porch light. Cold weather didn't agree with the CFL, even though it didn't get that cold. I think every light in my house is a CFL except the fridge lights.

Duckfoot said:
Yeah I am pretty much convinced that CFLs are the light bulbs of Satan....Save electricity by turning your house into a haz-mat clean up site if your break one... BLEH..
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They don't contain that much mercury, are pretty hard to break IMHO much harder than a normal 60-watt bulb, and their energy savings offset pollution that would be released at a traditional power plant.

"But if the CFL is not recycled and it ends up in a landfill, EPA estimates that about 11% of the mercury in the CFL is released into air or water, assuming the light bulb is broken. This is because most mercury vapor inside fluorescent light bulbs becomes bound to the inside of the light bulb. Therefore, if all 290 million CFLs sold in 2007 were sent to a landfill (versus recycled, as a worst case) - they would add only 0.13 metric tons, or 0.1 percent, to U.S. mercury emissions caused by humans."

What are the mercury emissions caused by humans? Do CFLs that end up in a landfill contribute to these emissions?
 
Rhymenoceros said:
Just don't break one in your house. You can expect to spend $2000 on a clean up crew (sorry, I don't have a reference for that figure. And I s'pose you could clean it up your self if so inclined.).
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Hold on. Let me digest that and consider my options for a while. Spend $2000 or clean up carefully. Hmmmmm ;)
 
Rhymenoceros said:
Just don't break one in your house. You can expect to spend $2000 on a clean up crew (sorry, I don't have a reference for that figure. And I s'pose you could clean it up your self if so inclined.). I was doing some reading on them though, and they say that 8 hours under a CFL is equivalent to one minute in the sun, as far as UV is concerned.

Everything you wanted to know about Compact Fluorescent Bulbs, including the mercury problem | KnoxViews
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I believe that is based on junk science (tv "news" show sensationalism). The article below is a pretty good read if you want to know something about the "risk".


Scott Norris
for National Geographic News
They're breakable, contain toxic material, and are becoming increasingly commonplace. But fears of mercury poisoning from new energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs are overplayed, experts say.

Long billed as a "green" product for environmentally conscious consumers, compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are quickly becoming the norm in household lighting—and may soon replace traditional incandescent bulbs altogether.

But CFLs' cool-burning illumination is made possible by a pinch of poison—about five milligrams of mercury sealed inside every glass tube—and the need for the element is unlikely to change anytime soon.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin and long-lived environmental contaminant, and even the small amount present in CFLs poses a problem. When the bulbs break, either in the house or at a waste disposal site, their mercury content is released.

According to a few vocal CFL opponents, such as Fox News Web site's "Junk Science" correspondent Steve Milloy, that makes the bulbs unsafe.

These critics have charged environmentalists with being uncharacteristically "pro-mercury" when it comes to the lights.

The critics often cite the recent story of a resident of Ellsworth, Maine, who amassed a clean-up bill of more than 2,000 U.S. dollars by shattering a single CFL in her home. The story originally appeared in the Ellsworth American and quickly spread to other newspapers, such as Canada's National Post and the Washington Times.

But the enormous bill came about as a result of bad advice—a fact often omitted in follow-ups to the original article.

"There's a lot of misleading information out there," said Joel Hogue, president of Elemental Services and Consulting, an Ohio-based company specializing in the cleanup of sites contaminated with mercury. "But when people learn the facts, the level of hysteria dies down."

Like with many other household products, Hogue said, the use of CFLs requires some commonsense precautions. But if a bulb breaks, his company's clean-up services are not required.

"There's an extremely small amount of mercury in those bulbs," Hogue said. "It's a very minimal risk" and can easily be cleaned up at home.

One CFL contains a hundred times less mercury than is found in a single dental amalgam filling or old-style glass thermometer, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
 
Perhaps we can get to a bottom line here:

Keep your beer in the dark. Most lightbulbs will emit some UV energy, so don't put your beer under them.

The new lightbulbs are surrounded by controversy, and we're not likely to solve those issues here. The facts: they usually cost more (at purchase time) than equivalent incandescent bulbs, they do contain a small amount of mercury, they use less power, and they're so new to the market that there aren't many ACTUAL consumer experiences from which to draw conclusions about the lightbulbs' expected lifespan.

My conclusion:
If you think they're worth it, use them. If not, don't. Either way, keep your beer in a cool, dark place.
 
Yuri_Rage said:
The new lightbulbs are surrounded by controversy, and we're not likely to solve those issues here. The facts: they usually cost more (at purchase time) than equivalent incandescent bulbs, they do contain a small amount of mercury, they use less power, and they're so new to the market that there aren't many ACTUAL consumer experiences from which to draw conclusions about the lightbulbs' expected lifespan.QUOTE]




Now I'm just curious. How long does something have to be on the market for it NOT to be considered new anymore. I have owned my house for 5 years and replaced ALL of my lights within the first year with the CFL bulbs. And I know that they have been available for several years before I bought my house. To date, I have only had two stop working. I won't testify to the ACTUAL lifespan because I really don't have the time to sit down to do a case study comparison between the CFL and incandescent bulbs.
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Nurmey said:
I believe that is based on junk science (tv "news" show sensationalism). The article below is a pretty good read if you want to know something about the "risk".
Click to expand...

I agree. The news always does this BS to spice stuff up, pushing stuff so much that it could be considered lies sometimes. I saw some quick math that showed even if all of the light's mercury vaporized into the room, then it still is under OSHA's daily value for exposure. You just need to leave the room for a few minutes and let it air out.
 
i use the full spectrum lights in the house and it has saved tons of money. not just on bulb replacement but for energy usage. you can get special lights that limit the uv though. BTW which uv is bad?
 
Every bulb in my house is a CFL including the ones inside my fridge and not only has my monthly electric bill dropped significantly, i have only replaced 1 bulb in almost 4 years and i have NEVER experienced any skunking and my beers have had plenty of exposure to the lights throughout my brewing, bottling and storage processes.
 
While it's true that there is a very small bit of mercury in them, when we're talking about concentrating hundreds or thousands in a landfill site you now have a significant quantity. They need to be collected and recovered in a responsible manner. As for UV radiation, you'd have to be pretty damn close for extended periods for any effect to be noticed. It's an inverse square relationship for intensity over distance.
 
I'm slowly switching the house over to CFL's. I found them to work best for outdoor lights controlled by a dusk / dawn sensor. INcadescent bulbs were burning out every 3 months or so and the CFL are lasting closer to 3 years in the same application.

I keep my beer in the dark so no concern over skunking. If your beer is in an active room, just cover it with a T-shirt.

Linc
 
New studies are showing that Mercury is present in all products containing High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Light bulb contains Mercury, that Pepsi you had for lunch contains Mercury... Seems like 6 in one, half dozen in the other.

Just don't spill that Pepsi or you may need to call the local Haz-Mat squad! :p
 
Haven't read this whole thread...

My experience:
My carboys are in full view of the "light of doom!" and I have not had any problems yet.

That said, it's time for an experiment! I have a clear swing-top bottle, I'm going to put some beer in it, and sit it under a 12-hour-a-day compact florescent light for a week. Open, taste, smell, see what happens and then put it under a plant grow light I have (which is ADVERTISED to produce UV light.) same taste, smell, etc... and see what happens.....
 
Here's a bit of information about UV light that you can take as you will... I learned this information pretty well while working in the picture framing industry...

Plain glass (like a window pane) filters approximately 50% of the UV light that strikes it. Glass the thickness of a carboy would probably filter in excess of 85% of the UV light that strikes it. Plastic bucket fermenters would most likely filter 95% of the UV light that strikes it.

I don't know anything about the UV filtering properties of the acrylic material that better bottles are made of.

Incandescent light bulbs don't emit much UV light at all, but there is some. Flourescent bulbs emit a lot more.

Another bit of geeky information that I have absorbed is a little concept called the inverse square law. The intensity of light (whether it be UV or any other form of electromagnetic radiation) is reduced by a factor of 4 by doubling the distance from the subject to the light source. If your beer is 10' away from a light source, the likelihood of any negative effects produced by UV light is practically nil unless its a very high intensity light source.

Obviously, the simple solution is to not worry so much about the light by covering your carboy with something (I just wrap mine in a towel).
 
To an extent they already have, but are working on florescents that don't contain mercury. I believe the one design is the Double Helical External Electrodes Lamps and sylvania already has some out for sale $$$.

And some manufactures offer low mercury cfls. http://britelite.com/Products/Alto.html
 
from experience growing plants indoors.. the bulbs you speak of have to be VERY close (within 12 to 22 inches) to emit those amounts of uv rays ... now if you had a 400 watt high pessure sodium bulb i would say yea keep it out of the room.. but if its a compact flourescent i would say not to worry..

even the long tube flourescents put out very low uv..
 

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