My kitchen fluorescent lamp which is 6 foot 100 watt unit wouldn't light tonite the starter flickered but no sign of any tube activity. It was very cold in the kitchen so I put the boiler on which warmed things up nicely I tried the tube again and although a bit sluggish it lit ( maybe my swearing at it helped) my question is do you think it's just because the tubes old and doesn't like the cold or is there something else going on?
the old inch and a quarter (T12 ) 5fts used to be run at 65/80 watts but I have not seen anything more than the 85W in 6ft. Modern slimline tubes (T8) would be 70W or so and run perfectly well in the old fittings.
In any case cold makes it hard for the mercury to get going, and if the tube is old and already failing a bit, it is likely to struggle more when it is cold.
Various tricks like starter wires - bringing earthed metal near the tube to form a 'Gabriel' electrode and get bit of ionisation going sometimes help, and it is not uncommon to find a tube that fails in one fitting has a bit more life in another, or even that running a finger along the tube can draw a few microamps of arc and get it starting.
Longer term a new tube should be good at -5C or so, yours may just be getting past it.
But as noted above, an LED fitting in the same place will be about half the current, for a similar brightness, so given the costs, the days of just replacing tubes are probably numbered.
the old inch and a quarter (T12 ) 5fts used to be run at 65/80 watts but I have not seen anything more than the 85W in 6ft. Modern slimline tubes (T8) would be 70W or so and run perfectly well in the old fittings.
In any case cold makes it hard for the mercury to get going, and if the tube is old and already failing a bit, it is likely to struggle more when it is cold.
Various tricks like starter wires - bringing earthed metal near the tube to form a 'Gabriel' electrode and get bit of ionisation going sometimes help, and it is not uncommon to find a tube that fails in one fitting has a bit more life in another, or even that running a finger along the tube can draw a few microamps of arc and get it starting.
Longer term a new tube should be good at -5C or so, yours may just be getting past it.
But as noted above, an LED fitting in the same place will be about half the current, for a similar brightness, so given the costs, the days of just replacing tubes are probably numbered.
