A Fluorescent Light Rises from the Grave
Dec 13th, 2007 by Alex
The overhead fluorescent light in the kitchen has been acting up for several months now. It hums a little more than normal and the tubes flicker dimly when you turn them on. Light output is cut in half. Besides complaining I haven’t done anything about it until the other day when the single flood in the kitchen went out; I’d been content to use that light instead of the overhead. Then the flood burned out. No problem, I had an extra compact fluorescent laying around that I replaced it with and it worked fine. For exactly one day, now it flickers for a reported ten minutes before staying on completely. If I jiggle the base it comes on immediately, so I’m thinking the base is either damaged or not intended for upside-down installation.
In any event, my roommate came downstairs this morning and told me the kitchen light was working fine.
“That’s good,” I said and continued about my business.
“No, the fluorescent one,” she said.
“What?”
“Yeah.”
Sure enough, the light is working after several months. Full brightness and standard tube hum. I don’t get it. The compact one is still doing its weird flickering thing; as much as I like saving some money, I’ve got to replace it with a new incandescent flood because the light coverage was a lot better and its directly about the counter where I do all of my chopping and dicing.
Maybe the tubes just like the cold…
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