Broken Cfl Lightbulb On Carpet

Like any glass product cfls tend to break occasionally causing many homeowners to worry about potential mercury exposure and adverse health effects.

Broken cfl lightbulb on carpet.

Cleaning up a broken cfl bulb isn t a difficult or harrowing task. You can purchase cfl bulbs that have a glass or plastic cover over the spiral or folded glass tube if available. If every american home replaced just one standard incandescent light bulb with a long lasting cfl the resultant energy savings would eliminate greenhouse gases equal to the emissions of 800 000. Sense vance shows how to safely clean up a broken cfl bulb.

These types of bulbs look more like incandescent bulbs and may be more durable if dropped. Cleaning up broken cfl light bulbs more canadians are replacing regular incandescent light bulbs with more energy efficient products such as compact fluorescent lamps cfls. A small percentage of this mercury can be released into the air if the bulbs are broken. The amount of mercury in a cfl may be up to about 5 milligrams mg.

How to clean up a broken cfl bulb. Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. How to clean broken glass off carpet. You can consider using a drop cloth e g plastic sheet or beach towel when changing a fluorescent light bulb in case a breakage should occur.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs cfls contain small amounts of mercury. If you break a compact fluorescent light bulb over carpet carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid. How to clean up broken cfl bulb. Since compact fluorescent bulbs contain small amounts of mercury there.

However because cfl bulbs contain mercury the process for cleaning it up is a bit more complicated than simply picking up glass. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces. Place towels in the glass jar or plastic bag. While cfls are being promoted because they are energy efficient their use has also raised health concerns as they contain a very small amount of mercury inside the lamp.

If a fluorescent light comes crashing down onto your kitchen floor releasing the mercury trapped within you don t need to panic. Broken glass from a shattered cup vase or light bulb is not only a nuisance to clean off of carpeting but also represents a hazard to anyone who walks in the. In this episode of spec.