So, we've been using these and I was changing the light bulb in the main hall. I gave it to someone to hold while I took down the glass covering in order to remove the old lightbulb and put in the new one.
that person dropped the lightbulb on the table I was standing on. It shattered glass on the carpet. So, I went to see how to clean it up and found stern warnings from the EPA about this stuff and conflicting information on the internet on how dangerous or not dangerous this stuff is.
I followed the EPA rules for cleaning, but no one takes these for recycling if broken (only if unbroken it seems) which puts me in a lurch.
As it broke on the table instead of the carpet (but pieces got on the carpet) does anyone know if I need to replace the carpet or not?
I've pretty much concluded that my clothes I was wearing at the time and the table I was standing on are toast, but unsure whether I need to replace the carpet or not (especially as it is directly in front of the Heater/AC induct vent for the house as well).
Unsure of the carpet though. We have plastic covering it right now while I try to figure out the answer to that one?
Also, as it's the main hall, no way to keep from stepping in the area constantly.
Picked up all the glass, vented...but unsure of the remains. A oft quoted Maine study says I'm hosed...but others say that the study was flawed.
Any ideas?
PS: I have a pregnant niece right now as well, should we make arrangements to have her be elsewhere?
I am not an expert!
I've just read the same stuff you probably have and I have to say on the face of it it sounds like you've done everything right and are now over-worrying.
As long as you have cleared up as thoroughly as possible, aired and contained everything you should be fine.
I can't see much reason to get rid of your clothes or the carpet. Picking up the carpet seems like it would cause as much or more harm than good considering the caution about hoovering etc. and contamination of the clothing is gong to be minimal unless you got some glass on you.
Now if you make a habit of this, then you might need to worry more...
The amount of Murcury in a CFL is about 5mg or for perspective about the same as 290 cans of tuna. It is also about 65x less than concentrations of real concern if ingested. Most of it probably got on your table cloth and your clothes. As for the floor I would just use a wet vac carpet cleaner and call it a day. (Unless you had been looking for an excuse to get new carpet, then go for it.)
Mercury is a teratogen so the pregnant niece is a concern. I think it would be prudent for her to wear shoes in the area and generally not roll around naked on the floor there until you have cleaned it up.
Toss the table cloth and clothes is a good idea.
Just as another perspective setting point, the amount of mercury in the CFL is about 1% that of a mercury thermometer.
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Everything you wanted to know about compact fluorescent lamps and more.
Also includes the EnergyStar CFL mercury fact sheet.
As for cleanup, seconded on the vacuum cleaner. Given the infinitesimal amount of mercury in a CFL, that part is really a non-issue. I'd be more worried about someone getting cut from the broken glass. I work as a commercial electrician, and when a fluorescent lamp (compact or not) breaks on the job, our instructions are simply to sweep up the big pieces and vacuum up the rest.
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Also see the Wikipedia article about mercury -- not itself a definitive source of information, but useful for pointing you to other sources of information about mercury.
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I broke one of these once when I lived in Philly. Thankfully, it was out in my garage, which I primarily used for storage and laundry. Still, from that point forward, I refused to have them in my house. The only place I ever used one was in the front porch light.
These days, inside, I'm slowly replacing the old, inexpensive bulbs with LEDs - a bit more costly, but I've read they last up to three years or so.
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I adore the LED bulbs. The CFL light spectrum predisposes me to headaches, and they tend to buzz after awhile. The LED are better for my eyes, don't make noise, and light more quickly. Also there are good varieties for a price (in this area at least) not much higher than CFL.
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Yeah, it's really too bad that LEDs weren't a little further along. They are better than CFLs pretty much across the board. Just price that held them back, and now they are nearly where CFLs were when the mass transition from incandescents started.
That said, compact fluorescents do not require HazMat teams to clean up. That's just paranoid ramblings left over from the inefficient 'Spite bulb' bitter enders.
Yeah, it's really too bad that LEDs weren't a little further along. They are better than CFLs pretty much across the board. Just price that held them back, and now they are nearly where CFLs were when the mass transition from incandescents started.
That said, compact fluorescents do not require HazMat teams to clean up. That's just paranoid ramblings left over from the inefficient 'Spite bulb' bitter enders.
I was kind of concerned due to the US EPA warnings and how they specified about clean up.
Just to be sure, I replaced the hallway carpet. Most expensive light bulb EVER.
So, I bit the bullet, got rid of every CFL in the house and went and bought LED lights like some above suggested. They don't have any warnings on them, so hopefully there's nothing to worry about if they break.
Interestingly enough, I seem to have got a very light case of mercury poisoning, so going through detox. That sort of convinced me to get rid of the CFLs...didn't know that if you were in the wrong spot at the wrong time and did the wrong thing (breathed in right at the wrong moment), something like that was even possible.
I also did a stupid thing in that I tossed my clothes in the washing machine (either it wasn't on the epa site, or I missed it when I read it, that you aren't supposed to wash your clothes that was in the CFL cloud radius in the washing machine, but are supposed to simply throw them away at first, I only read it AFTER I had tossed them in, at which point I stopped the machine and tossed the clothes. It hadn't gotten to the wash cycle yet, so hopefully that was quick enough, but just to be sure...).
So, I took a water sample and have it being tested by the lab to check to see whether I hosed my washing machine and have to buy another, or if it's still okay (I'm voting and hoping...okay).
If anyone knows anything bad about LED's, please tell me now. I think I've just converted completely over to them regardless of any cost otherwise, at this point.
LED are pretty much just circuitry, so they're safe as far as I know. I mean don't go eating them, but I doubt they'll poison you.
I dunno, those LEDs are pretty secretive... Who knows what they might do?
I dunno, those LEDs are pretty secretive... Who knows what they might do?
What hazards lurk in the hearts of bulbs? Only the LED knows.
Interestingly enough, I seem to have got a very light case of mercury poisoning, so going through detox. That sort of convinced me to get rid of the CFLs...didn't know that if you were in the wrong spot at the wrong time and did the wrong thing (breathed in right at the wrong moment), something like that was even possible.How was that "light case of mercury poisoning" diagnosed? And what's the detox process?
By the way, the EPA guidelines don't suggest anything as drastic as you've done.
If they suspect it, they have you do a blood and a urine test (or at least they did me). If the tests come back positive, they give you some medicine that supposedly helps take it out of the system.
At least for a light case like mine. Supposedly, the body would actually get rid of it by itself over time (60 day's to be at half the level, etc).
I had some weird going on so went to the doctor, they were the ones that did the test and then gave me the medicine.
The medicine wasn't absolutely necessary in my case, but supposedly would hasten the slight effects I was having, as it eventually would get purged by the body itself, it's just a matter of time.
I don't know what they do if it's a more serious case.
Yeah for LED bulbs... The first thing I did when we moved into our house was spent an hour on a ladder going around changing out the smoke detector batteries and CFL bulbs.
LEDs
No horrid buzzing
No horrid warm up time to full brightness
No horrid color tone
No horrid hazmat clean up
Last for yearsI've broken CFLs before and cleaned them up. Never gone to a extreme like replacing flooring though. But if it will remove anxiety that would have plagued you otherwise, it was likely worth it.
At this point, I don't want anything more to do with the CFLs.
I never noticed that hey had buzzing or had a warm up time, and I normally had the soft tone which gave a pretty similar shade of light to incandescent bulbs.
On the otherhand, after my recent experience, I think I'm going to be far happier with the LEDs. I think the CFLs may actually make my life a little more stressful after my recent experience, so LED's are definitely the way for me to go now.
Might be worth trying to find out if you are getting exposed to mercury from an additional source. For instance, household bleach is commonly contaminated with mercury due to its manufacture using the mercury cell chlor-alkali process -- small amounts of mercury can evaporate from the mercury electrode and go with the chlorine gas, and the sodium hydroxide formed by reaction of the sodium amalgam dissolved in the mercury electrode will inevitably be contaminated with mercury, and since these products are combined to form sodium hypochlorite bleach, mercury from both contamination pathways gets into the bleach. The concentration of mercury is enough for institutional users such as hospitals (I work at one) to get into trouble for having mercury concentrations in excess of the legal limit (10 ppb) in their wastewater if they do not take pains to get mercury-free bleach (and sometimes the "mercury-free" bleach turns out to have mercury in it after all).
Contaminated drinking water is another possible source of mercury (although lead has been making the news more).
Coal-fired power plants and anything else that uses coal (such as a coking plant) are sources of airborne mercury.
Mercury gets concentrated into animals higher up the food chain, such as tuna and shark.
Reportedly, a subset of the human population has a mutation in their metallothionein genes may have enhanced sensitivity to mercury.
If you have a serious case of mercury poisoning? If I were to guess without looking it up: Dialysis, or even plasmapheresis. Big stuff.
Getting rid of mercury in general circulation in Western societies was a major milestone. Nothing good came of using it. Then suddenly lightbulbs got banned FOR ENVIRONMENTAL REASONS and WITHOUT A SENSIBLE ALTERNATIVE. So everyone has to get poison bulbs instead. Brilliant. The environmental lobby truly outshone itself there.
Europe is not the US. There was a EU-wide ban on selling lightbulbs. Nor do we in Sweden use much coal power. So, perhaps for you.