New Light Bulbs

I hate the CFL bulbs - they are a major inconvenience! They have mercury in them so if they break you have to treat it as though you have a hazardous material in your house. I had one break this is what I had to do - pay close attention to how you have to dispose of the bulb even if they are not broken!:

Because CFLs contain a small amount of mercury, EPA recommends the following clean-up and disposal guidelines:

1. Before Clean-up: Air Out the Room
• Have people and pets leave the room, and don't let anyone walk through the breakage area on their way out.
• Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
• Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.

2. Clean-Up Steps for Hard Surfaces
• Carefully scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with
metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
• Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass pieces and powder.
• Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place towels in the glass jar or plastic bag.
• Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

3. Clean-up Steps for Carpeting or Rug:
• Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a
sealed plastic bag.
• Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
• If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken.
• Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic
bag.

4. Clean-up Steps for Clothing, Bedding, etc.:
• If clothing or bedding materials come in direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from inside
the bulb that may stick to the fabric, the clothing or bedding should be thrown away. Do not wash such clothing or
bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage.
• You can, however, wash clothing or other materials that have been exposed to the mercury vapor from a broken
CFL, such as the clothing you are wearing when you cleaned up the broken CFL, as long as that clothing has not
come into direct contact with the materials from the broken bulb.
• If shoes come into direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from the bulb, wipe them off
with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place the towels or wipes in a glass jar or plastic bag for
disposal.

5. Disposal of Clean-up Materials
• Immediately place all clean-up materials outdoors in a trash container or protected area for the next normal trash
pickup.
• Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing clean-up materials.
• Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area. Some states do not
allow such trash disposal. Instead, they require that broken and unbroken mercury-containing bulbs be taken to a
local recycling center.

6. Future Cleaning of Carpeting or Rug: Air Out the Room During and After Vacuuming
• The next several times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a
window before vacuuming.
• Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after
vacuuming is completed.

In rooms where we want instant light and they have more than one light fixture (celing fans, bathrooms, kitchen) we put the new bulbs in, but leave one bulb for a traditional bulb. It isnt as bright as all of them at once, but it does seem to help.

It's unfortunately a part of their charm or rather lack of charm. This is the part of CFL lightbulbs I truly dislike. What we do is that we put the CFL light bulbs in places where the lights are on for longer periods and keep the regular light bulbs in places where lights are on for only short periods (such as the bathroom). You might want to look into LED lights. I haven't myself tried them but that is supposed to be a more instant light. I know the technology behind them is still being built up so I'm sure they will get better, but it might be worth trying one or two in the house.

You could try LED bulbs. They're a lot more expensive, but they last longer, too. I used to hate this feature of the CFL bulbs, but honestly, I just got used to it.

We were bothered by the slight delay also when we started replacing our incandescent lights with CFLs. We had good luck with the "Feit Electric" brand. I've seen them at The Home Depot and Walgreens. We haven't had much of a problem with this recently, so I figured all the brands were getting better. Our short term fix was to leave 1 incandescent bulb in a 4 light fixture just so we could see until the CFLs warmed up. :) Good luck!

I don't know anyway to warn them up faster, but have something for you to keep in mind. There was a story on the news a few weeks ago abuot a fire that was caused by one the new CF bulbs put into a light with a dimmer switch. Apparently, if you want to use one of the bulbs on a dimmer you have to get a special CF bulb that is made for dimmers. It is supposed to say something on the box.