Shoot I broke a flourescent bulb

[cprus]

I broke a GE 48" flourescent tube just now. It fell to the ground and half of it exploded. I'm sort of a paranoid person and I'm afraid the house might be contaminated by mercury and other hazardous substances. Anyone ever break a bulb before and how did you clean it up?

 

[cp_produtos]

the amount of mercury on the tube is very small , if the lamp fell to the ground , the mercury is there but don't look for it because you will never find it , if you want you can put some dust like substante in the floor ( if you don't have anything else you can use baking flour) and them with a broom sweep the floor ( the idea on this is to sweep the flour and with that the small amount of mercury ) , the importante is NOT to use a vacuum cleaner because it is very hot inside a vacuum cleaner and that can make mercury vapors and that will be much more dangerous to you than the mercury on the floor.
forgive my english but I think you will anderstand the general idea.

 

[Bugweed]

Forgive your english? Why cp? Ain't a darn thing wrong with it.

 

[cprus]

Yeah nothing wrong with your english. I broke a Phillips Alto Low Mercury lamp if that helps any. I also vacuumed last night only to find out a few minutes later that I wasn't suppose to because of the mercury vapors. I did open all the windows and screen doors in the house all night long so hopefully it'll diffuse out.

 

[tekknoschtev]

I personally wouldnt be too concerned about it. There are people that I know (whom shall remain nameless) who have broken entire cases of flourescent tubes by throwing it out the window and despite the obvious lack of braincells to begin, they are fine for it today. Its not something I'd just hop on the train to do, but I dont think one bulb will cause too much of an issue.

 

[cprus]

I'm mostly concerned because I have birds and they can be sensitive to things like this. They seem fine this morning and are begging for food as I type this since I threw out their exposed food that was located near the zone. Thanks for the reassurance.

 

[back2eight]

I didn't know breaking a flourescent bulb was an issue. I have broken many of them - or my children have - and I always vacuumed it up. What exactly does mercury do?? Could we all be sick now?

 

[cprus]

Mercury vapor, usually happens after vacuuming, is released and long term exposure will lead to some development problems in very young children. I don't think its that dangerous by just breaking a bulb now that I think about it since we can get the same amount of mercury just by eating tuna. Mercury will eventually be flushed out of our system anyway. I just hate cleaning up the broken shards, they flew everywhere, I think thats the most dangerous part of a bulb.

 

[back2eight]

Well I have a baby rolling around on the floor, and I have vacuumed several times without changing the bag, so the mercury I guess has been redistibuted every time. I'll make sure I tell the doctor that when I take him in for his check up.

 

[cprus]

Yeah throw out the vacuum bag. Honestly though its not that harmful, short term wise. I wouldn't worry about it too much but a check by the doc is not a bad idea since there was more than one incident.

 

[LLeopardGGecko]

I thought I'd post in this thread since I've been having to break a bunch of old, burnt out flourescent tubes today. Man, they sure shatter!

Now I'm a bit afraid though after reading about the mercury. I was outside when I broke the bulbs, but could I have been harmed by the vapors?

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

*twitch twitch* Very doubtful. I've +mary had a little lump+ broken *twitch* lots of them *twitch twitch* over the +mars is poodles+ the years *grimace* and I'm +pink polka dot in my+ perfectly fine *twitch twitch*

 

[kirkwmartin]

Check with local landfill/transfer stations (waste management etc.) usually allows you to recycle fluorescent bulbs.
If you had tubes break in your house I agree that vacuuming isn't a good idea but washing with soap and water can remove it from your house (don't let babies crawl around in that stuff as everything goes into their mouths).
Definitely mention it to your doctor next visit cause they can do a quick blood test to see how much mercury is in the child's blood. Chelation therapy can remove the mercury if needed.
The amount of mercury though is miniscule amounts but you still don't want to inhale or ingest it.
Also those Alto bulbs use less mercury that regular ones.

Kirk
Fitchburg Mass

 

[dgower82]

Nothing like dropping a entire new box of bulbs in your basement...... Also, cprus, I would have done the same as you did. Also be careful of non-stick cookware. If it gets to hot the fumes will kill your birds, the same goes with cafeine. What kind of birds do you have? African Grey over here

 

[Sev]

Don't worry about it too much. The amount of mercury in a bulb is miniscule. It's just not something you'd want to make a habit of.

 

[Est]

Quote[/b] ]Don't worry about it too much. The amount of mercury in a bulb is miniscule. It's just not something you'd want to make a habit of.

Considering what I've seen people do with these bulbs before, I'd think that simply breaking one on the ground should be of very minimal risk to you. Let's just say I've seen people be much more thorough in their contact with them and end up still stupid, but fine.

 

[adnedarn]

A scene from The 40 year old Virgin comes to mind....

 

[LLeopardGGecko]

Quote[/b] (adnedarn @ July 07 2006,4:05)]A scene from The 40 year old Virgin comes to mind....  

Haha! I was thinking the same thing!

 

[Est]

Quote[/b] ]A scene from The 40 year old Virgin comes to mind....

For starters. But it gets much, much worse. The internet is a scarey place for flourescent light bulbs!!

 

[Spikeanator]

Well I have been told that the glass that makes the bulb have a...in them.. idk what their called but it makes it so if the glass cuts u it doesnt stop bleeding too easily..

Brad