Rough Duty/Shatter Proof Light Bulb Warning

Just wanted to put it out there now that 2013 brings new light bulb regulations. For those of you that prefer the good old light bulbs, stock up as they will slowly be phased out in 2013, starting with 75w and the 60w by the end of 2013, being replaced by new styles that are more energy effiecient.

There are exceptions to these new regulations, rough duty or shatter proof bulbs being one of them. However, before buying those instead, you shoud know they are TEFLON coated and can kill any birds, pets or livestock, as the fumes are toxic to them. There are countless articles on line from very reputable sources of farmers losing entire flocks of poultry by using these bulbs in barns, thinking they are sturdier, only to have their chickens die. The most manufacturers do a poor job posting warnings on the boxes but just in case, you are tempted to buy these bulbs because you dont like the new ones, you have been warned

Seriously, the bulbs in operation emit enough toxic fumes to kill the chickens? I cook on teflon pans too.

You say it will kill ANY birds, pets, and livestock. Well that's a broad brush.

The wife just told me the other day to stock up on the incandescents before they go away!

I'm no expert but looked today buying bulbs myself, just to try an verify what I reading in Mother Earth magazine and on line and yes, evidently, there is enough fumes to kill "poultry and fowl" that all but GE now have warnings on the box. There are plenty of articles if you google it but here's the quote from the department of agriculture:

"With the increasing interest in raising poultry, the Department of Agriculture is warning poultry owners to be careful when using heat lamps and other light bulbs around birds. Heat lamps are often used for young chicks in their first few weeks and most of these bulbs are safe. However, there is a new type of heat lamp labeled " shatter-proof" which has come on the market have been proven to be dangerous to birds"

"The new "shatter-proof" heat lamps are actually coated with Teflon or PTFE and are extremely dangerous for birds", Commissioner Petersen said."When Teflon is heated on a light bulb it releases a gas which can kill chicks or pet birds."

Wife tells me teflon pans will kill pet birds. The high heat makes it off gas. Quick google search reveals lots of conflicting info.

Ehouse

I have a cockatiel and use teflon pans, every now an then - he is almost 20. The issue is proximity, these bulbs in a barn have the potential to kill chickens, or there have been enough accounts that manufacturers put a warning on them now. If you put one in a lamp that is in the room with your pet bird, good chance it could be a danger. If you cook in teflon on a occasion, as I do and the bird is clear across the house on a totally different floor, the risk is minimal.

I just posted it figuring that with all the folks here, they may be a few homesteaders that raise chickens and this was the first I've ever heard of light bulbs being a cause if death for birds.

You're right, I think many of us do a little homesteading type activity. I have 9 chickens and do put a light in with them in the winter to keep them laying but it has been a cfl since I don't need heat, just light so their little brains think the sun is up.

I'd love to have chickens but the dogs would go nuts. We had them as kids, nothing like fresh eggs i was really surprised by the article in Mother Earth News magazine last month and just saw a notice posted ad Agway last week. Made me start looking, not that I have chickens but wondering why I'm using teflon at all if there are toxins to harm birds, what is it doing to my food. Then, thinking, I could see my hubby buying these bulbs when he eventually can't find the other ones, not knowing that if he puts it in our desk lamp, it could kill the bird, who knew?!? These are just 60 or 75w bulbs, but rough duty, so in a farm setting, where they are often bare bulbs, they are less likely to break when you accidentally hit them, just the perfect storm of circumstances. Post some picks of your chickens, I'd love to see them!

We got rid of all but one teflon pan in this house. We use iron and stainless steel pans now. The teflon 'outgasses', and it's too miniscule of an amount to do any real damage to a human being at one use here and there, but God only knows what the long term effects of that crap are. I'd rather deal with a broken egg yolk and messed up pancakes from the stainless pan than dealing with the teflon....

Interesting note on the teflon. I have read it can start to give off detectable levels of fumes as low as 400ºF. Probably not a temperature a light bulb gets to every day, but in certain enclosures and certain orientations, I suppose it could hit that level. Certainly teflon pans can get that hot - especially when frying or if left unattended with little/nothing in them. Combine that with most birds 'hyper sensitivity' to various gasses in the air and you have a real 'canary in a coalmine' scenario. Stewing/boiling in teflon pan is of no worry as you're limited to 212ºF

It's also funny the government is outlawing normal bulbs, but allowing rough service bulbs to continue use. Rough service is one area where LEDs would really 'shine' - pun intended. You can be pretty rough with LEDs and they can take a gazillion on/off cycles with no problems. But leave it to the gubment to know best.

worst scenario with a teflon pan or pot is having one on a burner ( or stove) with no heat sink material in it and turning that burner on by mistake.
I had a few teflon coated pans until I turned the wrong burner on one day and cooked an empty pot.
The smell is horrible.
All gone from the kitchen now.

any factory that makes and or works with the stuff has STRICT no smoking rules. 1 tiny flake on the end of a cigarette inhaled can make a person sick as a dog for a day or two.

Is it for real this time? I've been stocking up on regular bulbs for years since they have been saying they were going to be outlawed like every year for the last 5.

Yes it is. The timeline is precisely as specified in the original law in 2007. While it has been in the news for years, it was not because it was impending.

The worst danger from teflon pans (fatal) is in the event of a house fire.

I will have NO teflon pans in my home, ever.

Hearth Mistress, good warning, thanks.

Here is a link to a scientific paper on the subject....

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=10879927

Back in the late 80s, I rented a place with my sister and her BF. Sis was away at work, and the BF was cooking something in a non-stick pan, was drunk and forgot about the pan & what he was cooking. Burned the meal and the off gassing of the teflon on the pan killed all 10 of her finch birds. He went out and bought 10 new ones thinking she wouldn't notice the difference, she did.

I don't agree with banning incandescent lamps I feel they should make it more enticing to use alternative light sources. Incandescent lamps are good for certain applications such as dimming fixtures that are infrequently used and how would an easy bake oven perform with an LED lamp? Most of my lighting is CFL but that is by choice as it should be! The gov't does not need to make every friggin' decision in my life!

As usual misinformation spreads faster than the real info.

There is NO ban on incandescent.

What they have done is raise the minimum lumens per watt standard to a level that traditional tungsten filament incandescent bulbs cannot meet.

If you don't want to try the excellent CFL and LED options now available (that are much cheaper in the long run) you can switch to halogens. A 40 watt halogen equals a 60 watt incandescent. 70w halogen equals 100.

One other point about rough service bulbs - they use a thicker more durable filament and are a LOT dimmer than regular bulbs.

I've been to the Phillips light headquarters in NJ for their awesome seminar (twice actually). If you ever get the chance to go you will love it! They took good care of us as well and wined and dined us Great time and learned things about how we perceive light that I never knew..More than meets the eye!

Ray

Ray, thanks I bet I would. I switched end to mostly CFLs due to being cheap, but when I tried my first HD/Cree LED in the kitchen I was so impressed I've gotten quite interested in high end lighting. My wife thinks I have an eccentric light bulb addiction now..........

LOL I hear ya JR.. Just picked up a couple 3-way CFL's for 75 cents at Ocean State Job lot.. Hard to beat that! They outlast incandescent lamps by years.. I like the idea of LED's but they are still very expensive until I see they last as long as they should. Time will tell the story..

Ray

A guy I did some work for who raised birds (mostly parrots), gave us a pair of budgies with a cage, food, etc... Had them for several months until one day we used the self cleaning feature in our oven. We went out for the day, and when we came back the budgies were both stone dead.
Fast forward about three years, I ran into the same guy at the end of a school money raising event, he tried to auction off a couple Love birds, but they didn't sell. He didn't want to take the love birds back home with him so he offered them to us, again. I told him we'd take them, but related the story of what happen last time with the budgies. He said it was probably a fluke and insisted it we take them, so we reluctantly took them home and they did fine up until,,,,,,, you guessed it.
Except this time we took precautions, we moved the cage with the love birds to the far side of the living room as far away from the kitchen as possible, covered the cage with a sheet, opened all the windows, ran the oven range hood fan, started the self cleaning cycle on the oven, and went out for the afternoon. When we came back the Love birds were stone dead!
I don't think it's just Teflon that is toxic.

It isn't the teflon per sea, it is the coating, polytetrafluoroethylene ("PTFE") that is used in ovens and cookware. My oven got shorted out in Hurricane Sandy so we had to buy a new one. The manual warns not to use the self cleaning oven feature if you have pets birds because the fumes can be fatal. Even on my old stove I never used it because the one time I tried, even after only a few minutes it stunk up the house and made my eyes water. I know there are believers and non believers, but i just wanted to put it out there knowing there are some homesteaders here.
Also, just to clarify, it isn't a ban on bulbs, they are being discontinued because of new energy regulations. It started a few years ago but now that this year it effects 75 & 60w bulbs, I could easily see someone buying these rough duty bulbs instead, since they are exempt from the new laws, and unbeknownst to them, put their pet birds or livestock in harms way.
This was my attempt at a PSA, that's all

HM, 'teflon' is just the DuPont brand name for PTFE. While PTFE (long chain molecules) are a solid, under high heat the chains break down into small molecular weight fragments that are a gas and toxic. This is pyrolysis just like solid cellulose turning into 'wood gas'.

... of course, if the house is on fire, you have a lot more to worry about than a few pans!