# Ballast Lifespan Myth?



## romexrocket (Oct 3, 2007)

hismightiness said:


> First of all, I would like to apologize because I am not actually an electrician. However, from the looks of things, it appears that my question is best asked here since there appears to be a wealth of electrical experts here.
> 
> At work, we have instituted a program to be more "green". Among the things that we have begun doing is turning off the lights in our offices when we are not in them. While this certainly seems logical, and I even do this at home, at co-worker has raised concerns about the lifespan of the ballasts in the flourescent lights we have in our offices.
> 
> ...


What I have been told by a local supply house owner, that a flourecent lamp lifespan is longer if it burns all the time rather than 1 that is turned on & off many times. At first I was skeptical, but after further discussion it made sense. He states that the gas inside a lamp is excited by the voltage and illuminates, after many times of this process on & off the lamp loses its ability to excite the gas. Anyone else ever heard this or can back up what He states is true, seems logical. On the ballast note, I have never heard this statement before and it seems it should extend the lifespan if the ballast is not energized, but you may be replacing lamps more than usual, if the above is accurate. The normal lifespan of a ballast in a 4 foot lay in should at least be 2 yrs in my opinion, but i have replaced them before and returned 6 months later to replace it , then again I have had a 4 ft in my kitchen that has been their 3 yrs and have never touched it lamps or ballast so its kind of unpredictable. Magnetek ballast has always seemed to be the best to me in the past. Now Howard Industries seems to be the most stocked at local supply house now


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## randomkiller (Sep 28, 2007)

romexrocket said:


> He states that the gas inside a lamp is excited by the voltage and illuminates, after many times of this process on & off the lamp loses its ability to excite the gas. Anyone else ever heard this or can back up what
> 
> Well I cant speak for flourescent lamps but I know my ex wife after a few years couldnt excite me any longer.


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## frank (Feb 6, 2007)

I don't think that switching ballasts does them any harm They should in fact last for years. But as with all things electrical they can be unpredictable. An aging lamp will affect the life of tha ballast and this is a consideration but the old wives tale about keeping tubes on - rather than switching them off as an economy measure has no foundation. When you have finished with the light. Switch it off.

Frank


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## hismightiness (Oct 4, 2007)

Thanks for the responses. I really appreciate it. Correct me if I am wrong, but here is what I understood from your responses...

It would appear that the flourescent bulbs would age faster under the conditions I described, not the ballast. Then, in turn, the ballast would have a greater chance of malfunction if the bulbs are aged.

Did I understand that correctly? 

On another note, one of you reminded me of something. I have flourescent lights in my kitchen much like those in my office - if not the same. At home, we all turn that light off and on repeatedly throughout the evening... When I think about that, I would have to agree that this "myth" would have no basis. Thanks!

My main argument to the person who brought this up was that the ballast was built to do exactly that - turn off and on. Telling someone to not use that function for the fear of breaking the ballast is much like telling people to not press their gas pedal in their car because it might not work at the next green light. Hehehe...


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## Speedy Petey (Jan 10, 2007)

You can continue this topic over at the DIY site.
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