Pros and Cons of Fluorescent Lighting Fixtures

Fluorescent lighting has long been touted as more energy efficient as well as more space efficient. While these things are true in most cases there are pros and cons to florescent lighting and fixtures.

Most fluorescent fixtures consist of a lamp holder of which the most common is designed for the straight bipin base bulb and ballast. The ballast are available for either one or two lamps although the fixtures with 4 lamps usually have two ballasts.
The ballast has two functions which include current limiting, ensuring the right electricity is flowing through the unit, and providing the starting kick to ionize the gas in the fluorescent tube. Fluorescent ballasts are the actual base of a fluorescent lighting unit.

There may be an on/off switch on your unit unless the unit is wired into a ceiling. If the unit is wired in, there will be a regular light switch to control it.

Fluorescent fixtures also have what is called a "starter". This device works to initiate the electrode preheating and high voltage "kick" needed for starting. The way in which fluorescent fixtures work is that the bulb is filled with gas and the "turning on" of the fixture is caused by the ionizing of the gas. The "starter" ignites this process.

There are many types of fluorescent fixtures to choose from. There are Fluorescent Fixtures Recessed Lay-Ins and these units are designed specifically for use with inverted "T-Bar" ceilings. There are also Vapor Tite fluorescent fixtures units and these are used in wet locations in areas such as car washes, storefronts, parking garages, kitchens and chemical plants. Wrap Fluorescent units are surface mounted and the wrap around unit is designed for use in most commercial, residential and institutional type applications. Whatever your need there is a fluorescent fixture that will fit, however this doesn't mean that fluorescent units are problem free, there are some cons.

Fluorescent lamps and fixtures have some unique problems. When ever considering why a fluorescent light is not working, try changing the bulb first and foremost. Your problem can be something a simple as this. Although fluorescent lighting lasts much longer than traditional lighting, the bulbs still burn out.

One of the most common complaints about fluorescent lighting is bad fluorescent tubes. Incandescent lamps can give way to just looking a the bulb to see if the bulb is bad however with a fluorescent tube there is no way to look at a tube to determine if it is a bad tube. A bad tube may look ok even though it is burned out. However, fluorescents will often have one or both ends blackened. Failure of the electrodes/filaments at one or both ends of a fluorescent tube will usually result in either a low intensity glow or flickering of the light. The bottom line is that there is no true way to tell if it is the bulb without extensive detective work on your part. You simply can't "shake" the bulb and hear the filament.

There are also times when you get a bad starter. The starter can go bad or be damaged by faulty fluorescent tubes continuously trying to start unsuccessfully. If this happens you are looking at replacing the entire unit. To have the starter replaced would cost more than replacing the unit. The problem is that many times it is hard to know what exactly is going wrong and you always stand the chance of throwing away a perfectly good unit of even bulb because it is unclear where the problem is.

Finally, and perhaps the most common "con" to using fluorescent fixtures is the danger in the bulbs themselves. Fluorescent bulbs are filled with gas so when they break they