Buy Your New Yardlight Now!!

[Anonymous-0]

As of Jan. 1 2008, Mercury Vapor light fixtures will no longer be manufactured! Makes a guy wonder if he'll still be able to get the bulbs for the fixtures that have been around for so many years.

 

[Dave from MN]

Hmmm, wonder what the power companies are gonna do with the ones they are responsible for. I have one on the power pole(ECE responsibility) and 2 on my chicken barn, rest are halogen flood lights

 

[RichZ]

Well, mercury is about as toxic as you can get, so I don't have a problem with them outlawing them, BUT there's gotta be a viable replacement. I have just one mercury vapor light on my farm, but it lights up the exterior of a few barns, and I only put the fixture in a couple of years ago, so I want to still be able to use the fixture.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Aren't these the same people that are pushing CFL lamps? Their main objective seems to be to keep the economy going, as in increasing the cost of living. Have you seen the warning on disposing CFL lamps due their mercury content?

Areo

 

[Anonymous-0]

Rich, As kids we didn't know about the bad side
of mercury. The neighbor had collected a bunch
from broken thermometers and we would play with
it and watch it scatter. Oh well, I'd maybe be
much smarter if we hadn't done that. Chuck

 

[MichaelNEIowa]

How about high pressure sodium? I have 4 on my farm and they work great. More efficient and longer lived, too.

 

[moonlite 37]

When in college 1966 I gave a bit of mercurey to a girl. She thought it was cool until it hit her high school ring. OOPS! her gold ring became silver!

 

[Goose]

We have two. The REA owns them both. I suspect they'll wait until the mercury vapor lites go kaput and replace them with high pressure sodium of something similar.

 

[Spook]

If not, probably time to replace the fixture anyway. I think mine is sodium, been running for 20 years, same bulb.

 

[TVB]

Yes, the good old fashion lights Thomas invented to get us out of the dark are next and yes the CFL lights do have mercury in them. A while back there was a story on the local radio about the proper disposal spot for your CFL bulbs (one spot in the entire county) so drive over there at 3.50 a gallon and dispose of your light bulb! Saving the planet now!

 

[Bill in IL]

No need to panic here.

Mercury vapor lights are cheap and give off a lot of light but a 100 watt high pressure sodium and 100 watt metal halide both give off more lumens than the mercury vapor light. Us the metal halide if you don't like the orange glow of high pressure sodium.

I was thinking one day a 100 watt HPS light 75.00 vs 175 MV 25.00 again both having about the same output. The cost to run the extra 75 watts for 10 hr a day at 10 cents a kilowatt hour is an extra 7.5 cents a day. Doesn't sound like much but it takes 667 days to make up the extra cost. These lights should run for 10 years with no problems so a 2 year payback and then 8 years of savings at 25.00 a year that adds up pretty well in my book.

I know my math is not perfect cause electric rates are slightly higher here and other places but it gives you an idea of the savings and think of the power company if 1000 customers saved 750 watts a day.

 

[Bus Driver]

The mercury vapor lights are horribly inefficient. A 250 watt MV light may draw over 5 amperes of power. The lamp is 250 watts, the ballast uses the remainder. The ONLY advantage of mercury vapor is long life, important where servicing the light is expensive. Another bad characteristic of MV is that the fixture uses the least power and gives the brightest light when the lamp is new. As the lamp ages, the light output declines and the power draw increases. The MV lamp really never burns out, but will eventually get so dim that the glow from it can be seen only up close in absolute darkness. No big loss for them to be discontinued.