Philips Recalls 1.86 Million Potentially Plummeting Compact Fluorescent Flood Lamps
Philips and the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a few weeks ago the recall of about 1.86 million compact fluorescent floodlamps sold under the EnergySaver and Marathon brands between 2007 and 2010. The reflector around the lamp can come unglued, shattering on the ground or floor. This actually happened to a Consumerist reader, who sent in photos of the glass-shard carnage.
From the CPSC announcement:
The glue that attaches the glass outer envelope or globe to the body of the lamp can fail allowing the glass outer envelope to fall and strike persons and objects below, posing a laceration hazard to consumers.
What does this mean in the real world? Reader John has almost thirty of the bulbs installed in his home, and took photos of what happened when one of the reflectors came unglued, shattering on the wooden floor below. He’s also not thrilled with the recall process. Here are the photos with his captions, and his complaint about the recall process.
the failed bulb and largest surviving piece of the reflector (envelope). It fell straight down onto a wood floor. The bulb still works.
immediately after the glass suffered from deceleration trauma. Glass shards everywhere, the scatter zone was about 3 meters.
the bulb in the ceiling can immediately after the CFL bomb dropped. It’s a standard 6″ wide IC type recessed ceiling light, with an open bottom. I turned the lights off immediately not knowing if an electrical fault was involved, the bulb still works fine.
You can find out whether your flood lamp is one of those affected by checking the UPC (if you still have it) or date codes on the ceramic part of the lamps. A list of date codes is on the CPSC site. Customers with affected bulbs in their homes should contact Philips, and stop using the bulbs unless instructed otherwise. They should call Philips toll-free at (866) 622-6372 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or use the official recall site to learn what to do next.
John learned that while Phiips will replace the bulbs, you’re going to have to wait.
They won’t offer a refund. They will send a label, I have to provide my own packaging, send the bulbs back and wait 4-6 weeks for a replacement. My options are to live in the stone age for 4-6 weeks or end up with 29 spare bulbs.
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