Tom, you ought to have your own TV show...
Terrible Tom wrote:
>
> I just spent an hour and a half installing a new fluorescent lamp unit
> down in my basement. The 4 lamps down there are old - kinda cheap units
> - with yellowed and cracked covers. So rather than putz with old lamps I
> went to Lowes tonight and bought 4 new replacements and a new bulk box
> of T40 tubes - no I did not want to pop for the added expense for T8
> fixtures and tubes.
>
> Curse at the former owner of the house for not marking in the breaker
> panel what breakers power what circuits. Stand there flicking breakers
> on and off till I find the ones I want and get cursed at by the people
> above me because I'm fucking around with all the lights in the house...
> Slice up my hands fighting with the thin sheet metal housings, swear,
> drop screws, curse, yell at the cat under my feet, spew vulgarities at
> the cordless drill that decided it didn't want to be charged anymore
> when I was in the middle of using it.
>
> Finally get the damned thing wired up - turn power back on - flip the
> switch - all the tubes do is flicker as if the thing has a bad
> ballast!!! I swapped those tubes into one of the old fixtures still up
> - and they light up just fine.
>
> -----insert loud vulgar rant of your favorite swear words here-----
>
> I swapped out all the old tubes for new ones that were meant for the new
> fixtured... and its nice and bright down there again. All the new lamps
> are going back to Lowes and I'm just sticking with the new tubes. Save
> myself $100 that way.
>
>
> You can't get quality anything any more!! Interesting now that I think
> about it - the fixture at the store display in the isle was flickering
> just like mine did. That should have been a red flag.
>
> Going to sleep...
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Dec 04 2007 - 17:27:36 EST