Flourescent tube taking long time to 'come on'. Whats the reason?

[Dave7]

Its a 4 foot tube in the garage so gets plenty of use.
Must be 10 years old (so owes me nothing).
Lately it is taking a long time to warm up (if thats the phrase).
Do all flouresent bulbs have starters ?
If so is it likely to be bulb, starter or both ?
Its that long since I touched I cant remember.
(I can check but will have to take the car out to do so.......and I am just on the way out for a ride )
Thanks

 

[swee'pea99]

Means the tube's about to die. If you got a decade out of it I think you've got your money's worth.

 

[bruce1530]

You could try a new starter (2 for a pound in our local pound shop)

But if it were me, I’d replace with a LED unit - I recently bought several of these 4 foot LED battens for the garage - https://www.v-tac.eu/led-lights/lig...fitting-linkable-upto-5-pcs-white-detail.html - you can get them on amazon for about 20 pounds; I think I paid about 14 at our local wholesaler.

 

[fossyant]

New tube and starter. My tube was getting less bright and slow to start. New tube fixed it. Been in there over 20 years

 

[MarkF]

They should be replaced well before the end of their actual lifespan, from memory with around the 70% of original light output remaining, after that it's a rapid light output loss.

People adjust to the deterioration, I used to go into Ellis Briggs cycle shop and it was like going into a dimly lit dungeon, the staff had just adjusted to the incremental light loss from tubes that should have been replaced many years prior, whereas coming in from outside I could hardly see anything.

 

[gbb]

As an example of degrading output in fluorescent tubes, we measured the available light in a small factory area with lanes of twin 6ft fittings with old tubes. We then removed ALL the tubes and only fitted ONE new tube in each fitting and the new reading was higher than with two old tubes.
So new tube and starter is the answer for OP. If theres no external starter it will an electronic ballast so just a new tube. Even better, as already stated, get an LED fitting.

 

[furball]

If you can reach the tube try running your hand along it when it doesn't come on. This worked on an old fluorescent tube in a tack room where I worked. The owners were too tight to replace the tube. The same tube went on working for years. Not sure why it worked. Maybe the static gave it the extra boost it needed.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

You've got too much dark in the room and the light's struggling to push against it to get out of the tube. Try leaving the door open for a while to let the pressure equalise.

 

[Dave7]

You could try a new starter (2 for a pound in our local pound shop)

But if it were me, I’d replace with a LED unit - I recently bought several of these 4 foot LED battens for the garage - https://www.v-tac.eu/led-lights/lig...fitting-linkable-upto-5-pcs-white-detail.html - you can get them on amazon for about 20 pounds; I think I paid about 14 at our local wholesaler.

Good idea. TBH I had the kitchen light swapped for something similar and its brill. I will get my Mr Fixit to do that.

 

[Dave7]

You've got too much dark in the room and the light's struggling to push against it to get out of the tube. Try leaving the door open for a while to let the pressure equalise.

Well I never.
You learn something every day.
Would it work better if I cut a section of tube out half way along ?

 

[welsh dragon]

As above. The starter is going. They are quite cheap to buy. The one we have kn the kitchen went last year and we replaced it.

 

[fossyant]

I also added two bright LED spotlights in the bike stand area for more light when working on the bikes in the evening.

 

[tyred]

Definitely fit LEDs of some sort and you may as well add a few extra.

When I were a boy the dimmest light from the most pathetic low wattage bulb was sufficient to read small print or to repair even the most smallest of components.

Nowadays it is hard to see these things comfortably and my first thought when I start to work on something is that I need more light.

My conclusion is that they don't make light bulbs like they used to. They were much brighter back in the day. What else could have changed...?

 

[classic33]

Definitely fit LEDs of some sort and you may as well add a few extra.

When I were a boy the dimmest light from the most pathetic low wattage bulb was sufficient to read small print or to repair even the most smallest of components.

Nowadays it is hard to see these things comfortably and my first thought when I start to work on something is that I need more light.

My conclusion is that they don't make light bulbs like they used to. They were much brighter back in the day. What else could have changed...?

See the post by @Diogenes. Central heating means more doors in the house will be closed these days.

 

[Levo-Lon]

The ones at work fail due to the ballasts burning out so we just upgrade the whole light unit to LED.
The light is far better.