Are Your Old fluorescent Lamps too Cold to Light Up?

I have been battling the flickering hour to fire up t12 magnetic start ballasts in an un heated rented ohio garage for about 10 years now. Tempratures under 40*F means the lights take a least an hour before they put out any useful illuminatation. This goes for the high wattage photography cfl bulbs too.

The simple soulution...fire up old blue your nut (and bolt) busting plumbers propane torch! Heat guns, or hair dryers, or weed burners will do the trick too with appropriate subtlety applied with each. With a few inches of distance, lightly and quickly work the flame length wise back and forth across the tubes. Watch tubes light your frigid cave before your eyes!

For cfl bulbs (and tubes) the goal is to slowly evenly warm the glass. Cfls heat best with the flame applied around the radius of the bulb. The trick is not heating one spot for too long. The glass could crack and spew mercury, glass, and white powder everywhere... Well maybe its worth trying just for fun a few times

Or.... $30 gets you a pair of T8 LED tubes to go in your existing fixture at Costco. It also gets you an entire LED shop light ready to plug into your ceiling outlet. Or if you really like fluorescent lighting over LED, Walmart sells T8 fixtures that work in Iowa cold for around $10.

This is what my kitchen looks like with four of the LED T8 bulbs (total $60). For reference, my living room is lit by three 40W-replacement LED bulbs (brighter than incandescent):

Note the drastic exposure difference. I highly recommend them and they worked fine in my existing T12 kitchen fixture. I'm actually going to put two fluorescent bulbs back in to reduce the light level.

Upgrading is a great option if you have it. This for those that dont always have that option ie renters, po folk, non sparkys, or if you are in someone elses garage helping out.

jere wrote: I have been battling the flickering hour to fire up t12 magnetic start ballasts in an un heated rented ohio garage for about 10 years now. Tempratures under 40*F means the lights take a least an hour before they put out any useful illuminatation. This goes for the high wattage photography cfl bulbs too. The simple soulution...fire up old blue your nut (and bolt) busting plumbers propane torch! Heat guns, or hair dryers, or weed burners will do the trick too with appropriate subtlety applied with each. With a few inches of distance, lightly and quickly work the flame length wise back and forth across the tubes. Watch tubes light your frigid cave before your eyes! For cfl bulbs (and tubes) the goal is to slowly evenly warm the glass. Cfls heat best with the flame applied around the radius of the bulb. The trick is not heating one spot for too long. The glass could crack and spew mercury, glass, and white powder everywhere... Well maybe its worth trying just for fun a few times Great tip I need to try this. Was thinking of ripping all mine out and replacing them with something more modern. I want a bit more light in my kitchen than what I have now. But before I spend the money and tear all this out I've got to try your tip.

I swapped out the old bulbs to smaller-diameter, 32watt F32T28 bulbs. This required a new fixture, but it was basic and cheap. I was told they are designed to operate in much lower temperatures, and in my unheated garage, they make a HUGE difference. They come on rapidly and put out great light even when really cold.

In reply to pinchvalve:

Theres a lot of good options on the market now led and fluorescent. If we are talking about the best dollar to lumen and no holds barred ie technical, city permits, time/work/shipping involved... And we need more than just one or two fixtures...

I really like the option of just buying led strips on rolls. Then putting them into the clear safety t12 covers ( restaurant supply stores). 3 or 4 strips per tube would out light any bulb on the market. The tubes could be retro fit into old housings without needing any ballasts at all. One would need to find a way to adapt the current but the procedure is cheap and well documented.

The cheapest and simplest alternative is to use high wattage cfl bulbs the "neewer" brand bulb for photography. They do have the temprature issue but a dozen 45 watt $6 bulbs (or their much brighter counterpart for a few dollars more) will make the average garage surgery room bright. The work in the old $2 incandescent screw in fixtures.