Well the three musketeers (me, Mazeteam and Stelmer) are stocking up on Mercurys until the time comes when Mercury is a thing of the pass. Quite sad really as SOX shall be doing the same.

_________________
From streetlighting to radio, dance through the night whilst the streetlights are glowing outside.

   
Three musketeers!!

that's random...

_________________

More like the three Yorkshire-tea ers. Or something?      

hehe!


Well, we certainly don't go into the depot on horseback waving guns demanding for 'loot'!!

_________________

Now that I would love to see!  

Just a quick question on MBF lamps, I have one with almost none of the phosphor coating on it. Is it safe to use?

It should be. Mercury lamps need an outer glass bulb to absorb some of the UV rays. An uncoated lamp will release more UV rays than one that is phosphor coated, but it's effectively just the same as operating an uncoated MA/MB lamp.

It's if there is no outer glass bulb surrounding the arc tube that there is an issue.

If it has no coating at all then it is a MBU lamp, F donates fluorescent with the coating on the inside of the bulb. Elliptical mercury lamps with a clear bulb are available - clear mercury lamps aren't always tubular - I have an elliptical clear lamp myself.

It will be a very sad day when mercury disappears from the streets. Mercury in Southampton, Hampshire and West Sussex will not last for much longer anyway, thanks to the PFI, but in other areas such as Suffolk, which don't have PFIs, there will be a fair amount of lanterns that will just have to be replaced.

Given that the energy crisis of the 1970s didn't kill it off - in fact Hampshire installed new MBF installations at that time - and the fact that PFIs don't fortunately cover the entire country yet, it may well be around for a while yet. Even the "lamp ban" may not have an immediate effect given the long life of MBF lamps, that there is a large stock of lamps in the supply chain, and contractors are likely to stock up so that they don't have to undergo a "forced" lantern conversion program.