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Re: Mercury units burning dim in cold weather

Posted By: Don Miner
Date: Friday, 9 January 2015, at 12:26 a.m.

In Response To: Mercury units burning dim in cold weather (Eve Hoyt)

> Hi everyone. I searched the archives and
> surprisingly could not find a thread
> regarding units burning dim in cold weather.
> Anyway, I made a window sign (white, 10mm, 3
> units) a few weeks ago and it was installed
> in the customers's window. It has been on
> 24/7 and looked great up until a few days
> ago. The customer called and said the middle
> unit has "3 letters that aren't lit
> up". It has been cold here in Philly
> the past several days (below freezing) so I
> assumed that the issue is the cold weather.
> But now I'm not so sure. The sign is in a
> window but enclosed in a small space, so he
> put a space heather in that area to see if
> warming it up would bring the sign back up
> to brightness. It did not. I am going to
> pick the sign up this weekend to bring it
> back to my shop, but before I do I just
> wanted to get some thoughts about the nature
> of units burning dim in cold weather. Does
> it need to warmed up for a longer period of
> time? (maybe he didn't leave the heather on
> long enough) At this point, I'm thinking I
> just need to roll the mercury around and get
> some more on that one electrode. Although,
> I've been reading a bit about it and
> apparently it shouldn't matter if there is
> mercury on both electrodes as long as the
> tube is warm enough. I have never had this
> happen, so I'm not sure the best way to go
> about fixing it without wasting a lot of
> time. I want to make sure I solve the
> problem the first time. Can any of you share
> your experiences with mercury tubes in cold
> weather? Oh, also, the fill gas I used was
> just EGL Blue, not a cold weather mix. TIA
> for your help. Sorry for the long winded
> message.
I am trying to find out what is going on with my ability to reply to a post on this site. I e-mailed Kenny about the problem, so far not much help. We will see if this works.

Messages In This Thread

• Mercury units burning dim in cold weather -- Eve Hoyt -- Wednesday, 7 January 2015, at 1:41 p.m.
  • Re: Mercury units burning dim in cold weather -- Don Miner -- Friday, 9 January 2015, at 12:26 a.m.
    • Re: Mercury units burning dim in cold weather *NM* -- Don Miner -- Friday, 9 January 2015, at 12:30 a.m.
    • Re: Mercury units burning dim in cold weather -- H.Erickson -- Friday, 16 January 2015, at 11:44 p.m.
  • Re: Mercury units burning dim in cold weather -- Gavin -- Saturday, 17 January 2015, at 7:59 a.m.
  • Re: Mercury units burning dim in cold weather -- Clif -- Thursday, 19 February 2015, at 8:32 p.m.

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