I believe the usage of the length in the model nomenclature came about in the late 1940s/early 1950s when slimline lamps were introduced. I believe during the early days of slimlines, you were able to drive a certain length lamp with different drive currents so the wattage will vary and I suspect that was the main reason why they chose using the length instead. Generally for North American lamps, FXX where XX refers to wattage is for bi-pin lamps. Lamps that use plunger based lampholders (RDC, FA8) generally have XX referring to the nominal length in inches.

I believe the F36T8 lamps aren't compatible with the more common rapid start ballasts used for F40T12 lamps here. They are however compatible with certain types of preheat ballasts. I believe lagging preheat ballasts (eg LPF single lamp F40 preheat, the lag side on a F40 Tulamp circuit) are compatible and the lamps aren't fully compatible with the leading side on the Tulamp ballasts. @WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA has done some testing on that and might be able to elaborate.

The niche compatibility for the F36T8 and the prevalence of incompatible rapid start systems probably led to the development of the rapid start only F34T12 lamp as the energy saving drop in replacement for T12. In parallel to that, a new 4ft T8 lamp with a newly designed ballast, the F32T8 was developed for applications where absolute energy savings was the goal and for new installations a sort of clean slate design were compatibility with existing equipment was dropped..

@RRK
"at his own will" is an interesting way to say it . C'mon. And of course I did not break the tube with the intentions of using the tubing for glassworking, as I had no intentions to break it at all. If I really wanted glass tubing, I obviously would have just bought it. Amazon, Ebay, or of course a dedicated glass supplier. And I would certainly buy borosilicate so I can actually do something with it without a whole darn annealing oven. Now I know not to mess around with fluorescent tubes. Whatever.

@Laurens
Disposal of the washing water (if I choose to wash it, which I probably won't) would be by evaporation outside. Of course this counts as releasing into the environment, but the mercury has to go somewhere. I did a similar thing with a broken CRT to get the phosphor. Just evaporated the water and was left with phosphor powder. IDK what I'm gonna do with it but whatever. Of course keeping contaminated phosphor in a bottle inside might not be the best idea, but better than leaving it coated with wide surface area on the inside of a tube open to the inside air.

Neon sign shops?! I never bothered even researching if there were any around here because I figured they certainly no longer exist. I wouldn't want phosphored tubing for my proposed purposes anyway.

@RRK
Right, my bad, I messed up a bunch of wording lol. Take two:

So American 48" T8s are called F32T8s. These are what you see (or used to see) in practically every single commercial building ever. Probably the most popular tube in the US (if I were to guess). But in homes, (in shop/garage lighting), F40T12s or their physically identical energy saving equivalent F34T12s are what you will see. But these two popular tubes with identical basing dimensions are not interchangeable.

I am just realizing now that European 48" T8s are called F36T8s. Which is a different name/wattage. And these F36T8s are compatible with F40T12s, unlike American F32T8s which are not even close to being compatible with F40T12s.

My question is why does the European market get a nice energy saving T8 retrofit for F40T12, while we don't? Our F32T8s need completely different ballasts, while European F36T8s seem to just be a drop-in replacement. Of course here I am just referencing 48" tubes, but this also applies for other lengths.

What are the specs of these European F36T8s of other T8 drop-ins, and why couldn't the US get any of them (or make equivalents)?

And I totally get your complaint about the US fluorescent tube naming system, it is completely ridiculous. I just need to know what is being referred to, watts or inches. I will probably make another column in my datasheet for the tubes common names.

Jup. Many neon shops also sell glass tube in various sizes, as well as fresh, non-contaminated phosphors if you want to do stuff with that.

At work we have a whole bunch of glass tube meant for scientific glass blowing. Good stuff, easy to work with. Scientific places also sell it but probably a bit more expensive.

Boro is nice but you need a lot more heat to work it. Soda lime can still be worked with a natural gas/air flame, propane/air preferred (propane burns hotter). For boro, you kinda want a gas/oxygen torch.

(I am aware a single tube broken doesn't do much harm, but you still don't want any contamination in your living space. If i (...) around with them, it's at work, in the laboratory fume hood).

Actually, a big screwup of traditional American fluorescent numbering is double meaning of FxTy. Where x may mean both tube wattage or tube length in inches, depending probably on some historical reasons. Lamps elsewhere follow somewhat more sane numbering, like Sylvania marks their Euro 58W T8 tube as F58W/827, and Osram marks F8T5 as L 8W-41/827

Attempts to correct that mess as by renaming F40T12 tubes known for almost a century to 40W/48T12 leads to even more confusion...

By the way, you can easily buy clean virgin glass tubes in soft glass or boro, should you play with glassblowing. Do not re-use fluorescent tube glass, as some idiots on Youtube do. Heating such glass will certainly evaporate adsorbed mercury, and that vapor will be right in your mouth through the blowing tube. Also, tube glass is thin wall, optimized for machine production, but inconvenient for hand glasswork.

 

Well, dangers to the environment from a *single* tube are certainly overhyped. Once diluted in the air or water, concentration will drop to practically background levels. Mercury has a high affinity to sulfur, so meeting a lot of hydrogen sulfide in the sewer, it will be be rapidly converted to insoluble and relatively non-reactive mercury sulfide. Still, breathing mercury-adsorbed powder from a broken tube is certainly not the best way to do. Mercury is not that toxic in the elemental form, and yes tuna fish we all like to eat may contain up to 1 mg/kg of much more dangerous methylmercury, but intentionally breaking fluorescents at home still not the best way to do

http://phozagora.free.fr/?page=Lanterne_RRC

Don't wash out the powder without a disposal plan of the washing water.

The problem with that is that if you release it into nature, or into the municipal water treatment system, that the elemental mercury will be converted to various forms of methyl mercury by the bacteria found in the soil/sludge. And while elemental mercury's risks are somewhat manageable, (di)methyl mercury and other organic mercury compounds are just on a whole different plane of toxicity.

Think of it like this: elemental mercury is like getting stabbed with a carpet knife at a bar fight. Organic mercury compounds are like someone pulling out a flame thrower in said bar. Organic mercury compounds are inevitable everywhere where the bacteria are that convert mercury to organic mercury compounds.

Mercury is NOT typically filtered out by the municipal water treatment system!

Another moron is breathing mercury vapor at his own will. Stop doing this stupid thing.... And next time you'll end up with glass in your eyes... Yes, breaking the tubulation is a way to do. Even make a small crack at the end of tubulation if possible with a small fire or hot wire and wait for a few hours for air to fill in. At least do it outside, older tubes can contain up to 100mg of mercury.