[dewanjee]

Yesterday in our office room, fire occurred in one side of a double tube light set. Fire initiated from the ballast & starter component. Related circuit breaker didn't trip & the other light was still live when the fire took place. My findings were, no loose connections, ballast connection port fully damaged, starter & light base damaged.

Now this the second time fire took place in a tube set. As a corrective action, we put few electronic ballast instead of electromagnetic ballast/starter combination, unfortunately few of those ballast explored with huge sound, no fire took place.

Just to share, we have voltage fluctuation, and sometime single phase voltage come down to 190 V also. How low voltage can act?

My ultimate question is, give a best solution to replace those electromagnetic ballast to avoid anymore fire hazard. And what else precautions we can take for the time being. Is a voltage stabilizer can act as a good solution & then usage of elctronic ballast ?

. Help me out of this situation.

Thanks,

Kamrul

Thanks Rovertva for you quick answer. Sorry not to mention the expected source voltage; that would be 220-230 VAC phase to neutral.
Well, no problem so far occurred in other devices like Computer, refrigerators.

So, in our case the problem is low voltage, around 20%.

So, Suggest me what should I do to prevent any more fire hazard.

Thanks again for your support

Kamrul

[robertva]

Is this on a 120 volt circuit? Voltages are different in various parts of the world. What percentage off is 190 volts? As I understand, in most countries 190 volts is a fairly large fluctuation!

It sounds like the voltage fluctuations are damaging the lighting. I'm also concerned about what it's doing to things like computers and any refrigerator and microwave oven you might have in a break area.

If my voltage was fluctuating 50% over the rated voltage I would shut off the main circuits and leave them off until a professional advised me that it is safe to turn things back on! If you are desperate enough to need the power back on you should bite the bullet and pay overtime to the electrician.

Although it wasn't going to so high a voltage, I had fluctuations on the 120 volt service to my 40 year old home that were the result of the main neutral conductor corroding in two. In my case the problem was on the electric utility's side of the meter and was their responsibility to repair (no additional charge on my bill). I had to get the lineman to remove the meter and connect a test load to the meter socket to convince them what was causing the problem though. A new cable from the utility pole to the meter cleared the problem right up.

Household and many small business service (In the US at least) consists of two hot lines 240 volts apart and a neutral line with an electrical potential midway between (240/2=120). The 120 volt circuits are connected between the neutral and one of the hot lines. Approximately half of the 120 volt circuits are on each hot line. There should be no potential between the neutral line and Earth ground.

When the neutral line is open, as it would be if it is corroded in two, the 240 volts is divided between the two sets of 120 volt circuits in proportion to the electrical loads. If the load mismatch, which can vary as electrical equipment turns on and off, is great enough you could have over voltage on half the circuits and under voltage on the remaining half (ALWAYS totaling 240 volts).

[dewanjee]

Yesterday in our office room, fire occurred in one side of a double tube light set. Fire initiated from the ballast & starter component. Related circuit breaker didn't trip & the other light was still live when the fire took place. My findings were, no loose connections, ballast connection port fully damaged, starter & light base damaged.

Now this the second time fire took place in a tube set. As a corrective action, we put few electronic ballast instead of electromagnetic ballast/starter combination, unfortunately few of those ballast explored with huge sound, no fire took place.

Just to share, we have voltage fluctuation, and sometime single phase voltage come down to 190 V also. How low voltage can act?

My ultimate question is, give a best solution to replace those electromagnetic ballast to avoid anymore fire hazard. And what else precautions we can take for the time being. Is a voltage stabilizer can act as a good solution & then usage of elctronic ballast ?

. help me out of this situation.

Thanks,

Kamrul

Thanks Rovertva for you quick answer. Sorry not to mention the expected source voltage; that would be 220-230 VAC phase to neutral.
Well, no problem so far occurred in other devices like Computer, refrigerators.

So, in our case the problem is low voltage, around 20%.

So, Suggest me what should I do to prevent any more fire hazard.

Thanks again for your support