I am trying t replace a tube in a kitchen fixture. The old one was difficult to remove. The new one will not totally seat in the fixture. Can some kind of lubricant (WD40) be put on the pins to facilitate the installation?
I don't think so, but those posts that hold the lamp can be replaced. While you are at it, take the fixture down, replace the lamp holders, remove the ballast and put an LED tube in there.
You'll be happy you did and odds are, you'll never replace that tube again.
I had no idea that LED replacements for florescent tubes lasted forever!
I think what you're after is called conductive grease. Something like this:
or
The makers of that stuff are pretty proud of it price wise. You don't want dielectric grease which is non conductive.
Depending on your age, you have a very good chance of that tube outlasting yourself. Or, you may move before the tube gives up.
I replaced 4 tubes in a plant light with LED tubes. Before this, I'd replaced the florescents more than once. They would noticeably dim after a few years. I've had the LEDs in there for about 10 years now. No degradation, and the color temperature is very pleasing.
I recently replaced all my outdoor house lighting. There are no bulbs at all. The LED is built in to the fixture. They expect the light to last as long as the fixture.
I replaced my kitchen can light fixtures. I had LED bulbs in there, but the new ones were even better. Again, no bulb, but also no opening into the can. Each fixture had a switch in it so you could pick the color temperature you wanted. (5 different colors to choose from.)
LEDs are not only more efficient and last longer, they are way more attractive.
And LEDs don’t contain all that mercury, which is a problem when throwing out. They still have arsenic and lead, though.
You can save the arsenic in case you need it later.
ACtually, I think dielectric grease is what you would want to use. It's what's used in auto lamp holders for example. Conductive grease would create a current path. Dielectric grease works by keeping it lubricated so it won't corrode, but it gets easily pressed out of the way of the contact point so a good contact is made.
Bit I've yet to see a tube fixture that needed it. I'd suspect if you put the bulb in correctly and twist, it will seat. Sometimes they can be tricky, not sure grease will help. And agree that if it were my fixture, I'd be looking at a new LED fixture as the first choice, or maybe a retrofit if it can't be changed easily. They don't cost much, sure look and work a lot better and use less electricity.
Temptation would've gotten the best of me if I was doing it for myself. I would have tried the WD-40 or powdered graphite if I really thought it was needed. Then I would have waited a couple hours to let things settle out.
I lot depends on the fixture itself. If it was cheap to begin with, buying a new LED ready to go is probably right but for the same amount of work you can just hot wire the tombstones, remove the ballast and use the direct wire LED. That is certainly a better idea if this is some kind of designer fixture you really like. They are supposed to be good for 10,000 hours or more so that is. quite a number of years if you are only using it a few hours a day. The old school F-40s in our walk in closet are 20+ years old. I have never replaced them but they only get used minutes a day.
Also pay attention to the color. LEDs come anything from a warm 2700k to an arc light "stalag 17" 6000k maybe even "hotter".
I like the Stalag 17 setting. The cataracts introduce enough yellow into my life without the warm candlelight effect.
I might try the WD-40 (except I will never use any of that stuff), but not the graphite. The graphite is conductive and wil probably arc over.
I do not believe lubrication will help.
If you get tube lined up exactly and push straight in then turn, it should fit.
If it doesn't something is worn or broken, and lubrication will not help.
But getting them really straight without twisting or angling is usually the problem.
Also check the pins, you could have a bad tube. I've never seen one but it seems logical it could happen.
I converted to LED tubes - disconnected the ballast and discarded. It turned out my tombstones were nonshunted so I didn't even need to replace but you do need to check that. I'm happy with them so far. And I put the LED shoplights in my shed, and now in the winter they come on right away, unlike the fluorescent that can't handle the cold.
Designer fixture and fluorescent tubes does not compute.
You don't know my wife. I think she spent $100 on the one in our closet in the late 90s. It may not have actually cost her that much but that was the MSRP. She worked for in interior design place at the time. I wasn't involved. I just put it up. It is an industrial quality ballast and good tombstones. Not the junk you got in $20-30 "shop lights".
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