Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone. I’ve been using reptile Mercury Vapor bulbs for a long time now and a thought just happened to cross my mind: Since these bulbs are actually called “mercury vapor”, do they actually emit “mercury vapor” into the air, or is the mercury always 100% contained inside the bulb? I would email the manufacturers, but I question whether I would get a truthful response, cause if they do emit mercury into the air, I’m sure it would hurt their sales if they admitted that, of course. Anyone happen to know the answer? Thank you.

John

No, just tons of heat, so if your have more than a few dragons its an issue.
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www.moonstonedragons.com

the mercury vapor is contained within the glass...it doesn't emit any outside...as mercury is a deadly poison, it would be a health issue and Government has all kinds of laws about human safety. However, care must be taken if the bulb breaks and when you dispose of burnt bulbs.
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PHLdyPayne

Forum Princess

I had a 125 solar glo break at the neck and it still lit up but the vapor escaped so far no nuclear chain reactions
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1 day

It's a little more complicated than that...

high pressure mercury vapor lamps have an inner fused arc tube made of silica that is nearly impossible to crush... that arc tube is then sealed inside of the outer vacuum chamber

the arc tube is stimulated by trimetallic operating diodes which cause electrical impulses and resonate with the mercury vapor inside the high pressure tube causing an intense heat/radiating effect

you cannot drop one and have mercury vapor spill out!! there is a trace amount inside the arc tube and it is very hard to crush
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