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When
an arc lamp is brand new and first fired
up, it should be left on for two hours,
whether observing specimens or not.
This is to allow the arc to establish
arcing points on the electrodes to which
the arc will always go and keep the
arc stable when the lamp is fired in
the future.
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The
lamp should properly aligned to: a)
allow for the brightest fluorescence,
and b) to make sure that the real and
mirror images of the arc are not overlapping
which may cause overheating (possible
explosion hazard).
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The
lamp should always be cold when it is
turned on. Never turn an arc lamp when
it is warm. This causes clouding of
the glass in the bulb and both considerably
shortens the life of the burner and
decreases the burner's brightness. When
the glass is clouded, the burner will
heat up more and the lamp is more likely
to explode.
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Once
a lamp is turned on, it should be left
on for a minimum of twenty minutes (thirty
is preferable). This allows it to warm
up properly and will help prevent premature
wearing out (clouding) of the burner.
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Rated
life of mercury arc lamps is as follows:
HBO
50W : 100 hrs
HBO
100W: 200 hrs
HBO
200W: 400 hrs
After
a lamp has reached its rated life in hours,
it should be inspected for cloudiness.
If you have turned a 100W burner on only
10 times for 20 hr periods and otherwise
cared for it properly, it may not be cloudy
and last for many hours beyond its rated
life. It is a good idea to inspect it
often during this period, however. Other
than firing the burner when warm, turning
the lamp on and off repeatedly (many warm-ups
and cool-downs) is probably the worst
contributor to shortening the life of
burner.
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I
(Matt Schibler, X59783) can teach you
how to replace and/or align your mercury
arc lamps if you do not how to do this
correctly.
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