Melting lampshades spark concern on campus

Here’s a scary college tale from the Fredonia campus of the State University of New York (SUNY) involving a popular inexpensive floor lamp: 

“Early Sunday, Jan. 21, at 1 a.m. during a night fire walk, Schulz Hall Director Carrie Davenport traced a smell of something burning to a melting plastic shade on a lamp brought to campus by one of her residents. The heat from a light bulb of correct wattage in the ‘5-Light Multicolored Floor Lamp’ had begun melting its plastic shade, which was dripping onto the resident’s bedspread. The plastic was also releasing toxic fumes. Ms. Davenport took the lamp out of the room, and went looking for another one like it that she had seen in another room. She found it, turned it on, and within 15 minutes, the shade from that lamp also began to melt.”      

This discovery prompted the university to widen its investigation to all the residence halls. The result: three more similar lamps failed safety tests; their shades overheated and melted. “In some cases, the students who kept the lamps in their rooms weren’t aware the lampshades had begun to melt,” the university said, noting that several different brands of the five-bulb lamp were found but only those with plastic shades appeared to pose a hazard. The university said it considered a similar version made with glass shades to be safe. But since those cost considerably more, may not be as popular among the college set. 

SUNY Fredonia subsequently sent a notice to all students asking them to remove these lamps. It also sent emails to several listservs, which in turn prompted some other universities, including Harvard, to issue safety bulletins about the lamps. In addition, officials at Fredonia referred the lamp to the Consumer Product Safety Commission for investigation. Also studying the lamp is Underwriters Laboratories. John Drengenberg, consumer affairs manager, said the nonprofit safety testing organization is concerned because the incidents in question appear to involve lamps that are not the same configuration as models that UL tested and certified. Drengenberg said UL is withholding the UL mark on similar new lamps, which effectively shuts down production, until further study.   

According to SUNY Fredonia, the lamps are available at a number of nationwide retailers for less than $20. “Different models were found defective but all shared the common plastic shade although some required Type A 60 watt bulbs and other required Type B 25 watt bulbs. Damaged shades were found in lamps using both sizes of bulbs,” even when the proper watt bulbs were used, the university said.   

SUNY Fredonia has advised all students to stop using these lamps immediately, and has taken steps to ensure that the lamps have been removed. Until more is known about the scope of the hazards, we recommend all consumers do same

Comments

[Douglas Welcome]

I currently attend Point Loma University in San Diego, where residential life has forced us to remove any lamp with multiple "heads" due to this concern. Is there any specific brand that there is a problem with, or a list of brands that should be recalled? I am a little upset at the university for suddenly telling us to get rid of these when there has been no problem with the specific lamp i own.

[Alice Walter]

A couple of years ago I purchased (from Home Depot) a multi colored floor lamp that takes candelabra style bulbs. To date I have had no problems...and I am currently away from my Kauai home where the product is located. As your article does not name or date the product, is the candelabra lamp version also at risk? Mahalo, Alice

[susan]

I purchased one of these lamps for my sons bedroom and have been concerned with the possibility of fire. Also noted on the assembly instructions it clearly states that the individual lamps sould remain in an upright position. With heat rising there is a much lower probability of melting the shade if using the proper bulb. However, given this, my guess is the manufacturer is aware of the hazard.

[Ed Burdick]

...so this seems like a perfect application for compact flourescent bulbs. Instead of not using the lamps, just replace the light bulbs with 13 watt flourescents, which run pretty cool.