In my 20'x20' garage, where I have all my machines, I originally installed 14 fluorescent light fixtures, that's a total of 28 T8 32watt tubes. It's bright to say the least. Over the course of 5 or 6 years, a tube would burn out, or dim, and then another one, and another. You don't notice it too much, especially since I have flexible lights at the different machines. Well today I decided to change the burnt out and dimming lights. 10 new lights!! What a difference!! So I'm installing them, easy enough, but not using a ladder, which I have two in the garage, but just standing on a chair, and reaching, stretching. I'm thinking I should have pulled out the ladder. I'm almost finished installing the last couple tubes, and then I start to smell burning plastic. What the hell?! I'm looking around, and I see one of the fixtures smoking. I quickly jumped on the chair and took out the tube. I obviously didn't twist in the prongs properly. Moral of the story, don't take short cuts. Use the ladder, put on safety glasses, use gloves. I can only imagine if it had happened on the last bulb, and I went in the house for something.
