warehouse light. hazardous?

I got a call from a guy who has 160 lights from a warehouse. He's a sub contractor and I guess they updated or demoed the building. anyway he claims there is about 5lbs of copper in each one along with some al. and steel. Now while talking to my dad he says those lights are hazardous and that his friend who does demo has someone else come in a remove them because of this. apparently there is some kind of radiation in them? I haven't dealt with these before so I have no idea, in my mind I could be making a good bit of money but if they are hazardous I don't want to get involved. anyone ever dealt with these? the guy is telling me it's just copper and a magnet in the part above the light and the only hazardous thing is the bulb, I don't know make or model of the light so I have no clue

Your dad is probably talking about the "old-style" ballasts, which contain PCB (look it up), The new style will be stamped "non-PCB" and are safe.

thats what he was saying, the old ones have that pcb but he claimed the newer ones have some kind of radiation in them, I'm kind of skeptical since the guy selling them says there is a magnet and copper in them

Might be normal capacitor, transformer, ignitor style ballast just wires no pcb filled flourecent light stuff? If so then get them transformers from those can weight 15-40lbs and .22-34/lb. Sometimes the case is extruded alum or cast with heat sinks to help cool.

If they were installed pre 2000 good chance they are all copper, alum ones start showing up after that. A 400watt should weigh in with maybe 2-3lbs of copper and a 1kw about 4lbs.

what I am being told is the case around the bulb is al. about 2 lbs above that is steel he says 20 lbs, he removed 4 screws and inside there was about 5 lbs of copper and a magnet of some sort. My dad is convinced all these lights are hazardous because of a ballistic that warms the bulb up. I think otherwise of course

Google search "High Bay Lighting Fixtures" I imagine that's what they might be and that is what I'm talking about above^.

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/disma...-fixtures.html

I've done a few of these and made out ok, definitely didn't get rich. They are big and awkward but the plastic is pretty brittle and can be broke up into smaller pieces for disposal.

ok but my main concern is are the hazardous, from what you guys are telling me unless they are pcb they are fine to deal with

I stopped glowing about a week after tearing them down...the headaches went away after 2 weeks.

All kidding aside, no unusual hazards that I could see.

I was given about 45 of those lights that KZ is talking about. They had an aluminum shade over the bulb above that was a square box made of cast aluminum, inside the box is a transformer and wires. No ballast, no magnets and I've never heard of radiation in any light fixture. I've only found ballast in flourecent light fixtures, older ballast do have PCBs and are hazardous. If you can still get those lights grab them, I'm sure you'll be happy with them when you see what you have.

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Originally Posted by happyscraper

I was given about 45 of those lights that KZ is talking about. They had an aluminum shade over the bulb above that was a square box made of cast aluminum, inside the box is a transformer and wires. No ballast, no magnets and I've never heard of radiation in any light fixture. I've only found ballast in flourecent light fixtures, older ballast do have PCBs and are hazardous. If you can still get those lights grab them, I'm sure you'll be happy with them when you see what you have.

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I had 80 of those lights.
250# of cast aluminum
900# of transformers
Some wire and tin
After I took then to the yard I found a transformer I missed and learned about the hatchet trick. I tried it and it came apart easy. I could have made quite a bit more. Thanks to this forum I will know next time.

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Originally Posted by happyscraper

They had an aluminum shade over the bulb above that was a square box made of cast aluminum, inside the box is a transformer and wires.

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I just dismantled two fixtures like this i got from work. (I work in a warehouse) I also happened to be reading on here about microwaves having a pink ceramic looking substance called berrilium oxide. The two light fixtures I got had a pink ceramic fixture that the large bulb screwed into. Not sure if it is the same stuff, but I'd be safe and avoid smashing and breathing it... If you have a big load of them I'd say the transformers inside and the cast aluminum shells along with the shades would be a great score!

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Originally Posted by VoodooDaddy

I just dismantled two fixtures like this i got from work. (I work in a warehouse) I also happened to be reading on here about microwaves having a pink ceramic looking substance called berrilium oxide. The two light fixtures I got had a pink ceramic fixture that the large bulb screwed into. Not sure if it is the same stuff, but I'd be safe and avoid smashing and breathing it... If you have a big load of them I'd say the transformers inside and the cast aluminum shells along with the shades would be a great score!

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Its just ceramic porcelain, dunno why its pink though, never seen a pink one before.

Are you still able to do the scrapping of the ballasts? Theres a few $$ for you in that job.

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Originally Posted by eesakiwi

Are you still able to do the scrapping of the ballasts? Theres a few $$ for you in that job.

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Me? Or Happy?

Why are they hazardous?

Have you tried High Bay light 720W before?