well it does say for industrial use only. I guess it didn't like being in a household.

LOL nice try George. Turns out the ballast shorted out. So this sun of a gun must've gone out with quite a show. Too bad I didn't see the show, though I would have shut the switch off when I saw the lamps acting funny. It's too bad, this was a nice light. I had restored it too, replaced every nut and screw and repainted it. This beauty looked like new. Now it's toast. I can't salvage it because the thing leaked

BTW you never replied to the email I sent regarding you getting your latest toy.

I don't remember what it said whoops sorry. Yea buds I'm sorry for you'r loss, I know how it is to put so much TLC into something

Oh no you got it right, it says FOR INDUSTRIAL USE ONLY. I meant thats not why it failed lol. Yeah it's too bad it failed. It's not like I paid anything for the light though.

Yea i know, I can't remember what you'r e-mail said. about my new toy.

"Woah! I want one too! But don't have room for a medium sized light since I'm getting a couple lights this summer. Congrads!"

Whoa that sure toasted!

Yeah this baby really had a temper.

Does this come with a side of fries?

For industrial use only? That's interesting! But if anything, industrial grade components are TOUGHER than their residential grade counterparts. Maybe thermal protection was considered unnecessary in industrial applications back then, and ballasts without them were made. This would make those ballasts unsuitable for use in homes and even commercial buildings.

@ George; it comes with our own ballast wire fries with our special PCB-tar batter coating for that nice crunch and maybe some throat cancer down the road.

@ Vince; yep i found that interesting too! I figured "Oh! Industrial means tougher!" Did 1950s ballasts have thermal protection to begin with back then? It's a nice fixture but i really don't want to mess with it any more than i have to. I took out the two sockets on the opposite end and chopped off the power cord from the outside. I saved the wingnuts from the reflector too. That's all I saved from this. Well the lamps and starters too. The lamps work but i haven't tested the starters. I don't see why they wouldn't work though since they sit idle except at startup. Very scarey though! It's definetly scarred my enthusiasm for vintage fluorescents a little bit. I'll have to buy some fuses online. I was going to get fuses before but couldn't find them locally.

What are good fuses for 0.73A-0.8A ballasts? What ballasts should I fuse? Just non-class P? Any HPF ballast? Every fluorescent ballast I own?

I'm surprised the paint bubbled up like that. It's a good thing you suspended it since it looked like it was hot enough to ignite wood.

As for fuses, I stuck a 1A fuse in my CGE turret which draws 0.85A. It should also work for the lower amp rated F40 ballasts too.

Anyway I usually fuse fixtures in these scenarios: ballast is older than 25-30 years, fixture is often left running unattended, non-class P, PCB ballast, ballast draws excess current (compared to the label), or if the ballast has a tendency to run hot.

You'll need a Kill a Watt meter or a AC ammeter for the second last test, and a IR temp probe for the last one but I just feel how hot it runs.

I wonder if the paint peeling was just a chemical reaction though? Because why would it just peel over there? In theory the area around the ballast would be the hottest. So you think 1A fuses are good for 0.73A-0.85A ballasts? Now what if the ballast is NPF? those have a higher amp rating but that amperage isn't billed because it's not actual power consumption. So when fusing an NPF fixture, go by the ballast's amp rating or by the HPF equivalent?

So did the fixture housing end up in the curbside trashcan? Ouch! Those longjohn ballasts are huge! Did the lamps and starters survive the incident?
BTW I had a dream last night in which I was going through some old photos of a friend's cabin (In real life there's pics there of when it was a total dump) and visible was a Tulamp preheater similar to this...one of the lamps looked spent though. I woke up wishing it existed in real life (Although when the place was remodeled in reality it likely would have been tossed!
Wow, though...that's hot!

Not we just left it at the curb and a scrapper came and took it. Saved me from taking it to the Hazardeous Materials lot in Johnston.

I hope you find a similar fixture soon! Start yardsaling and ReStoring, as well as scrapyards and secondhand stores.

yeah you never know, maybe I'll find a fixture similar to this. It was a nice fixuture, especially the large reflector, but it just wasn't worth saving with all the risks involved. If it was a T17 maybe. However I've learned my lesson and any T17 i have will definetly be fused! So if something like this does happen, it's not extreme enough to rupture the capacitor. Because I'm sure those T17 ballasts have HUGE capacitors in them.

Yeah use an inline fuse...those other scary ballast stories are pretty scary too!
"I'd like to try the smoked ballast platter with PCB sauce, can I get some fries with that please?"