Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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M56phil
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Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by M56phil »

I know I've put a topic on this before, but I thought I would post a new one.

My question is, is there any mercury lighting left??? I was in North Yorkshire a few months ago and despite spotting for example the odd AC Ford (during the day) I couldn't tell if any mercury is actually left.

What I can say, is that there numbers have GREATLY reduced and been replaced by more general stuff. Also concrete columns in North Yorkshire have been all culled- deemed unsafe, apparently.

So, anyway. Does anyone know where any large groupings of mercury still exist???????????????????
I know some exist in Kent, Sussex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and bits of Norfolk as well as parts of Brum. Has this all changed now????

Would be grateful for the information. Thanks, M56phil
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trencheel303
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by trencheel303 »

The only mercury I saw when on my sox spotting motorway trip were a few gamma 6s on traffic islands near the area of j24 and j25 m60. Apparently this is the case generally in The area roughly between sale and altrincham, but can't confirm specifics.

I've actually spotted quite a lot of mercury close to me, in a hospital and a caravan park which is pretty much exclusively lit by gamma 6s. Relatively fresh bulbs too as they are ice white with that pinkish purple tint the coated bulbs have. My observations so far have been that mercury is best found on wall lights and in private grounds, as I have NEVER in recent memory seen it on your typical road side lamp post.
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sotonsteve
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by sotonsteve »

Yes, there is still mercury lighting left on public roads in the UK, although it is dying out, and with mercury lamps due to be phased out next year it is likely that it will all be gone in the next few years.
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Truvelo
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Truvelo »

They've been saying that for years yet mercury is still clinging on. Best places nowadays are villages in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk where the Z5590 reigns supreme.

In the Midlands virtually all mercury in Birmingham and Dudley has disappeared over the last few years and there's nothing left in Staffordshire as all the remaining mercury was replaced by CFL in a very short space of time.
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sotonsteve
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by sotonsteve »

The thing is, for years councils would replace 80W mercury with 70W SON, which wouldn't really yield any power saving. Now that CFL is more popular, a considerable power saving can be made,with 36W PL-L more or less equivalent to 80W mercury, and CFL lanterns notably cheaper than SON lanterns. LED has also advanced at a huge rate, and with the introduction of government "invest to save" initiatives a lot of councils are upgrading their lighting stocks. We also have ongoing PFIs wiping out mercury in some of the places where it was most prominent, like Birmingham, Southampton and West Sussex. In Bedfordshire, there is a bit of a drive towards CFL and induction, and in Cambridgeshire there is a PFI. Banning the sale of mercury lamps will lead to depletion of lamp stocks and ultimately force lantern replacements, but that could take a few years to take effect.

Regardless of the lamp ban, mercury is rapidly disappearing. I think Birmingham had around 80000 mercury fittings. That will soon be zero. Southampton had a few thousand, soon to be zero. West Sussex had several thousand, soon to be zero. Come next year, I am going to have to drive a long way to see mercury lighting on a public road, as there quite simply won't be any near me.
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trencheel303
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by trencheel303 »

We should perhaps keep this thread going in a similar way to the motorway SOX thread and try to document where the mercury is, what's disappearing etc. I will lament its demise and it would be nice to get a chance to see some on public roads before it goes completely.
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Truvelo
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Truvelo »

This is an example of mercury that has long since disappeared. The NSL has also had 20mph slashed off it :@
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Gareth
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Gareth »

trencheel303 wrote:We should perhaps keep this thread going in a similar way to the motorway SOX thread and try to document where the mercury is, what's disappearing etc. I will lament its demise and it would be nice to get a chance to see some on public roads before it goes completely.
Getting a comprehensive list of all the remaining mercury lighting in the UK would be a stupendous task. Much more difficult than locating the remaining SOX on motorways.
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trencheel303
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by trencheel303 »

Every little helps. If people list what they've seen near major cities or notable locations the information will soon stack up. Right now there's no real way to tell what mercury is left in or near any of the major locations apart from snippets all over different threads which isn't very easily searchable.

I'll start:
there's some mercury here in the west of Scotland where I live, Dunoon. Some bulkhead lights on a school and on the fire station, mixed with SON. There are also mercury Thorn Precincts in the hospital grounds and what look like 50W mercury in bollards, possibly Crompton Churchouses. There are also a whole load of mercury gamma 6s at Hunters Quay Holiday Village. No mercury on the public roads here but beggars can't be choosers.

Then there's the aforementioned gamma 6s fitted with mercury lamps on traffic islands at certain places inside the m6 circle, I personally only saw a couple near j24 of the m6.


The more information in one thread the easier it becomes searchable on google. The "SOX lighting dying on motorways" is not hard to find and is very useful.
sevenman96
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by sevenman96 »

Not seen any mercury since about 2008.
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sotonsteve
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by sotonsteve »

Trying to document all remaining mercury would be pretty much impossible. For starters, even with a good spread of enthusiasts not all areas of the country are covered comprehensively. Besides this, even though mercury is dying out there is still too much to document in my mind. Only a few months before extinction have I been able to definitively list surviving mercury in Southampton, and that is one city, not a nation.

If you want to see mercury, Suffolk is probably still one of the best bets.
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trencheel303
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by trencheel303 »

My post seems to have been misunderstood to mean that we must sit down right now and list every mercury street lamp in the UK. Quite why this is I can't fathom, as it was not worded like that at all.

Well, I'll carry on doing my bit to document noteworthy things that I find on here and on Ukastle...
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Gareth
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Gareth »

One of Liverpool's handful of Highfield Manor lanterns is set to bite the dust; the one on Kildonan Road here - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.37302 ... !2e0?hl=en

Technically, it already has bitten the dust, as it was disconnected with the replacement LED lantern on a Mallatite hockey stick shining away next to it as of Saturday night. I don't know if anyone on here would be interested in saving it. If anyone posts on that UKASTLE site, perhaps they could see if any collector would want it. I hate the idea of it going into landfill.
Last edited by Gareth on Tue Aug 26, 2014 00:12, edited 1 time in total.
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trencheel303
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by trencheel303 »

I am on Ukastle, I will send the link.
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Gareth
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Gareth »

Thanks. From the top of my head, there only six of them left now, excluding that one. I think there's still a long since disconnected one in Anfield too, so that'll be seven, if included.
A4174_Adam
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by A4174_Adam »

Was driving through Thornton-le-Dale in N. Yorks the other week and spotted these: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.23741 ... !2e0?hl=en

Never been through after dusk, but they do look likely candidates for mercury.
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Truvelo
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Truvelo »

That looks like an AC Ford
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Andy33gmail
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Andy33gmail »

Longstanton Park and Ride has billions of them, and they're all only a couple of years old - which seems a bit ridiculous
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Nicholas
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Nicholas »

There are shed loads of these around the Ensbury Park area of Bournemouth. However, they are rapidly being replaced by LED lighting.
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brummie_rob
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by brummie_rob »

As I posted in the LED topic....Mercury will be biting the dust in Solihull in the coming months.
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