Did you know a bad bulb can cause a ballast to not fire? To reset the ballast, unplug the fixture for a minute. Bulbs are the most common problem with a bad fluorescent fixture. Look at the end of the bulb for a dark area; if you see one, the bulb is either bad or going bad. Replace it with a fresh one. If it is a two-bulb or four-bulb fixture, replace the pairing of tubes.
Flickering fluorescent tubes can cause the ballast to overheat and fail prematurely!
Causes of Ballast Failure: Premature ballast failure is usually caused by the surrounding environment. Heat and moisture are enemies #1 and #2 to your ballast. Every ballast has an ambient operating temperature range and UL location rating. When it’s too hot or too cold, the ballast can burn or fail to start your lamps at all. Heat combined with prolonged condensation inside an electronic ballast can cause corrosion and ballast failure.
