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is the backlight in older monitors worrysome? I'm using a flatron w1934s as my second monitor and I heard that there's some Mercury and I'm afraid of potential leakage. The image has been flickering and I'm not sure if those two things could be related.
How would I notice leakage and is it life threatening
kyloehre1
Posted 2018-09-04T18:29:40.143
Reputation: 1
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First, a cold-cathode fluorescent backlight is a sealed glass tube. It cannot leak unless you break the tube.
Second, a broken tube won't light at all. If it flickers, you probably find it annoying and want to replace it, but it's not leaking.
Third, the amount of mercury in the lamp is small; the Material Safety Data Sheet for cold-cathode lamps states, "The mercury in the air as a result of breaking one or a small number of fluorescent lamps should not result in significant exposures to an individual." That said, if you change the lamp yourself, dispose of the tube responsibly. Many places offer free disposal for fluorescent lamps.
DrMoishe Pippik
Posted 2018-09-04T18:29:40.143
Reputation: 13 291
So if the tube broke my monitor wouldnf work at all? I noticed some stains on the side of my monitor (https://imgur.com/a/jalj9fQ) and a weird drop off something under the edge of my monitor on top of my PS4 which looked like some dried stuff, could they be related to the Mercury leakage
– kyloehre1 – 2018-09-04T19:32:53.180Keep it clean. It's not Hg. – DrMoishe Pippik – 2018-09-04T19:49:55.937
Hg? What do you mean? Right now I have the issue that I'm literally worrying about everything. I'm actually even scared that my monitor would leak LCD fluid since I punched it on its side even though nothing's cracked... Im just so frustrated because I'm worrying about such a ridiculous thing but I'm already used to being so worried that me being scared overweighta the fact that it's a stupid issue. I'm just scared I might expose myself to mercury or LCD fluid because I wouldn't notice and I'd spread it all around me – kyloehre1 – 2018-09-04T19:56:02.410
@kyloehre1 Hg is the chemical symbol for mercury. It comes from hydrargyrum, a Latinized form of the Greek word ὑδράργυρος (hydrargyros) – None – 2018-09-04T20:19:30.563
I'm just worried it might be mercury since I wouldn't notice and I guess that would be fatal since I'd expose myself to it all the time – kyloehre1 – 2018-09-10T12:28:07.670
i havent used the monitor for a over a month out of fear and i just turned my monitors on, they're working fine I guess but i noticed some weird really sticky stuff next to my keyboard and a really small stain on the wrist rest thingy and i was wondering if that could be related to LCD or mercury out of my older LCD monitor. i didnt move the keyboard for a while so im not sure if its maybe just the rubber which kinda sticked onto the desk. – kyloehre1 – 2018-09-15T17:31:09.343
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I wouldn't worry about the miniscule amount of mercury in a CCFL that is found in a monitor.
A study on the amount of mercury from a CCFL tube study states
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection states in a report published in 2004 that between 17% and 40% of the mercury is vaporised if CCFLs are broken.
This is over a period of several hours, and a third of the mercury is released over the first eight hours. In the literature, the amount of mercury in CCFLs varies between 0.1 mg/lamp and 10 mg/lamp
The study goes on to test up to 16 CCFL tubes, basically an entire large TV, smashed in a 31 litre (enclosed) box and while smashing 16 tubes does result in a potentially (long term) dangerous 0.25mg/m3 exposure level after an hour even the vaguest amount of ventilation will almost certainly result in a level well below what is considered "safe".
A single tube being smashed, i.e. the most likely outcome of an accidental drop, would give a tiny amount of vapour that even in a normal sized room probably wouldn't result in a dangerous level. Even so it could be easily combatted by simply opening the window and/or putting the broken device outside.
A brief and temporary exposure is unlikely to result in any significant harm anyway.
If you had a mercury leak then the tube would not work at all and you would have a permanent dark patch because the tube would be cracked and the atmosphere within contaminated and unable to effectively conduct the electrons that produce light. Flickering is a sign of power supply issues rather than cracked CCFL tubes leaking mercury.
Mokubai
Posted 2018-09-04T18:29:40.143
Reputation: 64 434
So if the tube broke my monitor wouldnf work at all? I noticed some stains on the side of my monitor (imgur.com/a/jalj9fQ) and a weird drop off something under the edge of my monitor on top of my PS4 which looked like some dried stuff, could they be related to the Mercury leakage – kyloehre1 – 2018-09-04T19:48:35.157
Can you respond? – kyloehre1 – 2018-09-10T12:14:52.320
I doubt that those stains are mercury or any mercury compound. Chances are you have between 4 and 8 CCFL tubes in your monitor and if any one of them were broken then you would have a dark patch on your screen where the tube was dead, and if they were all broken your screen would be pretty much black. The amount of mercury in any given tube would be miniscule and would not be large enough to cause that sort of stain. Chances are someone spilt their coffee. – Mokubai – 2018-09-10T12:50:14.437
https://m.imgur.com/a/F9zTbfD this is the monitor – kyloehre1 – 2018-09-10T13:19:02.247
Looks fine. If a backlight were cracked or damaged then it would be dark. – Mokubai – 2018-09-10T13:25:03.537
i havent used the monitor for a over a month out of fear and i just turned my monitors on, they're working fine I guess but i noticed some weird really sticky stuff next to my keyboard and a really small stain on the wrist rest thingy and i was wondering if that could be related to LCD or mercury out of my older LCD monitor. i didnt move the keyboard for a while so im not sure if its maybe just the rubber which kinda sticked onto the desk. – kyloehre1 – 2018-09-15T17:31:18.843
@kyloehre1 frankly if they are "working fine" then there is no chance that anything in your monitor is leaking. The quantities of any liquids involved, if there are any liquids at all, are going to be absolutely tiny and not hazardous. – Mokubai – 2018-09-15T18:09:59.723
i mean the second montior is flickering horizontally, sometimes i do notice, sometimes i dont. btw it kinda seems like especially white bits on the second monitor without LED backlight seem to "extend" over the screen a little bit if you know what i mean – kyloehre1 – 2018-09-15T18:18:32.577
There is nothing here to be worried about based on the symptoms you describe. As others note, IF the CCFL were physically broken the monitor would not be working AT ALL. Flickers, drips, stains: these indicate cleanliness issues and possibly pending hardware faults, but if anything they indicate the light bulb is NOT broken and therefore there is NO reason to worry about mercury. – music2myear – 2018-09-05T18:44:06.917
https://m.imgur.com/a/F9zTbfD this is the monitor So if the tube broke my monitor wouldnf work at all? I noticed some stains on the side of my monitor (imgur.com/a/jalj9fQ) and a weird drop off something under the edge of my monitor on top of my PS4 which looked like some dried stuff, could they be related to the Mercury leakage – kyloehre1 – 2018-09-10T13:20:23.777
Multiple people in both comments and answers have now told you that this is not the case. That it is EXTREMELY UNLIKELY that mercury is leaking from your monitor's illumination panels. Further, the amount of mercury in the monitor would not be enough to result in visible drops or droplets. It is difficult to tell what the issue is based on the images you have sent as they are very blurry and indistinct, but we can continue to state categorically that your monitor is NOT leaking mercury. – music2myear – 2018-09-10T20:50:26.923