North America: Philips recalls 2014 HID/HPS lamps

There are dark times ahead for the North American growers that installed Philips HID/HPS 1000 Watt supplemental lighting in their greenhouses over the past year. Due to a manufacturing error, it can happen that lamps are exploding spontaneously. The chance that this actually happens is small, but due to 'strict regulations in Canada and the United States', the growers that have these lamps installed, are now required to turn them off, until they are replaced with new lamps.

It is confirmed by Philips that all of the lamps that are produced in 2014, will have to be replaced. Philips doesn't have enough stock available to replace all of the new lamps. The manufacturer has send a memo about this to their customers, in which is stated that they started the production of the new lamps since October 6. The company said it will do everything they can to supply the growers with new lamps as soon as possible. The production of the new HID/HPS lamps is taking place 24/7.

Breaking or exploding lamps can lead to dangerous situations; workers can get injured, fires can occur or glass from lamps might end up in the crops or food chain. This is the reason why the U.S. and Canadian growers are advised to turn off their lights.The change that the lamps are exploding is actually very small.

Philips can be seen as one of the largest suppliers of supplemental HID/HPS lights for horticulture. As the demand for year round production increases, the company has been involved in the installments of supplemental HPS/HID lighting at many new greenhouse projects in the U.S. and Canada, both large and small.