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How many times have you wondered about the life of an electric bulb before buying it?
A test conducted by an Ahmedabad-based non-government organisation, Consumer Education & Research Society, on average life of a 60W, 230 volt pear-shaped bulbs showed that bulbs made by five companies failed to conform to the standards set by the Bureau of Indian Standards, despite the fact that all of them carried the mandatory ISI mark.
The bulbs that that failed to comply were made by Anchor, Bajaj, Crompton, ECE Amarjyoti and Khaitan.
Anchor, Bajaj, Crompton, and ECE failed to conform to the average life prescribed under the BIS standards that stipulated a minimum of 960 hours of life, after completion of 1250 hours.
The NGO tested 20 pieces of each brand of bulb, and found that seven bulbs out of 20 made by Crompton and five of twenty made by Bajaj burnt off before completion of 700 hours.
The standard specifies that total number of bulbs having life less than 700 hours together with this failing to meet the requirement for lumen at 750 hours should not exceed 4 out of 20 bulbs.
With regards to the lumen or brightness of a bulb, Khaitan failed at 597.57 against the minimum requirement of 660.3 hours for individual lamps.
Khaitan bulbs also failed on the electricity consumption front at 63.33 watt against the limit of 62.9 watt.
As a corrective measure, the NGO informed BIS which in turn wrote to the Ruchika Industries, the manufacturer of Khaitan Bulbs. The company has since informed the authorities that it has taken corrective measures.
The NGO has also informed Anchor, Bajaj, Crompton and ECE, as well as appropriate authorities about their results, but it was not aware of any corrective measure taken so far, says the NGO.
Crompton however did not agree with the results and said that tests conducted at the National Test House in Kolkata did not generate similar results. Crompton added that its in-house laboratory and other government labs also supported its claims.
The results obtained by the NGO could have been an isolated case, Crompton held. The company, according to CERC, had based its reply on results of a test on 60W bulbs conducted way back in 1999.
CERC said that Bajaj on the other hand could not produce a copy of the test conducted by BIS. However, the company said that quality would be upgraded in the interest of the consumers.
CERC, a 25-year old NGO, said it was the only consumer organisation in India equipped with an independent, in-house laboratory complex devoted to the comparative testing, evaluating and ranking of consumer products.