Mercury Migration

I eat at this one Vietnamese place often and I noticed their pretty new OPEN sign when they first opened and I was impressed with how nicely it was done. Believe me when you do neon for a living you notice every neon sign out there and you can get rather opinionated about what you see. I have been steadily watching the border on their OPEN sign start to darken further and further down the tube as the weeks have gone by. It just goes to show that pretty doesn't always mean anything. Had the manufacturer of this sign used the Eurocom electrodes that we use when we blow glass this sign would still look as pretty as the day it was first hung in the window.

If you have a sign with these symptoms several things can happen when you talk to the manufacturer. They will tell you to take the sign down and turn it on each of its four sides for a few hours at a time and that once fully rotated the problem will be eliminated (it forces the mercury to roll back down the tube towards the electrode. True, this may take care of it for a little while but soon the electrode will be forcing the mercury back down the tube again and you'll be right back where you started. Sometimes sending it back in can have a similar effect just like the turning of the sign due to the vibration when being transported. The manufacturer gets it back, plugs it in and the sign looks fine. Kind of like when you take your car to the auto mechanic and it won't make that funny noise now! Frustrating!

So the next time your out and about and you see a sign with a section of the neon that has darkened you can say "I know what is making that happen".