Hello all--

I've got a question about the long-term storage of CRTs that see relatively little use. I've been told that it's important to fire up CRT televisions or monitors once or twice a year in order to maintain the phosphors. First, is this accurate, in your experience? Second, can you help me understand the science behind this? And is there a difference between b/w and color CRTs in this regard?

Backstory: I work in a contemporary art museum that owns several video works that were created to be seen *only* on CRTs. Naturally, we're concerned about the longterm survival of these works, and want to make sure the monitors in use, as well as our spares, last as long as possible.

Any suggestions or thoughts on this are greatly appreciated.

Best,

Jeff Martin
Research Fellow
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC

In all honesty I would worry more about the supporting electronics than I would about the CRT, capacitors, both electrolytic and surface mount can deteriorate in storage, it's probably a good idea to fire up a set every few months for an hour or so to keep them in good shape.

A tube with a lot of hours on it can "go to sleep" if it's stored for years but a tube in good shape should work as well in 50 years as it does now.

I have 50 year old tubes that were never used and still work like new.

The biggest danger is it will lose vacuum but that is rare especially on modern all glass tubes.

I have not heard of problems with CRT (especially the phosphors) that could be helped by running them occasionally. On the other hand, TV camera tubes were generally said to need running occasionally to prevent problems with low level gas buildup. I don't know if a similar problem could occur in a CRT, but I suspect it would be very minor, since the camera tubes that were most susceptible had very small cathodes.

Maybe some of the folks who have brought old sets back to life can speak about the possible deterioration of cathodes and how frequent use might help or not.

Regarding CRT phosphors, they are always in "wear-out mode" when in use, hence the problem of burn-in of stationary images. Obviously there is no burn in occurring when they are not in use.

I have never heard of any real problems with CRT's going bad in storage .
I make a habit of running my sets at least twice a month , I find this keeps things in order and the TV gets a chance to warm up .
I have powered up sets that had been sitting for 30 years and the crt's are ok .

Same as the others-I have never seen phosphor damage on a stored crt. Indeed, the only phosphor damage I've ever seen were on tubes that were abused-either run with the vertical circuit disabled (burning a line into the screen) or with the ion trap misadjusted (an issue only on early sets.) The cathode will need reenergizing after a very long period of sitting but just running it awhile will usually take care of that. I have seen CRT's that took what some would call abuse (decades in hot attics; years spent outside on the ground) and they still worked fine with no phosphor problems, both bw and color.