Do modern fluorescent tubes require a burn in?

[discord]

I bought some T8 bulbs and ballasts to replace the old T12's in the kitchen, and the salesperson told me to leave the bulbs on for 24 hours, or else they would be slower to turn on at the flick of the switch. He told me that he installed some himself, and failed to do this, and now his bulbs lag after the switch is thrown. Is burn in necessecary for fluorescent tubes? I searched around for more about this on the net, but didn't find it anywhere. This seems to be the only forums I can find which covers more than a single type of bulb.

Best

[adam2]

I am not aware of any such requirement, nor AFAIK does any major lamp supplier recomend a burn in period.
I certainly dont bother and install hundreds in my work.
Suspect that it may be an urban myth.

[James]

They do not require any fixed burn-in period like this but do take a few tens of hours to properly stabilise.  That will happen however as part of normal operation during the early phase of life, you do not need to pre-burn them for a continuous period.  Especially T8 krypton filled tubes require a longer time to stabilise.  At switch on, starting will indeed be more difficult when new, and the discharge may show a swirling or flickering effect.  This is due to gaseous impurities left inside the tube, which are absorbed by the phosphor coating and other hot lamp components after a few hours operation at normal temperatures.