I have a 32 Watt circular fluorescent light (pull chain) in kitchen. 9 out of 10 times it starts. Then it doesn’t. Will a new ballast solve the problem?
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First make sure that the fixture is properly grounded.
Then, if this is an old starter-type fixture, replace the starter.
If the lamp is darkening on the ends, replace it.
Then, if you still have trouble, replace the ballast (or the entire fixture).
What Dan said. Grounding is imperative for those fixtures. If there is no ground, oldtimers hooked the neutral to the fixture ground and it worked perfectly, unless something weird happens with the wiring. That is illegal, don't do it.
It should be noted that if the fixture is improperly grounded then starting reliability will be affected by humidity and likely vary seasonally.
Also, the switch
They don't normally fail intermittently but some times they do, so: Check the switch.