Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs

#1
cotton

cotton

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Dec 6, 2005
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#1
I started to post this in the politics forum so Al Gore could get his say, but my question isn't really political. I don't care whether it saves the planet, and I don't really care if it saves me $.03 a month on my electric bill. I have some lights that burn out constantly using traditional incandescents. Can anyone with experience with CFLs tell me if they will really last longer?
 
#4
#4
It's for a closet, so I'm not really concerned unless it is a lot inferior. I'm just tired of having to change the bulb every two weeks.

The wiring in my house is kind of old, so I guess that contributes to the short life span.
 
#5
#5
I've got a couple throughout the house - no problems with the light. Some are fluorescent style and some are soft (more yellow) style.

I bought them since my house is old and I burn through regular bulbs at a frustrating rate.
 
#7
#7
cotton said:
I started to post this in the politics forum so Al Gore could get his say, but my question isn't really political. I don't care whether it saves the planet, and I don't really care if it saves me $.03 a month on my electric bill. I have some lights that burn out constantly using traditional incandescents. Can anyone with experience with CFLs tell me if they will really last longer?
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If you have bulbs burning out every two weeks you need to have an electrician check them out. There was a guy near my area who kept having a bulb burn out in his garage. Not two weeks after moving in there they had a fire that burned the house down. As for the light from the CF bulbs they are inferior but for a closet purpose you will tell little difference.
 
#10
#10
the first set I got was bright white (okay for over the stove).

the second set was soft white and I really can't tell any difference from incandescent. I even have one in a fixture with traditional bulbs and it doesn't look much different to me.

I replaced some floods (outdoors) too.

Like I said, I don't pay a lot of attention to lighting so they do the job for me
 
#13
#13
We changed over to all CF lights in dec of 06. So far all of them are working. We haven't had any burn out yet. Now that I say that they will all probably explode. The light is also very different, especially if you use premium bulbs like those "reveal" bulbs( I think thats the name). The CF bulbs seem to take time to warm up, when you 1st turn them on they are kinda soft and dim. After a few min they seem to get brighter, but that may just be my eyes getting used to the light, I dunno. The one thing I will say is forget about ever getting a CF flood light. They suck monkey balls. It just seems to glow, it doesn't throw any light on the area around it. They have seemed to save us money. I don't know how much because our power company raised rates about the same time we switched, but we do seem to be averaging $5-10 less than the power bill from the previous year.
 
#15
#15
Chemvol said:
The technical downside to using CFLs is the mercury they have in them.

If you're going to use them, make sure they are not exposed in any way.
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Seems about as dangerous as...oh....say...a thermometer.


KB5252 said:
If you have bulbs burning out every two weeks you need to have an electrician check them out. There was a guy near my area who kept having a bulb burn out in his garage. Not two weeks after moving in there they had a fire that burned the house down.
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No worries. I'm insured.
 
#16
#16
cotton said:
Can anyone with experience with CFLs tell me if they will really last longer?
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They do last longer, and i noticed a decent swing in my light bill after switching to them almost exclusively

droski said:
they last longer, but IMO the lighting itself is inferior.
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Agreed on an open bulb, the light gets oppressive, they aren't any different shaded though. My one problem is that they don't work with dimmer switches, which would fix the open bulb issue. They will always blow out after a short time on a dimmer switch that is more than 1/4 of the way down.
 
#19
#19
JTrainDavis said:
They do last longer, and i noticed a decent swing in my light bill after switching to them almost exclusively



Agreed on an open bulb, the light gets oppressive, they aren't any different shaded though. My one problem is that they don't work with dimmer switches, which would fix the open bulb issue. They will always blow out after a short time on a dimmer switch that is more than 1/4 of the way down.
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You should never put a fluorescent light on a dimmer switch since a dimmer simply reduces the voltage and fluorescent has to have full voltage to operate. There are several types of incandescent based fluorescent bulbs. The older ones do have a warm up period before coming to full brilliance, while the new ones don't. Some have a white light while others have the softer light we're all used to. But in all cases they use less energy than incandescent and last about 10 times longer.
 
#20
#20
I sell these to people on a daily basis at the hardware store I work at. They are in no way dangerous because of the amounts of Mercury in them.

The lighting is the same, if not better than an incandescent. I've got them lined up next to each other behind some tinted Lexan and you can really tell the difference.

They will only last the labeled amount of time if they are inside and pointing up. If they are outside, subject to cold/wet weather then the lifespan decreases significantly. If they are hanging upside down, same goes for that. However, the amount you save over a longer period of time outweighs any negatives.

I recommend everyone replace their current bulbs with these, when they go out.

*Be on the lookout in the next 3-4 years for LED light bulbs. I've got a test model that has, i think, approx. 100 LED's in it. It's big and bulky, and retails for $65/each. LOL. They're cool, though, and will last a minimum of 10 years.
 
#21
#21
VOLatile said:
I sell these to people on a daily basis at the hardware store I work at. They are in no way dangerous because of the amounts of Mercury in them.

The lighting is the same, if not better than an incandescent. I've got them lined up next to each other behind some tinted Lexan and you can really tell the difference.

They will only last the labeled amount of time if they are inside and pointing up. If they are outside, subject to cold/wet weather then the lifespan decreases significantly. If they are hanging upside down, same goes for that. However, the amount you save over a longer period of time outweighs any negatives.

I recommend everyone replace their current bulbs with these, when they go out.

*Be on the lookout in the next 3-4 years for LED light bulbs. I've got a test model that has, i think, approx. 100 LED's in it. It's big and bulky, and retails for $65/each. LOL. They're cool, though, and will last a minimum of 10 years.
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I have to agree with everything posted here. As someone who works in the lighting industry I can attest to everything he said.

I would like to add is that the light is not "inferior" but its just different. The old bulbs have a different color tone than the new flourescent bulbs do which takes a little getting use to.
 
#22
#22
I agree. The quality of the light from CFLs is not worse just different. I use them in my lamps (most of my indoor lighting) and I find them more than adequate.

I would treat one with at least the same care I would treat an ordinary light bulb. The mercury may be present only on the milligram level, but a zero exposure level is the best.
 
#23
#23
On a side note, I saw mercury for the first time yesterday when someone brought in an old thermostat with mercury in it. That stuff has some interesting properties.
 
#24
#24
VOLatile said:
On a side note, I saw mercury for the first time yesterday when someone brought in an old thermostat with mercury in it. That stuff has some interesting properties.
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It is absolutely supercool. And while I understand that the stuff is toxic if ingested or inhaled in large quantities, there has been a lot of mercury around for a long time without many ill-effects. I'm still not going to worry about it very much in my lightbulbs (actually, future bulbs, as I have't made it to the store just yet.)
 
#25
#25
Flourescent bulbs are much more efficient and last tons longer.

The thing about the brightness is that when you screw in a regular FLO bulb they aren't running off a ballast like they do in a FLO fixture. So they won't be as bright. If you get a Electronic ballast FLO fixture it will blow you away with light.

By the year 2012 all incandescent bulbs(which are the regular bulbs we use) will be outlawed and everything will be Flourescent. Hopefully the demand will lower the price some.
 
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