Go get your light bulbs now

[ricohman]

Re: Go get your light bulbs now

I can hear my chickens now asking each other "how come if it is still light it is so darn cold in here?"

Darn right. When the shop is cold those bulbs flicker for 10 minutes. And using them in a dog house is useless for heat.
The poor chickens.....

 

[JASinIL2006]

Re: Go get your light bulbs now

I was finally able to find CFLs in a color that I like (warmer than the early blue-tinted light), but we have a terrible problem with the CFLs not lasting very long. Given the cost difference between CFLs and incandescents, I know we're losing money, even with the small amount of energy savings. I don't know if it's our power source or what, but we don't really have trouble with any other electrical/electronic devices. I'm hoping the LEDs are a bit hardier and longer-lasting. Has anyone had enough experience with LEDs to know how they hold up (and if they even get close to the projected number of hours)?

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Go get your light bulbs now

CFLs have less mercury in them than what you would consume eating a tuna sandwich.

 

[Fishing Dude too]

Re: Go get your light bulbs now

Have stocked about 12 dozen bulbs away now 60-75-100 watt bulbs bought contractor packs for about 8 bucks for 2 dozen

 

[dingbat]

Re: Go get your light bulbs now

Just a thought which hasn't been mentioned here. CFL's are a fluorescent lamp. ALL fluorescents us mecury to light. not to mention the miniature ballast at the base. All of this amounts to electronic waste going to our land fills.

What are the Connections between Mercury and CFLs? | Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) | US EPA

Small amounts of mercury can be released into the environment when CFLs break, or if they are improperly disposed of at the end of their useful lives. Despite these emissions, the use of CFLs actually helps reduce total mercury emissions in the U.S. because of their significant energy savings. Using energy-saving CFLs reduces demand for electricity, which in turn reduces the amount of coal burned by power plants, which reduces emissions of mercury when the coal is burned.

 

[phillyg]

Re: Go get your light bulbs now

Stupid Govt. regulators. Lets get rid of our cheap bulbs packaged in thin cardboard and buy ten times as expensive bulbs packaged in more cardboard and plastic and put more hazardous stuff in the landfills.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Go get your light bulbs now

Stupid Govt. regulators. Lets get rid of our cheap bulbs packaged in thin cardboard and buy ten times as expensive bulbs packaged in more cardboard and plastic and put more hazardous stuff in the landfills.

You've got it backwards. One expensive bulb replaces around 40 cheap bulbs and puts way less in landfills.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Go get your light bulbs now

The sad part, it takes a government mandate to get people to make the change. I'm all LED at this point and have had zero problems adapting to them. What's not to like, they last nearly forever, and save electrical costs. As others suggest, they will come down in price with the economy of scale incandescent bulbs enjoy.

I'm not sure what prompted YOU to make the change...and I don't really think there are any BAD reasons, but without a ban on manufacturing them, I bet there would still be a market for them from the "flat-earthers".

We have been buying the CFLs for about 2 years and just swapping in when an old steam-powered tungsten unit bites the dust.
We have a bet on which will be the last man standing. I think it is the tri-light we have in a reading lamp; i must check and see if that fixture is toast when the bulb goes or whether I can get a CFL tri-light.

Haven't checked the LED stuff yet.... soon!

 

[bassman284]

Re: Go get your light bulbs now

I have one five bulb chandelier in my living/dining room and it would just eat light bulbs. It takes 60s and they point down with a little glass shade over them that seems to trap heat or something. I was usually lucky to get 4 months out of a bulb, often less. Switched to the corkscrew CFLs about 5 years ago and have only replaced one. It only lasted a year so probably defective from the git go.

Most of the rest of my incandescent bulbs are still doing fine after 15 years.

 

[sangerwaker]

Re: Go get your light bulbs now

the problem with CFL's is you cannot dim most of them. There are some, but not many dimmable ones. Do not dim ones that are not listed as "dimmable".

Most of the LED's dim on a standard incandescant dimmer. The issue with dimming LED's is minimum load requirements of the dimmer. If you only have 1 or 2 lamps on a dimmer, replacing the lamps with LED's may cause the dimmer to not operate.

BTW, Tim Frank, there are 3 way CFl's available. Not easily found, but they are out there.

The other lamp that will be going away soon is the low color rendering 32 watt T8 lamps. 700 series from Sylvania and Philips, and the SP series from GE. You will need to use a higher CRI lamp, like an 800 series or SPX series from GE. These were supposed to go away last year, but will be going away this July.

http://www.ies.org/pdf/publicpolicy...ls-Approves-T8-Fluorescent-Lamp-Exception.pdf

 

[lakelover]

Re: Go get your light bulbs now

I haven't paid for a light bulb in YEARS.

We switched over to CFL's several years ago and saw a significant drop in our electricity bill. Here's the crazy part...I get GE bulbs that are warranted for 6 years. I've found that the average life for mine is 1-5 years, and one is always burning out here or there.

When I get a package, I save the UPC code from the box and the sales slip in a box in my workshop. When a bulb burns out, I just mail it back to GE with a sales slip and UPC code, along with my name and address (costs a couple bucks for postage). Each time, they have sent me a coupon worth $8, $15, or $20 toward more GE bulbs. So for every one that burns out, I get either 3 or 6 bulbs. And now we have a drawer full of spares. So initially, I'd say I only bought a six-pack.

The only way I can see that they can do that is that hardly anyone bothers to send back the burned out ones. My wife laughs like hell whenever she sees me mailing back a light bulb.

I agree that in the cold, it takes them forever to warm up enough to get to brightness, but I've sort of gotten used to that.

 

[12vMan]

Re: Go get your light bulbs now

I converted to LED's once they came down in price enough to make sense. I like the cooler look of the 2700k - 3000k. LED's go a long way when remodeling as well. We used to have to run a new circuit to carry the extra power requirements of adding more incandescent recessed can lights when we were increasing kitchen sizes, where now the existing circuit is normally more than sufficient for adding more LED's.