I'm looking for something to put in the many recessed "cans"(?) that are in my kitchen and living room. I need something that is instant on and quick to get bright because my wife is not a big fan of these things. But, with 18 of these things drawing 60 watts apiece, it would be nice to reduce my power consumption if I could.
Try LED lights.
They are expensive but they use almost no electricity and you can get from 50,000 to 100,000 hours of use out of them.
And they are instant on.
Those are crazy expensive, wait til they come down
Try this, put a 60 watt regular in one or two cans, especially near the switch or near the task area. The rest use any old cf bulb. Odds are she will be happy
You can find information (user reviews) on some bulbs here:
I use 2 kinds in my basement, the 2 that Costco has sold, Westinghouse and FEIT, and they both seem to me to come on fine. I will be putting them in my kitchen as the incandescents there (left over from previous owner) burn out.
I really don't notice any of my CFLs taking long to come on, except one torchiere light. They really are way better than they used to be.
Anne
I try to replace incandescents on a per lumen basis but have similar problems with my wife. You might try replacing on a higher lumen basis which will consume a little more electricity but improved brightness may satisfy her. Off hand, I think the 60 watt light equivalent uses 15 watts and the 75 uses 20, so try the 75 equivalents.
One problem with any light replacement is that spectrum is bound to be different. I got one set of CFL's whose light was so white, I had to remove from the kitchen and put on the porch. I've seen blue, red and greed LED's but nothing like the incandescents we are used to.
Frank
I had "older" R30's in my kitchen canned lights, I got tired of flipping the switch and having to wait for them to warm up, so I changed them. I changed them to regular cfl's that I picked up at lowes. It seems like regular one's work well, and they are instant on.
later,
tom @
Think filter.
I'm not a fan either, but I need the money. If Edison had invented these first, we'd all be satisfied with them. We'd condider them much better than gas and kerosene light.
"Oh my gosh it takes so long!" we would not say.
But the 4 for 10 dollars of the non-curley-cue that Walmart have gone up in price and are no 3 for 10 dollars. I'll stick with the curly-cue** and wait for the others to come back down. If I wait a year they may be 4 for 5 dollars.
**6 for ten dollars at HD, and they are fine in most places.
Around here (suburban Chicago), Ace Hardware sells these every couple of months for $.99 each after an "Instant Rebate", usually with a limit of six per visit. That's a good enough stock up price for me. Most of the fixtures in my house that tend to stay on for extended periods are now equipped with these, including those that are left on due to pure laziness (it doesn't bother me nearly as much with CFL). As for the slow start, the higher light output of the 17 watt lamps ("75 watt equivalent") compared to the 60 watt lamps I replaced, apparently is an equitable tradeoff - nobody complains. Evidently, they feel it's worth the wait.
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