Question About Incandescent Bulbs

Does this "ban" include ALL incandescent bulbs?

Do I need to stock up on bulbs for my chandelier, and my bathroom light fixtures that aren't designed for fluorescent bulbs?

Reply to
Ron
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No. Only those that are less than 30% more efficient than bulbs have been for the last 50 years. They are already selling the more effiecient incandescent bults somewhere.

Good question. If my chandelier bulbs look like candles, I would certainly do that. Will they get around to making all the many specialty bulbs more efficiently. Will they be sold at stores as cfls beome more poplular. Already t he existance of the web has meant that loads of things that were stocked in stores can be stocked more chaaply in 3, 6 warehouses around the country. Isn't that true of CDs and DVDs now, that even though they are made, there are no stores that sell them.

Reply to
micky

Yes, I do....that's why I'm asking the question.

Reply to
Ron

It is possible to search newsgroups. Useful, too.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

The ban includes far from all incandescent bulbs.

By-and-large, chandelier types are exempt. Candelabra base ones up to and including 60 watts are exempt. Flame-shaped ones are exempt even with medium bases, up to 40 watts.

Globular vanity bulbs are exempted if at least 5 inches in diameter. Some smaller sizes are exempt up to 40 watts.

I have more info at:

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Reply to
Don Klipstein

Thanks everyone! Nice site Don.

Reply to
Ron

Ron wrote the following:

They have LED candelabra bulbs available now. Frosted and clear.

15 to 40 watt equivalent that uses only 1 watt. They are a little expensive right now (~ $12 US), but are supposed to last 50,000 hours.
Reply to
willshak

So 6 bulbs cost $72! No thanks

Reply to
LouB

There are also CFL's that fit some chandelier fixtures. We put some in some bedroom fixtures when we built and they are very slow coming up to full brilliance but OK within a couple of minutes. We have been using CFLs for several years and some of the life-span claims seem a little over-rated. For exterior use, I expect short life but we have blown a few inside too in 2-3 years. LEDs are ridiculously priced with some of the ceiling spots being in the $75 to $100 range. I would expect prices to come down over the years if demand starts to go up.

RonB

Reply to
RonB

Can you name these, and where to get them?

At Lowes and Home Depot, I see 2W candelabra-base "warm white" LED bulbs of major lightbulb brands rated to produce 55 or 60 lumens and to last

12,000-25,000 hours.

A "full blast" 15-watt 120V incandescent made in North America produces

108-120 lumens.

There are also 3-watt cold cathode CFLs with a flame-shaped outer bulb and a candelabra base. Those are available at Lowes and Home Depot. They are rated for dimmers and they do not suffer extra wear from frequent starting. Also, they are rated to last 25,000 hours - although I expect them to fade significantly by then. IIRC, they produce 75-80 lumens.

Sylvania now has a 5W 200 lumen model, rated to last 25,000 hours and to be dimmable. That sounds to me like a cold cathode CFL, which does not suffer significant wear from frequent starts. Those are even used in marquee lights in Las Vegas!

(Mentioned as equiv. to 15W incandescent, but most 120V 25W incandescents are rated to produce 180-260 lumens.)

One problem I see with these - these are still CFLs with outer bulbs. My experience is that such has greater need to warm up - may take 2 minutes to warm up if they are at room temperature.

Reply to
Don Klipstein

Having only skimmed through this thread, my real problem is that the CFL only last a fraction of the time they advertise.

And, only a fraction of the time that the "old school" bulbs last.

So, where is the savings.

I have bought Feit, GE, Slyvania, Westinghouse, etc. brands of the CFL, and all of them burn out quickly.

False economy, at least at my abode.

Reply to
tim birr

I have lots of experience with CFLs better than that. I have relatives and friends and I know how various lightbulbs fare in their homes. For that matter, I am a lighting technology nut and my "day job" is a delivery job, so I get to see how umptillions of lightbulbs are faring at homes and workplaces of my repeat customers.

My experiences, both direct and indirect, is that CFLs have a high rate of greatly outlasting incandescents.

My experience in my own home is CFLs lasting on-average 4,000-5,000 hours - and increasing slightly as the years have gone by.

Now, as for where (in my experience) CFLs are prone to fail to last, and you may be able to avoid such situations:

  • Recessed ceiling fixtures - these are hard on CFLs. There are CFLs made for these, but they don't all fare well. Lower wattage helps.

Thankfully the incandescents typically used here are among the many exceptions to the upcoming USA incandescent "ban".

  • Motion sensor lights - bad news for CFLs. Again, reflectorized floodlight incandescents and spotlights are exempted from the upcoming "incandescent ban".
  • Enclosed fixtures - try skimping on wattage.

For example, my flush-mount enclosed kitchen ceiling fixture designed for two 60W incandescents mildly overheats a pair of 13W CFLs, and 13W CFLs last only about 4,000 hours there. (4x "standard" 60W incandescent.)

CFLs don't take heat as well as incandescents. CFLs are also more efficient at producing non-radiant heat, as well as light.

(What incandescents are more efficient at producing is shorter wavelengths of infrared - which mostly materializes as heat, but after getting out of the fixture.)

  • Used on dimmer switches - many dimmers are not completely undimmed even when all-the-way-up. CFLs rated to work with these are increasingly available, and have been available at Target for over a year.
  • Don't use a CFL as an oven or refrigerator light. CFLs are temperature- sensitive, don't work efficiently at temperatures far from what they stabilize at in "typical use", and get cooked to death in ovens.

Thankfully, the incandescents used in home refrigerators and home ovens are exempted from the upcoming "ban".

=========

Can you tell me what fixture types and locations have CFL troubles? And brand/model/type and wattage of CFLs failing to hold up?

Reply to
Don Klipstein

Off the top of my head I can't think of any other technology, other than incadescents, I would expect to work in a home oven (temps easily expected to get over 600 deg).

The discharge tube part of a fluorescent would obviously work but I don't think the phosphors would last in their usual form. Phosphors would probably die at those temperatures even if the bulb was not being used.

Reply to
Tim Shoppa

The discharge tube part won't work well at such temperatures, maybe not at all. The mercury vapor concentration will be so much higher than during normal use, that it will absorb most of its shortwave UV radiation. The voltage requirement to achieve starting will be higher - the tube may not start from the voltage usually supplied to it.

Reply to
Don Klipstein

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