Ceiling fan light bulb "go green" options?

[josh.kaplan1]

Hi all, I have ceiling fans throughout my house and they all have dimmer knobs and sliding switches. I bought at Wal mart some compact flourescent bulbs. I put in one, and it looked great, with no heat output. I put in the other three and heard a buzzing noise. I quickly cut off the lights and took a look at one of the bulbs. In teeny tiny print on the neck of the bulbs it says "Not for use with dimmers." So I looked at the other bulbs at Wal mart that are compact floursecents and same deal, but nothing on the box about this.

Aren't the regular incandescent bulbs being phased out in 2009? If so, what are my options? I'm trying to do the go green thing.

Thanks, Josh

[David Nebenzahl]

On 5/21/2008 4:53 PM [e-mail] spake thus:

Get CFLs made for use with dimmers. (It'll say so on the package.)

No, this is overreaction to rumors (and *planned* legislation by a few bodies, the U.S. government and the state of California to *eventually* phase out incandenscents). Don't sweat it just yet.

[RBM]

They don't currently make a good selection of dimmable CFL. Given time and less government interference, the manufacturers will develope what people want

[josh.kaplan1]

I found these:

however, these all appear to be 75 watt and the warning on the fan light fixtures say not to 60 over 60 watts. Also not sure of the quality of these.

Josh

[David Nebenzahl]

On 5/22/2008 9:09 AM [e-mail] spake thus:

The wattage rating is for incandescent bulbs, because of the heat generated by them, not the actual power consumed. You can safely ignore this for CFLs (which generate some heat, but less than an equivalent incandescent).

[Don Klipstein]

The new Federal law will ban "regular" incandescents in two stages, one in 2012 and the other in 2014, depending on light output range. 60 watt and 40 watt ones are affected in 2014.

Meanwhile, I have seen dimmable CFLs at Target. Also, Home Depot has improved incandescents that are exempted from the ban for using 40 watts to produce nearly as much light as "standard" 60 watt incandescents. These, the "Halogena Energy Saver", are dimmable.

- Don Klipstein ( [e-mail])

[Mark]

You're thinking of Analog TVs! Broadcasters are all going digital in 2009 so your analog TV will go dim on you!

[Gary H]

[snip]

In case you didn't know, that doesn't apply to low power and translator stations.