Compact Fluorescent light bulbs?

Howdy, anyone here have any experience with Compact Fluorescent light bulbs? My wife just had an Oprah moment and is singing their praises.

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I'm sure that there is an energy saving, not sure about the type of light - if its annoying to anyone etc.

Thanks...

Reply to
BE
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Sort of a cold light, but lamp shades tend to warm it a bit. And, if you have any digital timers for outdoor lights, check the instructions carefully. Some timers will self-destruct with compact fluorescents.

Reply to
Doug Kanter

I recently replaced a few of my incandescents with the compact fluorescent type and they put out the same amount of light. At first glance, the light appears to be more "yellow" than white, but I've gotten used to it after a day or two. The good thing is that it isn't the harsh "hard-white" light that's typically associated with fluorescents. No noticeable flicker that some fluorescents can do too. If the ratings on the bulb and EPA website are to be believed, it has the same light output as a 60W bulb, but only requires 14W to do so. So, it's a roughly a 60% savings per bulb.

Reply to
louie

Mine have a cold color. What brand are you using?

Reply to
Doug Kanter

BE,

I have used them for several years, indoors and outdoors. When installed indoors they take less than a second to come on. They start at about 80% brightness but reach full brightness in a minute or two. Outside it takes longer to reach full brightness when cold. I love them. They use a lot less electricity and last years.

Stretch

Reply to
Stretch

Do not install them in a wet environment ( bathroom) or installed upside down, or inside a globe. The electronic get too hot and will brun themselves out. I have them in my outdoor lights and they work great. Also through out the house.

Tom

Reply to
Trekking Tom

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Three years ago we changed about 40 bulbs throughout the house with compact fluorescents, and only one has burnt out. The lights are instant-on, do not flicker, are a pleasing yellow-white light, and take less than 1/4 the juice to run, vs incandescents, so payout at two dollars a whack (common on-sale price) is impressively short.. You get the drift . . . .we've become total fans. Please be aware on the website you post, the prices shown at service lighting are outrageous. We pay about 2 bucks a bulb or less, when you get six packs, say, at Home Depot. Our local ACE hardware sells the same models for 6-8 bucks per bulb. Don't get it. Also, be aware that the "covered" bulbs have less light output, and heat up more. We always get the exposed spiral shaped compacts - the covered ones only for exterior exposed areas.

Reply to
Roger Taylor

Yes, that's a good question. Do brands matter? Westinghouse, Panasonic, Sylvania, TCP etc.?

Reply to
BE

?

I've had them in my bathrooms and upside down for three years with no problems, and the CFL FAQ at

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only this:

"Are there any locations where CFL bulbs are NOT recommended?

CFL bulbs are not the best choice for:

  • fixtures controlled by standard dimming controls; * fixtures controlled by certain types of electronic timers or photo-sensors; * tightly enclosed light fixtures, where heat from the lamp can be trapped (leading to early bulb failure); and * fixtures needing tight beam control (e.g. to highlight artwork)."

And GE's site here:

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only:

"Can I use a compact fluorescent light bulb in an enclosed light fixture?

Compact fluorescent light bulbs may generally be used in enclosed fixtures as long as the enclosed fixture is not recessed. Totally enclosed recessed fixtures (for example, a ceiling can light with a cover over the bulb) create temperatures that are too high to allow the use of a compact fluorescent bulb."

So... I'm not sure where you're getting the no-bathrooms and no-upside-down parts.

-- Jennifer

Reply to
Jennifer

I have not had luck... I keep wanting them to work so I keep trying them.. but none seem to last more than 6 months in my applications all over the house. Regular bulbs at my house also tend to have a very short life... may be flaky power supply (although I can think of no reason for that.. I live in a suburb, and have never known of any problems with our power supply) or my personal theory, my rough and tumble kids tend to literally shake the house when they roughhouse... so I am wondering if that leads to shortened lamp life (that may explain fillament, but would excessive vibration effect the CF bulbs?)

Reply to
Jack

I would expect brand and price (in the same store of the same brand) to matter in respect to color and reliability. The major brands you listed are probably similar in reliability (color?) but there are also plenty of off brands especially at the lower price end. I get them for about $1 per bulb because the power company discounts them (according to sticker on the package) but these are not always in stock.

Reply to
PipeDown

the compact flourescents are measured in kelvin, where for example

2700K gives you the soft warm incandescent-like color. higher numbers give you the cool white. we now avoid the dollar store bulbs with premature burnout. the next step in our future will be LED's. right now the replacement bulbs are pricey and not really ready for the home market. i predict a big future for the 3 watt and 5 watt luxeon bulbs now in flashlights. oudoor seasonal lighting and hallways indoors: since last year we have been using 100 bulbs to the string use only one watt total LED christmas lights from a wholesale club at $9.99 a string of 100 in either christmas colors or white. yes that's only 1 watt of ac for 100 led bulbs, but they appear faint or out in daylight when used outdoors. the newer brighter style of a brighter LED in limited supply at walmart gives a more satisfying illumination for a few watts of ac per 100 bulbs. we are using the new white string at a shadowy outdoor entranceway for additional illumination to find the door key. search also for reading at
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are looking forward to using this free software to convert and compare our electricity KWH to natural gas therms.
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Reply to
buffalobill

My first batch of CFLs lasted 10 years. Some bulbs are still going strong.

They used to be ridiculously expensive. Recently stocked up at Albertsons a

3 bulbs for $ 1.00 (26/100 Watts). Threw out all incandescents except a few to use with dimmers.

At the prices shown at servicelighting.com it would seemingly take a hundred years to see a measurable monetary benefit.

Reply to
Walter R.

And most CFs will self destruct if used with a photo control.

Reply to
Rich Greenberg

Ask your local power company to check your voltage to see if it is higher than normal.

When I first moved into my present house, bulbs were burning out quite rapidly. The power company sent someone to check, and told me "no problem found". But strangely enough, from then on bulbs lasted a lot longer.

Reply to
Rich Greenberg

Yes, quite a bit. I bought single bulbs for a while until I found some that I liked, and then I bought a bunch of them in 6-packs. The bulbs really vary in terms of startup time, flicker, and color.

Reply to
Christian Fox

My TI solar calculator won't work with these bulbs. Wrong wavelength. So I use double fixtures, one incandescent, one CFL and the calculator works ok.

Bob

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Reply to
Robertm

I'm using one with an electric timer, not an electronic one.

But I thought both were either totally off or totally on. I don't see how they could damage the bulb. The electric one at least just has a mechanical switch controlled by a moving wheel.

(Of course it's only been 2 weeks, one cycle per day.)

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.

Reply to
mm

I got a couple at a surplus store for 2 dollars a piece. I think they were the previous generation.

Then two for a dollar each at a dollar store. Again, I think a previous generation.

They have a blue white light. I wouldn't use them by themselves, because I think the frequency range is too narrow. Of course I'm thinking of other fluorescent lights that, for example, make someone look ugly when that is the only light. Incandescent lights have a wide range of frequencies.

So I use one in a big room with an incandescnent light in the other fixture.

I found one that looks like a floodlight in the trash. The glass was broken, but I could just unscrew the whole cover and there was a regular coiled CF bulb underneath.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.

Reply to
mm

That's fine. What you want to avoid is anything where the power switching is done electronically like with a triac. Even that would probably be ok if you could be sure that it passed the full waveform when on but unless you put a scope on it you may not know. Light dimmers fall into this category...their dimming action is due to not passing the full waveform.

Some but not all photoelectric switches work this way. I have one like that and it was notable for turning a lamp (regular incandescant) on and off gradually--as daylight changed--it dimmed the bulb up or down. I recently replaced it with one that was full on / full off with an internal relay. I suppose there may be some electronic timers designed specifically for incandescents lights that work the same way. But if the electronics drives a relay to do the actual switching, or certainly an electromechanical timer, will be just fine.

Reply to
Steve Kraus

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