Halogen vs low energy bulbs - advise needed for new ceing lights

[Scott]

Hi All

I am looking at changing our kitchen light which is a single bulb afair, suplimented by a wndow with some direct direct light some of the day. Currently, I have a low engery bulb in there and to be honest, its not that great - room always seems dull. I think its one of those spiral energsy saving bulbs - equivilent to 60w of a normal bulb.

So, I am looking at getting one of the bat lights with 3 or 4 50 W halgogen bulbs on.

Now, I gather this will give me a shed load more light, my concern is the extra amount of electricity. I want to keep my engery consumption low but give us better light than we have now.

I dont wnat to spend a fortune, bt of course ther could well be a better option.

Any advice appreciated.

Scott

[Chewbacca]

4 off 50w spots is 200w, which is a lot if on all day. Why not have more low energy rather than changing to halogen??

We put 6 off 9w mini spots in our kitchen. OK for us.

[Rod]

We have a centre lamp - with a compact fluorescent. But a lot of the time we don't use it.

Most of the light comes from some Slim Linkable Fluorescent Fittings, plonked on top of wall cupboards. Must get around to making it look better, and maybe add a couple more, but the amount of light, its colour, the instant start, and the effect are all pretty good. We only use the centre light for maximum lighting effect - and when we just need the light for a moment.

[dennis]

The easy option is a five foot fluorescent fitting. They use about 60W vs. the 18W but you get a lot more light. A bit utilitarian though.

[mick]

Been there, done that.

Since then I've replaced the lighting with LV halogens on dimmers together with a 2D fitting in circular glass shade at each end. The halogens look great but her ladyship prefers to use the 2Ds most of the time! They are certainly more effective than the fluorescent fitting and look far better.

[Dave Liquorice]

The equvalence ratings for CFLs are generally a bit optomistic even when new and their light output falls as they age as well. The simple and quick solution is to whack in a new bigger CFL say an 18W (nominal 100W ish equiv) and see how that works out.

It may give you a shed more light but is it coming from the right place? In a kitchen you want the light on the work surfaces so you can see what you are doing. With a central ceiling point source light (ordinary or CFL bulb) and work surfaces around the walls no matter what you do you will always be working in your own shadow. If you have cupboards above the worksurface fit slim soft source lights under them.

[Chris J Dixon]

Feed it via a movement detector like

you don't waste energy when there is nobody present.

Chris

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You get the most light for your money from fluorescent lights - either strip or the compact sort.

[OG]

We've got a similar setup, and we've put a couple of low profile fluorescents under the wall cupboards so that we can direct better light onto worksurfaces where when we need it. These are individually switched so we only use the ones we need. Our cooker has a high level grill with its own light which supplements things. When you're working at the surfaces, you don't get the direct glare from the lights, but it makes a big difference as effective 'task' lighting without adding to the cost of ambient lighting (though you could try a 22W replacement CFL) NB - It's a small kitchen and not one of these 'heart of the home' places where 'show' is important, so we can get away with the ambient being a bit lower than it could be.

I've done the same for my MIL and she thinks its great.

[Richard Savage]

We had until recently only low-profile fluorescent units under the cupboards around the kitchen supplemented by 2 x 20w halogen spotlights in the hood over the hob. The fluorescents are very bright and quick to reach full brightness. Also they do not create reflections. I have resisted all attempts from SWMBO to fit ceiling lights for about 3 years by maintaining that the existing lighting is good, even possibly great. I hate halogen downlighters - bright spots of light creating darker shadows etc - and wanted to fit only big multi-reflector fluorescent units to the ceiling - like the ones I salvaged from my office re-fit ;-) on account of the even flood of light they give. In the end we compromised with a row of surface mount dome lights from John Lewis - fairly nasty but approximately contemporaneous with the rest of the house in design terms. They do give a fairly flat light and are shallow enough not to obstruct passersby - our ceiling are fairly low. However, she insisted on low energy bulbs :-( As a consequence I had to move each bulb socket towards the edge of the unit to bring the lit part of the bulb into the centre of the dome because of the sizeable base to the lamp.

The only downside of the low-profile fluorescents is their noticeably short life - perhaps 12 months - for both tube and unit. This may be because of my tendency to switch them on only briefly.

Richard

[tim.....]

So do I, I can just about understand why people put then in Kitchens and bathrooms, but no understanding at all as to why people put them in living areas

tim

[geoff]

In message , tim..... writes

There was an article on countryfile today which I caught the tail end of at Hawkstone Park - they can't use them because of the excessive ultra-violet they emit

[meow2222]

Several options: Replace the CFL with higher wattage. Add cfl lighting under the eye level cabinets If there's a gap between cabinet tops and ceiling, add hidden CFL lighing above the cabinets

Finally, if you want the look of halogens without the power guzzle and excess summertime heating, just use 5w halogen downlighters in addition to providing most of the light elsewhere. 5w, not 50w.

NT