Forget About Gas Prices. How 'Bout - Lightbulbs?

What? Y'all aint poopin in holes and eating dogfood? Am I the only one?

I also hate the color temp of most CFL's...

but in one of the houses we rented due to the lay out we left the light in the stove hood on pretty much 24/7... same with the porch light... they would go out every few weeks... so we installed some CFL's (prob the first ones we'd ever bought) and they lasted the next 1 1/2 years before we moved out... the bulbs came with us to the next place...

Toyman01 wrote: I have one fixture that eats CFL like they are going out of style. The first one lasted 2 months. The second 6. It has an incandescent in it now that has been in there over a year. It's a fully enclosed fixture and I think the ballasts overheat.

Interesting you brought this up. we have a ceiling fan lamp that does the same thing. the cfl would stay on for about 10 minutes then it must have overheated and shut off, only to come back on a few minutes later after it cooled. It never actually killed the cfl, but it was annoying when I was working in that room or tending to the pets and the lights go out for minutes at a time. Put in an incandescent and it doesnt happen any more.

Zomby woof wrote: I don't want to do it, but I do want to watch it.

I would volunteer to be the next stone thrown...

Oh yeah, and I have a mixture of incand's and CFL's. Basement, attic, closets are great places for CFL's. Dark stairwells, ceiling fans, and most rooms need regular. And I have dimmers on most of the lights in the home.

I do plan on stocking up on incand's.

I have almost all CFLs in the house because Mini-Mofo-2.0 has learned how to turn lights on and Mini-Mofo-1.0 does not know how to turn them off. We have a "daylight" above the stove and in the outside fixtures and "soft white" around the house. I bought a bunch of the cheap Chinese units in a bulk pack (I think 18 bulbs) from Menards for $12.00 when we moved into Kid Rock Acres almost 5 years ago. I have replaced the three exterior lights, and 4 or 5 interior lights.

Hocrest wrote:

Zomby woof wrote: I don't want to do it, but I do want to watch it.

I would volunteer to be the next stone thrown...

Not if you knew how the game worked... or maybe that's your thing, I don't know

About the CFL's, I don't think I've had any incandescent bulbs in my house for 10 years. If it's a soft white, and has a shade on it, I can't tell difference. I really do like the bright white bulbs.

I haven't burned my arm since I put one in the trouble light, and they don't burn out when you continuously drop i.

Zomby woof wrote: About the CFL's, I don't think I've had any incandescent bulbs in my house for 10 years. If it's a soft white, and has a shade on it, I can't tell difference. I really do like the bright white bulbs. I haven't burned my arm since I put one in the trouble light, and they don't burn out when you continuously drop i.

Seriously agree on the convenience when used in trouble or lead lights in the garage.

I have had about two CFLs go bad in my house out of the 12 or so I have in roughly two years, about what the incandescents can manage.

They could be $0.02 per and last a hundred years regardless of use, but I still don't want the government in my light bulb.

tuna55 wrote: They could be $0.02 per and last a hundred years regardless of use, but I still don't want the government in my light bulb.

This is why I made my italicized comment earlier.

That even if it's a better solution, since the gov't told me I had to, berkeley them right in the ear.

I don't understand this mentality (or the mentality that just blindly says gov't is good for that matter).

z31maniac wrote: I don't understand this mentality (or the mentality that just blindly says gov't is good for that matter).

Part of "that" mentality come from government always demanding forgiveness (or acceptance) instead of asking for permission.

You know? Kinda like it was intended?

Just an observation...........

Been using CFL's for about 5 years. Biggest problem I have is choosing what color temp to use in which light.

In the basement (storage and shop) I like the 6000K because of the bright white light. They also work well in the lamps with Tiffany style shades.

The other lamps get 3500 - 4200K lamps. I see now that they have 3-way type CFL's so I will have to try one to see how it works. Now that they have dimable ones I need to try one in the dining room light which is the only dimmer we have in the house.

I can't wait for LED bulbs to come down in price, I don't know why but I love that cold whiteish-blue light they give off.

TRoglodyte wrote: What? Y'all aint poopin in holes and eating dogfood? Am I the only one?

Finally, an excuse to post this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5JXBOxJ-10

1988RedT2 wrote: a small handful thread that actually got BETTER on page two.

Small handfuls? How can you tell with the black bars in the way?

I heard the reason they are banned is to force domestic producers to keep up with the rest of the world.

If we were allowed to buy incandescents we'd all do so, and our nation would continue to be one of the highest energy consumers in the world.

Wanting to keep up, the government forces us to be more efficient, but at the same time forces manufacturers to update, so that we're not 10 years behind the competition.

Think of incandescents bulbs like General Motors pre-bailout...stuck building yesterday's technology.

In reply to Trapsp33d:

Maybe because coal is worse than modern nuclear?

I'd find some citations, but I'm kinda cramped up in my car with my laptop right now.

The important question is, "Which politician has a brother in law that manufactures CFLs?"

I poop in a hole, eat what I kill, and have a good supply of coal-oil lanterns. Plus I know how to make candles. So I don't much think I'll buy any CFLs, I don't like the light they produce. And I'll probably save money in the long run.

I don't know where you guys buy your CFLs but I've used them for years and love them.

I lived off of a generator for a year and that's where I really learned to appreciate them and go out of my way to seek them out. I could turn on a E36 M3 pot of CFLs and the generator wouldn't even change tone, but turn on one incandescent and the generator would have to kick it up a notch.

2 things I have learned.

1) CFLs in enclosed glass to make them look like bulbs never seem to come on bright like the exposed curly Qs do

2) you need to size up one more size than they tell you to and never get a soft white CFL go for the bright white.

If you are replacing a 60 watt incandescent go for a 75 watt equivalent cfl.

I tested a number of CFL's when they first became popular. All of them used approximately double what they were rated as. A 13 W used about 25, which was still a lot better than it's incandescent equivalent.

I'm living off a generator in my shop since the storm we had a few weeks ago. It's funny how accustomed you get to not having all the power you want at your fingertips.

carguy123 wrote: If you are replacing a 60 watt incandescent go for a 75 watt equivalent cfl.

Zomby woof wrote: I tested a number of CFL's when they first became popular. All of them used approximately double what they were rated as. A 13 W used about 25, which was still a lot better than it's incandescent equivalent.

So now we're going from a 60w incand to a 40w CFL at a higher cost and environmental issues when you get rid of it and health issues when you drop one.

I don't like the CFL's either. The "good" one you can dim or use in a 3 way lamp are expensive, the light level sucks, and you have the whole Mercury issue at disposal. Are these really and advancement?

Up next, these damn low-flow toilets they stuck us with a few years back.

Get the gov't out of my house!!!

You know, the 1.6 GPF toilets work really well now. When they came out, they didn't.

I'm writing this by the light of a 33W cfl replacement for a 100W incandescent. Not only do I save 67W here, but my air conditioner also doesn't have to get rid of 67W - saving a few watts more.

PG&E's study shows that they get about 2/3 of the rated lifespan - or 8-9 times the life of an incandescent. That's not far off the initial bulb cost ratio.

Trapsp33d wrote: environmental responsibility...

Like mountaintop removal?

Sounds like buying up all of the insert item of value here, "enhancing" them with some sod and fraternity brothers, and thinking its a good thing. You can't replace a mountain. Let's not get into how poorly miners are treated, especially if they work(ed) for a big company.

I have many relatives in rural Virginia. Some were miners until the mine was no longer economically viable. Now days, it's mostly manufacturing in that area, and people are better off, in both health and wealth.

Until we start utilizing means to produce more power with less, the best we can do is use less. Since most people here are willing to pay the artificially low price for energy so they can hot-wire light their houses, someone thought it would be a great idea to restrict our access to incans. I feel that this was less of a governmental failure, and more general American apathy and unwillingness to change. CFLs have been available for years with high prices and a low adoption rate. Now that they are mandated in many countries, their price has fallen. I feel that they are a stop-gap measure until LED fixtures become the norm.

^Yes, general apathy, the "why should i care."

Sucky.

chaparral wrote: You know, the 1.6 GPF toilets work really well now. When they came out, they didn't. I'm writing this by the light of a 33W cfl replacement for a 100W incandescent. Not only do I save 67W here, but my air conditioner also doesn't have to get rid of 67W - saving a few watts more. PG&E's study shows that they get about 2/3 of the rated lifespan - or 8-9 times the life of an incandescent. That's not far off the initial bulb cost ratio.

Oh yeah?

Look up the San Fransico sewer system and see how the low-flow toilets are working.

Unintended consequences.

And we've already been using florescents in business's forever. So I can't imagine any problems like that.