How many folks use the energy saving bulbs?

I use them almost everywhere except outdoors. Outdoor flood bulbs are worthless especially in cold weather months when they never seem to warm up to full brightness and emit almost no light at all for several minutes. During the summer they are okay, but it would be too much of a hassle to climb to the second story of my home and rotate the lighting source twice a year.

1) The quality of these bulbs seem to be inconsistient... but I do admit they seem to be better lately.
a) I have had several bulbs fail way before their time not even coming close to stated longevity on occassion. Even recently a brand new bulb failed just a few hours after initial start up. (doesnt happen as often as it used to) Some of my first bulbs were SunBeam manufactured, they were the worst.
b) I have had bulbs coming from the same multipack emit different types of light (ie some yellow/warm light and some blue/cool light right from the same pack. I have had to switch bulbs to try and even out light from multilight fixtures so it doesnt look goofy.
c) Many have noisy ballasts, even new ones I get today. The buzzing sound can be irritating. Some quiet down after warm up, some dont.
d) Most bulbs emit a cold harsh blue light. In some of my multi bulb fixtures I mix in normal incandecents to soften this effect.
e) Because I slowly rotated in my CFL's, I really didnt notice a savings in electricity. I usually dont use much electricity anyway and what I use is diverse so I really didnt notice a savings. In other words I have to "believe" the wattage and power savings claims.

Which leads me to my question. . . CFL's still generate a lot of heat, how on earth can a 23W CFL only use 23 Watts when it generates a significant amount of light, plus some heat? Many are too hot to handle when they are on...

Anyone? I use CFL's and would recommend them for potential energy savings, just pointing out they are not flawless. . .

Thanks!
Prospector

 

Glad to hear this worked out for you.

 

When we bought our home in 2005, I paid a pretty penny (about $250) and replaced every light bulb in our 1955 cape - 4 bedroom 1 bath with them. I now know that there are some new improved (2nd and 3rd generation) CFL's that provide "sun light" quality and also turn on immediately. I pay just as much in electricity in my house as I did in my 2 bedroom apt (had a halogen lamp, which was a big zapper in my bill).

Each year for Christmas, for the last 2 years, I've paid for my parent's and my grandparents whole house conversion over to CFL's. They both say that they got an immediate drop in their bill and they are so happy!

I recommend them to anyone!

 

Modern CFLs get bright pretty much immediately.

 

old dog -

I agree with the remark plus I don't think any chandelier should have exposed bulbs and especially the ugly ceiling fans that are far to common.

I had to hunt to find a fan with either up or down lighting using conventional circular florescents controlled by a remote. - Great fan and am trying to find another and slightly smaller.

To the original post - I try to use the CFLs wherever possible. but the older ones are a little slow in the lighting capacity in cold environments, but the newer ones are noticeably better than 5 years ago. I hope they improve the compatibility with timed switches, because I use them wherever possible. Avoid the cheap motion sensors to control because of the limited sensing and the lack of duration sensing. I love walking into a room that turns on the lights automatically and shuts them down when you leave.

 

People should be aware that CFL bulbs can be purchased in four different light spectrums, or light "colours"; Soft White, Bright White, Cool White and Daylight. As you go from Soft White to Daylight, the spectrum of the light produced by the bulb contains less and less red light and more and more blue light. It could be that you bought a package of CFL bulbs that someone else had returned, and since the bulbs don't indicate what kind of light they produce, you got an assortment of different kinds of CFL bulbs in the package. That's the only way you could get different results from bulbs from the same package, or why you're saying that most bulbs emit a "harsh blue light". You just need to pay attention to what KIND of CFL's you're buying.

"Soft White" CFL bulbs produce light that's most similar to an incandescent light bulb, and it's what most people prefer. If you look for the words "Soft White" or "Bright White" on a package of CFL's, I think you'll be happy with the purchase.

"Daylight" CFL bulbs are the ones that produce the "cold harsh blue light" that resembles the light from an arc welder. These bulbs produce light that has a uniform intensity of all the different frequencies of visible light, so it's the "whitest" light available from a CFL. If you take pictures indoors with a digital camera, these bulbs won't cause all your pictures to be brown the way incandescent bulbs will (if you don't use a flash).

The reason a 23 watt CFL can produce the same light output as a 100 watt incandescent bulb is because the incandescent bulb works by generating a lot of heat, all of which is wasted. MOST of the energy consumed by a 100 watt incandescent bulb is converted into heat, and the light it produces is a byproduct of that heat. With CFL's, MOST of the energy consumed is converted into light, and only a bit of the energy is converted into heat.

PS:
The way all fluorescent lights work is that an electric current flows through mercury vapour, and when an electron hits a mercury atom, it produces a ray of ultraviolet light. The phosphors on the inside of the fluorescent tube or CFL spiral then convert that ray of UV light into a ray of visible light. So, you can change the kind of light a CFL or fluorescent tube produces by playing with the kinds of phosphors you coat the inside of the tube with.

It's that mercury they put in CFL's that's causing concern over potential mercury pollution because with every CFL bulb someone tosses into their garbage can, there's more mercury in the soil at landfill sites. That mercury can eventually pollute the soil and ground water in the area. Here in Canada the chain of Rona hardware stores have special CFL disposal bins where you can dispose of CFL bulbs and know that the mercury in them will be recycled.

 

If you are after energy savings and want bulbs that last check out some of the L.E.D. stuff that is out now. C. Crane Company - LED Light Bulbs - Toll Free (800) 522-8863

 

Hey! When I cut and past that url they slipped their number in! @%!@$&*

 

NAPA autoparts sells a HUGE 100 watt CFL #SP10550MED for spots where you need a huge amount of light for a yard or big building (I'm not as much a fan of CFLs as I used to be but DANG this thing is bright!)

 

we use them at home in every room, we like to do our little bit for the environment

 

I am in the process of switching out all my incandescent bulbs to CFL's. I use them on my exterior house lights as well. I don't really notice a difference in the light they put out. I'm really glad I can now get 3 way and dimmable CFL blubs. Why am I doing this? More efficient use of energy and that affects my utility bills. My ultimate goal is to be able to replace 100% of my dependence on the electric company with renewable energy.

 

I also switched the oldschool bulbs to economy bulbs. I'm not quite satisfied with the blue light, I think the yellow one is the best choice. It creates a natural, cozy atmosphere.

 

when old one break, i tend to get the new cfl bulb, but regular ones have a better light in my opinion

 

I use energy saving bulbs in my home, and most of them are from the brand "Philips" they not only save the energy but are also long lasting bulbs and they don't heat up your room...

 

I think most of ours are the Nvision brand from Home Depot.

I love the 9 year warranty. I had one big 26w (100w equiv) bulb burn out prematurely since it was in a clothes closet being switched on/off all the time.

I went to the manufacturer website, put in the info from the receipt and bulb base. A few days later I got a brand new bulb in the mail. No need to send back the old one.

So keep your receipts and the paper inserts from the original bulb packages.

 

I use Philips 15 watts 'daylight' ones.

Generally, it's better than incandescent in most aspects, except it can't be used with dimmer.

 

My father had some in his house until this happened and he switched back to regular bulbs.

He said instead of burning out, it literally BURNED out.