Posted on 03/28/2009 3:34:42 AM PDT by reaganaut1
[A] lot of people these days are finding the new compact fluorescent bulbs anything but simple. Consumers who are trying them say they sometimes fail to work, or wear out early. At best, people discover that using the bulbs requires learning a long list of dos and don’ts.
Take the case of Karen Zuercher and her husband, in San Francisco. Inspired by watching the movie “An Inconvenient Truth,” they decided to swap out nearly every incandescent bulb in their home for energy-saving compact fluorescents. Instead of having a satisfying green moment, however, they wound up coping with a mess.
“Here’s my sad collection of bulbs that didn’t work,” Ms. Zuercher said the other day as she pulled a cardboard box containing defunct bulbs from her laundry shelf.
One of the 16 Feit Electric bulbs the Zuerchers bought at Costco did not work at all, they said, and three others died within hours. The bulbs were supposed to burn for 10,000 hours, meaning they should have lasted for years in normal use. “It’s irritating,” Ms. Zuercher said.
Irritation seems to be rising as more consumers try compact fluorescent bulbs, which now occupy 11 percent of the nation’s eligible sockets, with 330 million bulbs sold every year. Consumers are posting vociferous complaints on the Internet after trying the bulbs and finding them lacking.
...
In California, where bulbs have been heavily encouraged, utilities have concluded that they will not be able to persuade a majority of consumers to switch until compact fluorescents get better. That is prompting them to develop specifications for a better bulb.
The effort aims to address the most consumer complaints: poor dimming, slow warm-up times, shortened bulb life because of high temperatures inside enclosed fixtures, and dissatisfaction with the color of the light.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Had the same experience 10-15 years ago. The power company (in Mass.) subsidized them back then. Now I get a few that work forever, in particular yellow ones for outdoor use. Most of the rest last until you turn them off and on a few times. I left them on 24x7 with no problems, then had some people come over to do work (non electrical) and came home and they were all dead.
We have dozens of the “money savers” in our outdoor fixtures. Within the first 2 years, I’d estimate a 20% failure rate.
They really stink.
I should add that the fluorescent fixtures themselves are unreliable, without about a 50% (yes, 50%!) ballast failure rate for conventional 4-foot tube ceiling fixtures, and a 10-20% failure for outdoor recessed cans.
I’ve had two of these things catch on fire and fill the house with noxious fumes. I hate them.
Tell them to put them where the Bulbs dont Shine
As ususal, the NYT does not tell the truth. These bulbs contain mercury. They need special disposal - ie a dump fee at a recycle center.
Oh, and as I’ve read up on LED - it’s the same stuff packaged a little differently.
Well, anyway, I have a house full of the compact fluorescent bulbs and they all work fine. I have replaced 2 of them in the past 3 or 4 years. The one in the back corner lamp in the living room has been on 24/7/365 for over 2 years now (15 watt “night light”).
They come on instantly, although a few types seem to brighten a bit over the first few minutes after you turn them on.
The 2 I have had to replace both started flickering a bit, so rather than wait for them to explode into deadly mercury poison gas and cause the evacuation of a 10 square mile area, I unscrewed them and yes, I threw them in the trash.
Now that looks like the kind of bulb our libertarian friends can get behind!!
Maybe that's part of The Plan, since AM is where most talk radio exists. And isn't it interesting that if you operate a transmitter that interferes with radio broadcasting, you are subject to heavy fines. But the government is on the verge of requiring you to use bulbs that interfere with radio broadcasting.
The failure rate on my CFLs over the last ten years has been more than enough to offset the savings in energy consumption.
The light they give off is “cold” — I friggin’ hate them! I’ll pay a higher electric bill for that warm incandescent glow for now.
The typical white LED is also phosphor-based, so it has a time-smoothing effect similar to that of a fluorescent.
You can also get tri-color LEDs, which have three chips that emit primary colors and whose intensity can be balanced for a wide gamut of colors. These are more expensive per unit of light output. Since these have no phosphors, there is no time-smoothing effect.
You’ll never get entirely rid of the light pulsations, because the efficiency of an LED depends strongly on pulsing high currents through it at low duty cycles. However, the circuitry can be designed, for a price, to make the pulses high in frequency, in which case the pulsing is likely to be noticed only in the stroboscopic effects seen with rotating machinery and the like.
Not even close. Totally different technology and completely different materials.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Information on Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) and Mercury
http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/promotions/change_light/downloads/Fact_Sheet_Mercury.pdf
Learn About LEDs
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=lighting.pr_what_are
Incandescent bulbs create light by passing electricity through a metal filament until it becomes so hot that it glows. Incandescent bulbs release 90% of their energy as heat.
In a CFL, an electric current is driven through a tube containing gases. This reaction produces ultraviolet light that gets transformed into visible light by the fluorescent coating (called phosphor) on the inside of the tube. A CFL releases about 80% of its energy as heat.
LED lighting products use light emitting diodes to produce light very efficiently. The movement of electrons through a semiconductor material illuminates the tiny light sources we call LEDs. A small amount of heat is released backwards, into a heat sink, in a well-designed product; LEDs are basically cool to the touch.
I like the new bulbs, but wouldn’t want to see them mandated. I have one or two that I leave burning all of the time, and they last a lot longer than the incandescent ones. Additionally, I have a violet that has been sickly for years. Since I put it under the fluorescent, it has actually grown six or seven inches tall. It is reaching for that bulb like a hand, lol. And it blooms all of the time now.
Idiot.
Are CFL's part of your secret plan?
I complained on a thread awhile back that these CFL bulbs didn’t last as long as incandescent bulbs. Most of the responses said that I was nuts.
While I may still be nuts, I’m happy to find out I was correct about the bulbs.
≤]B^)
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