Posted on 01/20/2011 6:53:34 AM PST by SeekAndFind
In seriousness, A CFL for 3 or 4 bucks represents a significant investment....if you don't have 3 or 4 bucks. Especially if you need to replace several of them.
A foolish expenditure, when you can buy incandescents four-for-a-buck at the dollar store.
And I am anal about balancing the fans using the sticky tape backed lead weight kits.
The back EMF damages them. Again, I’ve got several fans I’m worried about and they all have lights. We are using beefed up bulbs in all of them at the moment, but there are “promises” of LED lights that can stand up ~ but I haven’t seen any at a price I’m willing to pay.
I don't want the gummint shoving them down my throat, but I do use CFLs.
At our former house, they ran 5 to 7 years in kitchen and dining room fixtures. Regular bulbs only lasted about 3 months in those fixtures.
In our current house, every one of them I have is three years old. No failures.
To me, they only seem to take less than a minute to reach full bright. If you buy the 'warm' colored ones, people don't realize they are CFLs. I've had people tell me they don't like the light from CFLs and then are surprised when they find out that mine are CFLs.
Reminds me of the time I was eating some very tasty soup when I was in the Army. Guy told me it was mushroom. Before that I told people I didn't like mushrooms. Oops.
New EnergyStar rated light fixtures will not have screw bases making it impossible to use incandescents. For a new home to be EnergyStar rated, it will have to have those fixtures.
We have about 3 CFLs in places where we like to have a light on all the time - for example in the basement over the cat box. That's about it. Mrs NHD tried a regular CFL as a reading light but it was too dim compared to the "equivalent wattage" incandescent. She then got a daylight bulb. Talk about hideous. The thing is better at providing a headache than anything else. Bottom line, we have been stocking up on 60, 75 and 100 watt incandescents.
The round vanity lights you use around bathroom mirrors are now CFL’s in disguise. I put a set of these in my daughter’s bathroom, which made the room light up something eerie. Then she started coming down with headaches in the AM. Swapped the bulbs out, and the headaches disappeared.
Kinda wondering how long its going to take some bedwetter to pass a bill calling for a garbage inspector to make sure you aren’t tossing these things in the trash.
The ones under my house went in a matter of weeks after installing them. The one I put outside in the porch light has held up the best of all of them. I figured the quality of light doesn’t matter much out there.
The other issue I have with them is the size of the base. I can’t get them into a lot of fixtures that would have taken an Edison bulb.
Indoors, I find the 6500K lamps horrendously blue. In the dining room, they probably make the food look like unappetizing crap too.
I don’t know whether we’re just culturally accustomed to low color temperatures indoors and at night, or whether its evolution; but it has to be one of these.
Now, a high CRI (color resolution index) lamp will usually be almost 6500K. That’s fine if you’re in the business of judging color samples, or doing photography; but that’s about it.
1. A CFL has a bunch of electronic components inside it.
2. CFLs are all made in China, from Chinese components.
3. China OEMs and component makers are notorious for cheaping their products to the Nth degree. Their cheapness accounts for much of the component burnout in CFLs.
Importers have well-defined quality standards, but it's really hard to hold such distant suppliers to them. The traditional way for high-quality brands is to set up their own factories in which they can put all the stringent standards in place at the point of origin.
Maybe as Chinese industry matures, you will be able to get quality on a job-shop basis--as long as you know which shops to use.
I’ve been liking the ‘Reveal’ bulbs for reading. :)
Not true. There are manufacturers of CFL's all over the world, including the US. It is certainly possible to find CFL's not made in China. Go to your local Ace Hardware and read some package labels (which is what I did). Or get bulbs through your local electric utility, they typically provide a better quality CFL (got some "freebies" which are still in service after quite few years).
I bought an exhaust fan and didn't realize I was getting one with one of the rectangular type CFLs. It has a 4-prong plug on it. They said it was the handicapped version. I guess it is easier for them to plug a bulb in instead of screwing it in.
So, I'm wondering what these handicapped people are doing getting out a ladder, setting it up in their bathtub, climbing up, removing the light cover, changing a bulb, putting the cover back on, climbing down, taking down the ladder, and putting it away. The bulb itself seems like the easy part!
Wackos just love to dream up reasons to make us do what they want.
BTTT!
CFLs simply don’t work in my house. There’s only one room in the entire place that doesn’t have some sort of “problem”, such as an enclosed fixture (dome lights), recessed lights, and/or dimmer switches. All of which I am warned don’t play nice with CFLs.
Aside from that, I agree that the light quality is much poorer. Now we’re finding out that they don’t last nearly as long as were promised.
The whole thing is a badly-run scam.
Yes! Exactly! Thank you!
I actually really like my CFLs, but I’d never advocate everyone else be forced to use them. I’d like to see all the types kept available so folks can freely choose to buy what they feel like using.
I’ve always just sort of figured if you have the guns & ammo, you can get the rest of the stuff on your list. :-)
You left off chocolate. Of all people - you left off chocolate.
>>If one breaks, consumers are advised to air out rooms and avoid using vacuum cleaners to prevent exposure to the mercury in the bulbs
LOLOL! gotta love this.
Just imagine - lamps fall,one knock them over, a bulb drops. Yup, one is gonna air out the room when there’s a blizzard outside or the temp is 20 degrees with a howling wind. Oh, yea, call the State Enviro guys too.
“leave it up to the consumer.”
I use them here and there in a 12 room lodge. They serve a purpose and where used we love them but forcing people to use only one item on incomplete information is criminal. I want to see the checks paid to that lobbiest and who he hangs with. (R)’s or (D)’s you have become a target for removal in the next election.
I see a market for adaptors...
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