Posted on 12/28/2011 7:37:38 PM PST by matt04
Compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs, have been counted on to light the way to a more energy-efficient future.
Compared to traditional incandescent bulbs, which will gradually be phased out starting in January, CFLs use about a fifth the power and have a life six to 10 times as great.
However, since the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission launched its online safety complaints database in March, there have been 34 reports made by people about CFLs that emitted smoke or a burning odor and four reports of the devices catching fire.
As perspective, though, 272 million CFLs were sold in 2009 in the United States.
Nevertheless, the complaints are a cause for concern, according to Jennifer Mieth, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Fire Services.
“In 2008, the state fire marshal’s office office first alerted the fire chiefs that CFLs could smoke” at the end of their life, she said.
“I’m not aware of any fires that fire departments in the state have responded to that were started by CFLs, but, as a consumer, it’s a good idea to be vigilant,” she said.
An incandescent bulb typically ends its life when the wire filament, which glows to produce light when electricity passes through it, burns out and breaks. Fires from this are almost nonexistent.
A CFL uses electricity to heat an element in the lamp’s base that excites the mercury vapor gas in the coils so that they emit light. When a CFL can no longer produce light, the electronics in its base will still try to function, sometimes leading to overheating, smoke and fire.
(Excerpt) Read more at masslive.com ...
Thanks. I knew there had to be a reason.
Trying to pick a fight?No kidding!Just rude?
Drinking?
Or something else?
Several. One is smaller gage {diameter} wire on their primary lines on the power poles but a higher voltage. This is off the top of my head but the voltage before it hits your house transformer on the pole is about 7.6-8.4K volts. It also means to them fewer step up transformers on their local distribution route.
What is great in their eyes may not be so for you. I do my own electrical work on my house. 15 years ago my voltage was about 115/230 coming into my house. No problems. TVA comes along and puts in a new substation. The local utility rebuilts the routes but leaves the same transformers. Within a week or so I started having things fry. My microwave oven, hot water heater element, well pump, satellite receiver, TV, and Dryer element to start with. I checked my voltage and it was way up there. I checked my parents house about a half mile away same thing.
I called the utility to complain. At first they put me off then I told them I knew what they had done and I was fixing to get the word out. Next day my voltage was back at 115/230 and no more trouble. I haven't even replaced the water heater element since then and IIRC this happened over 10 years ago.
Which is why people use surge suppressors for electronics. Most people don't buy them for their lights though. All my electronics are on surge protector except for alarm clocks. Even my cordless phone base is on protection. Oh BTW I also buy commercial grade bulbs. They will take lots of abuse. For example you put a standard bulb in say a five story building there is a good chance it won't last a week possibly not a day. I buy what we used at work in the six story building and no problem. Multi story buildings higher than say three stories due to internal support systems and structural factors tend to vibrate a lot. On most bulbs at present voltage I get nearly a year use.
You can get a whole house surge protector that goes in your breaker panel.
http://74.53.140.226/~sycomsur/images/products/SYC-T2%20Series.pdf
The above have been around for awhile. I believe somebody makes them that install like common circuit breakers making installation easier.
You would have too drop too 105 volts or below and maintain that voltage to hurt them. Most electric furnaces are staged at about 20 amp stages. Central house A/C compressors you are talking maybe 30 amps on a 2.5 ton A/C unit. Newer heat pumps do not start under full load anyway. If my freezer or fridge comes on I don't even notice it at all. My freezer which is about 10 years old is rated for 115 volts. Meaning my lights do not dim in house. Most knowledgeable repairmen will tell you running a little low won;t hurt near as much as too high a voltage.
The largest single draw items in a house besides an electric furnace are possibly the A/C, are the clothes dryer with about a 5KW heater at 250 volts, water heater with 4.5-5.5 KW element Oven, and really thats it. Fridge and freezer are Nil too these. Heck I have an electric furnace and even at 230 my voltage inside my homes does not drop. I've worked in 2000 amp service complex around huge A/C units like a chiller that draws 1600 amps start up and 350 amps running at 460 volts. The voltage is higher so utility saves a nickle on smaller wire on their primary.
Those repair men would be incorrect when it comes to motors.
Induction motors (like for compressors in refrigerators and air conditioners) draw more current to maintain the same power output when the voltage is lower. They are essentially constant RPM motors so lower voltage requires more current to maintain the same RPM (work being done). This is not a starting issue. It is a running issue. The higher current causes more heating in the motor and is what shortens their life. This is also true for three phase motors. The lower the voltage from its design voltage the hotter the motor runs when connected to a given load.
The reason I was given from the utility was this. They {cough couch} were making plans for future expansion on the route for development. I live in a rural area. Of course this is the same utility that when I called them once and told them their primary neutral broke and was laying on the ground the dispatcher said that it was harmless. Neutral if you get between it and ground is far more apt too fry you than a the hot. Loose Neutrals kill.
My A/C compressor is over 20 years old. The reason it didn't get fried was the substation was put into operation in the late fall. BTW I also had the company that installed the central A/C unit too short it half a ton on purpose. It runs longer cycles which is what I wanted rather than more frequent start ups. With my fridge I was just lucky but it did get an older one I also had as an extral. Current fridge is 21 years old runs great. Anything over the rated voltage of an appliance is going beyond it's designed efficiency and simply creating more heat thuss shortening it's life. Anything over about 120/240 is really a little much for typical home uses and not necessar nor in any way benifical to the homeowner. 125/250 and above means shortened life on most of all electrical items you own.
I can see some advantages in a much larger venue where you have real long circuit runs say like in a large commercial building but higher voltages being used in the home is unnecessary. But come too think of it we had 120 volts sitting on our building at work. No higher I'm certain. After I retired it likely changed. If you have 115/230 volt service it will serve all your residential needs with no ill effects.
You are entirely correct, along with those cute little kiddie shoes that have lights in them. They use mercury switches to make them blink.
The claim that CFL’s last longer is a false claim. That little “fact” was added on so people would not choke at the sight of the relative cost. Just think of the “New and Improved” crap on boxes of detergent for the last 50 years. The only basic thing improved is the packaging.
I have used them for around 10 years or more also. The first ones worked for a long time but took forever to go from dim to bright in cold weather.
The ones we buy now only last a few weeks and burn out, even with minimal usage. Even though prices have came down a lot, they are not worth the extra cost.
I call bullshit on that.
If you have lights that only last less than a month, and aren't getting refunds, you are just post-like in your intellegence.
Standard CF bulbs here, light quickly, and work for years.
Weeks only? Try it with a newb.
/johnny
No need to get hostile /johnny. Sheesh!
The last CFLs we installed in our bathroom above the vanity lasted about 6 months. Only one of the 5 is still working. Those bulbs are powered on less than 2 hours a day. Do the math.
The CFLs I have used do light quickly when the air temperature is warm. I don’t the climate where you use them. In northern Wisconsin when it’s below freezing that’s a different story. In my unheated garage it takes at least 5 minutes for them to achieve maximum brightness when the air temp is below freezing.
The bulbs in our heated bathroom loose some of their brightness over the lifetime of the bulb. You can install an unused bulb from the same manufacturer and immediately tell the difference from the bulbs that have been in use for a while. They keep getting dimmer until they finally do not come on.
If you want to have an adult conversation fine, if you just want to respond with insults then just get lost.
bfl
I do, at least, make sentences.
Maybe the cold affects you. No harm, no foul.
If your lights don't last over a couple of weeks, perhaps you should seek a refund.
I certainly would.
How do you feel about replacing a federal government that thinks it can tell us which lights to use?
Would you rather bitch about lights, or replace the government?
/johnny
Fish, or throw dynamite.
/johnny
What I do is buy a sample or two of various brands/types and try them. I don’t buy the cheapest no name on sale “its too good to walk away from” bulbs. When I find one that works well I stick with it until there are clearly better options available (something new comes along). I’ve had good luck with TCP Instabright CFLs. Mine are essentially all in recessed “can” lights and are R40 style floodlights. The color is good (close to a incandescent), no visible 60/120 Hz motion flicker and on average last a long time in an enclosed fixture. The TCP (TCP is the brand) CFL’s above are 14 watts each replacing 60 watt incandescent bulbs for a average savings of 280 kWh over the life of each bulb. If your electricity costs 20 cents a kWh that’s a savings of $56 minus the difference in the cost of the two types of bulbs. The added cost of a CFL that does the job well is easily paid for due to the energy savings when compared to an incandescent.
For me CFL’s have nothing to do with “greeness” but simple economics. I’m trying to minimize my electric bill which is already way to high.
All CFL’s lose their brightness over time. Note that normal white LED type bulbs also fade over time. In addition most CFL’s are not well suited for applications that get turned on and off often. That warming up process uses a significant part of the CFL’s life and the more you do it the shorter the life. When multiple CFL’s are grouped together you generally need to replace all the bulbs at the same time so they behave similarly if they’ve accumulated a lot of operating hours.
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