CFL Rant

[vulcancowboy]

:soapbox:
I hate these stinking bulbs so much! Just had another one quit yesterday. I thought they were supposed to last almost forever, but this is at least the 3rd one that has died on me. Why doesn't our government focus on what they are supposed to be doing and keep their noses out of our lives? <end of rant>

 

[CobyRupert]

Yes, they're suppose to last 10,000 hours (416 days), compared to an incandescent that's around 1200 hours. But I bet that's if you run them continuously. I've never seen a study on how many times you can flick them on and off. I think incandescent are better for applications like a closet or a bathroom that gets flicked on for a few minutes many times a day, but where a light is on for hours CFL's or LEDs are the best bang for the buck.

 

[houstonscott]

Just wish we had a free market and each of us could make our own choice, uncontrolled by big government. HS

 

[AaronS]

Based on our title I thought you were upset with the Canadian Football League.

 

[Dutch445]

I have had a couple burn out recently also, i would say they were no longer than
the old incandescent ... but so much more money.

 

[tow653]

Luckily I have a friend who used to work for GE and he has an endless supply of incandescent bulbs,even 100W.

 

[radioman]

I agree with you . just like anything- they claim one thing and then when it burns out- you cant exactly take it back to the store and exchange it under the claim of 10000 hours . If they state something in general then they should keep thier word! I agree with coby too -- no one in their right mind will leave the lights on 24/7 and this is the only thing I can think of too why it fails early. I'm switching to leds with bulbs bought overseas. its too expensive here.

 

[dmccarty]

The bulb brand does seem to matter. I used to buy R30/R40 CFLs from Lowes to replace the bulbs I had bought at HD when we built the house. At first, the Lowes bulbs were lasting but over time the bulbs they were selling just would not last. Many were dead from the package and some would last a week or so. It was so bad I started keeping the receipts and writing the install date on the bulbs. Lowes took back some bulbs.

I bought some GE R30/R40s from Lowes, and they worked just find, but the price has gotten too high to keep buying the R30/R40s. As the R30/R40s burn out we switched over to using regular Sylvannia bulbs which have been working fine so far. :thumbsup: We have some 18" FL tubes used as task lighting and I have to replace one of the bulbs that have burned out. That is only the second one out of four and those bulbs are 10 years old and run 24 hours a day. They only time they get turned off is during a power outage. Unreal how long those bulbs have lasted. :shocked::laughing:

The CFLs from the good brands certainly last along time and I think get the rated hours. Some of the HD bulbs lasted 5+ years inside the house. The exterior lights are all the HD R30/R40 CFLs and I think they all are still working after 10 years. :shocked: The bulbs are not used much but I can't complain about those bulbs.

We have 85 light cans in the house and CFLs have really lowered our power bills, and at some point, LEDs will drop enough in price to replace the CFLs.

Later,
Dan

 

[MoKelly]

I can still find the old bulbs at Wal-Mart.

MoKelly

 

[s219]

When we built our new house, code or some other gov rule mandated a certain percentage of CFL or LED lights (maybe like 50% ??). We put LED in the cans in our great room, since they would be a bear to replace those bulbs way up high. All other bulbs downstairs are incandescent. Upstairs is all CFL except for a couple bathroom vanity fixtures that have smaller incandescents. I hate the CFLs, due to the warmup time. Sometimes I will be in and out of a room before they even warm up enough to let me see. We have only had one CFL out of several dozen fail in 1.5 years. These were an unfamiliar "Satco" brand that the electrical supply house provided, so I was a little worried, but so far so good on reliability.