Comments on: Bulbs

By: Dr. Strangegun

Dr. Strangegun — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 23:45:12 +0000

My house is full of newer CFs. The only place I have incandescents is in the bathroom, in conjunction with a single “natural light” fluorescent, because that room is white with black marble and has *no* natural warmth to the light color like my yellow/red kitchen and hardwood floored rooms do.

By: tgirsch

tgirsch — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 18:20:25 +0000

At the behest of a friend, I recently did a lighting inventory on my house. The initial result was “Jesus, my house has a lot of light bulbs.” The actual counts were:

54 CF
3 “Old School” fluorescent
6 Incandescent

By: Daniel McAndrew

Daniel McAndrew — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 16:58:34 +0000

What about the new LED lamp bulbs?

They use even less energy, as I understand it – even so they are pretty expensive.

By: Chris Byrne

Chris Byrne — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 16:56:48 +0000

Well, there are flourescent lamps that cast a more natural light spectrum; unfortunately they are about four times as expensive and last half as long as normal CF lamps, so they aren’t often used at home.

A lot of offices however are switching to them, because they found that office workers are more productive and efficient, with fewer sick days, under a more natural spectrum of light.

By: Masked Menace�

Masked Menace� — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 16:15:24 +0000

We tried switching to the CF bulbs, but nearly half of them have died a little over a year later. Maybe we just got a bad bunch, but we weren’t impressed.

By: tgirsch

tgirsch — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 16:07:13 +0000

Something like 80% of the bulbs in and around my house are CF. I haven’t had the problems with flickering, humming, or off-colored light that many have complained about, and the costs have come down quite a bit in the last couple of years. I have bulbs that I installed in my front hall, kitchen, bedrooms, and bathroom back in 2003 which I have never changed. I do notice that the bulbs don’t seem to last as long outdoors; two or maybe three years at most. But that’s still a lot better than incandescent.

Another unseen advantage of CF: They operate a lot cooler, which is great in the summertime, when bright light bulbs would literally heat the room.

By: Les Jones

Les Jones — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 14:52:00 +0000

We use them in a couple of lamps in the living room. I’ve tried them in other places (like the lights on either side of the bathroom mirror and in the kitchen tracklights) and didn’t like the quality of the light, which is sort of cold and that makes colors look a little off. Try a couple of bulbs before you change the whole house over.

By: robert

robert — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 13:47:27 +0000

This is a great idea with a problem. The light from a florescent is an extremely thin and awful colored strip of the visible spectrum. I doubt it will be the thing to read under. Incandescent is a much wider spectrum slice and a more natural color. Outside…no problem. Inside they emit a blue-green light that gives you eyestrain.

An indoor shooting range I use converted. You can’t see a thing downrange. You can’t see your front sight. You can’t sort your own brass off the floor. It’s amazing how bad the light quality is.

So, don’ think this doesn’t have a quality cost. I was going to put one in the light fixture that lights up the cars in the driveways….but that light is there to see if someone is fooling with the cars. I left the regular bulbs in.

By: AlanDP

AlanDP — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 12:57:44 +0000

I just installed some of those yesterday. We didn’t have enough money in the checking account to buy enough bulbs for the whole house at once (plus our groceries), but we made a start. They were selling for 4 for $10. Only $40 more and we can convert the whole house.

They also last much longer than an incandescent. I’ve been using a longer non-swirly in my reading lamp for over 10 years. I think officially, according to the manufacturer, they’re supposed to last at least 7 years.

Now someone just needs to come up with an air conditioner that uses 1/4 the energy of our current a/c.