DIYbanter - View Single Post - Spiral fluorescent lighting - not getting anywhere near the 5 to 7 year life

jJim McLaughlin

wrote:
I got some of those GE brand ones at Walmart and all I have is trouble
with them. I just installed one about 5 weeks ago and last week it
began to go on and off all the time.

I have some of the original straight U shaped CF's that have been in
my home for 5 years and they still work fine. One of them is left on
all night every night. These new spiral ones are garbage, at least
the GE brans sold at Walmart. I just complained to the company, and
they said they want me to send the bulb and a receipt. I can send the
bulb (as long as they payt the shipping), but I dont save receipts for
small items. I got more important things to do with my time than
collect paper. I think I am going back to common lightbulbs.

On Tue, 03 Apr 2007 01:51:58 -0400, Bonnie Peebles
wrote:

I swapped out my incandescent lights for the spiral fluorescent
lights. They are rated for 5 years (some maybe 7years) at 4 hours
usage per day. In both my old house and in my new home, I am not
getting anywhere near that. My longest one, the one least used lasted
2 years.

With the initial higher cost of the bulb, I'm GUESSING I would need
the bulb to last close to at least 4 years to pay for itself. The
bulbs run about $7 for 3ea 100 watt equivalent (they use 26 watts)
Maybe someone could help me on this math or show me how to figure out
how long they'd need to last to be a better buy then incandescents.

Is anyone else using these fluorescent lights? I get them at Wal-Mart
so it is whatever brand they carry. My current bad bulb is made by
Commercial Electric. It had a 7 year guarantee. It was installed
2005-01-06. At the rated 4 hours a day, I should have gotten 10,192
hours of use. I had the bulb for about 19,000 hours. If I ran it non
stop, day and night, I could have burned it out. But why the heck
would I buy an energy saving bulb if I wasn't trying to save energy.

What kind of hours are YOU getting? Have you folks in CA switched yet
before it becomes law?

Also, does anyone know of any light sources that use LEDs for the
home? I saw one at Lowe's ( like a Home Depo/Builders Square ) but it
seemed to be more for ambient light then to light a room or task
lighting. But some kind of device with a few dozen LEDs in it that
screwed into a standard socket would be pretty cool. I hear that LEDs
are as more efficient then fluorescent. Don't know if it is true but
I THINK I saw something that claimed the difference in efficiency
between LEDs and fluorescent's was about the same as the difference
between fluorescent's and incandescents. But that doesn't seem right
to me because fluorescent's are in the 90-95% efficiency range, right?
Again, I don't know, but I have started my search for better
fluorescent and LED lights.

But I would like your feed back - mainly on the life of your
fluorescent lights, but all the other stuff too.

( Got to remember to take the ambien after I write the emails. Wait,
did I take it yet? Well, better to be sure and take one more.)

Thanks

Bonnie
lass

Well, it all depends upon what you are willing to do to enforce the
representations the
manufacturers make. If you are willing to do enough, you will make out
fine; if not, you'll
get screwed ( thats a pun with respect to light bulbs which I did not
intend, but its still funny.)
Me, I really don't like to let a manufacturer or a marketer get away
with misrepresentations. YMMV.

I buy the compact flourescents in bulk at Costco. I staple the Costco
recept to the blister pack.
When I install a CFL I use a black sharpie to mark the installation
date on the bulb base. If the
bulb fails in less than 5 or 7 or whatever years as marked on the
package, I have a canned
letter in my word processor system which I send to Costco in Kirkland,
WA and the bulb
manufacturer. In every instance I have received a replacement buld at
o cost.

I started this with a bunch of Phillips CFL bulbs which failed
miserably in less s than 6 months.
I had fortitously ( naw, honestly its a real junk pile out in the
garage and I was just lucky)
kept the bulb package and the receipt. After that experience I won't
let the mfgrs. or the
vendors screw me on the bulb life representations they choose o make.
If a mfgr makes a
representation / promise on bulb life, they need to live up to it.

Side note, other than a canderlabra / chandelier fixture for which I
have found no replacement
CFL fluted bulbs, and the outdoor security lights where ambient
temperature works against CFLs,
I have replaced every incandescent bulb in the house with CFLs. I have
literally cut my KWH
monthly by 33 %. Sadly, because of the rate increases ( Portland, OR -
Portland General Electric),
I haven't cut my bill by that much, but without the massive CFL
replacement, and consequent
KWH decline, my bill would be a whole lot higher. IU wuldn't co back
to incandescents. .

Again, its a function of what you are willing to do, both for aggressive
CFL replacement of
incandescents and record keeping to keep the CFL manufacturers and
vendors honest.

I am looking forward to reasonably priced LEDs.