On Wed, 04 Apr 2007 01:36:28 -0500, wrote:

On Tue, 03 Apr 2007 01:07:02 -0600, Chris Friesen
wrote:

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.

Fluorescent light lifetime is affected by how often it gets switched on
and off. They're most effective when used for lights that stay on for a
long time once they're turned on.

It only takes the equivalent of about 20-30 seconds worth of electrical
power to turn on a fluorescent, but the more frequently you cycle them
the faster they die.

Chris


SO, if I go in the bathroom for a total of one half hour per night and
have two 60W indecesant bulbs in the fixtures, then I consume a total
of 60W per day. If these same two fixtures each have 15W CF bulbs
(equivalant to 60W), but have to leave them on 24/7, I am using 720W
per day. That is far from being a savings, particularly when you
consider the CF bulb costs $3 or so, and the indec bulb costs 25
cents. Until they come up with a CF bulb that can last as long as
advertised, and can be turned on and off as needed, I will not buy any
more of them. Besides the one that I mentioned yesterday that lasted
5 or 6 weeks, or less than 100 hours, I have had another one flare up,
causing sparks and a bathroom filled with stinky smoke. Luckily no
fire, but the smoke was terrible and seeing sparks blowing around the
room is not my idea of fun. Additionally, this is not the first bulb
that has died before its rated time. In fact, almost all of these
spiral types are dying in short time, whereas the original straight
CFs seem to last and last and last. I dont even see that type sold
anymore.


I put a string of 35 yellow LED holiday lights in my bathroom. These
give off enough light I almost never need the regular light.

Those lights consume about 1.8W. Multiplied by 24 hours, that's 43.2
watt-hours.

BTW, I always thought that "24/7" stuff sounded stupid. It's ALL THE
TIME!
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"Never underestimate the power of stupid
people in large groups"