On 5/20/2008 3:29 PM Ozzie spake thus:

I've been reading some of the recent posts, on CFL's. Maybe I haven't read
enough of them, to find the same thing, which happened to mine.

First, I'm really disappointed, they don't have the life span, as normal
bulbs. My packages claim to have a life span, up to 7 years. That's
probably the "got cha", the "up to". But, I've never had to replace my
bulbs, as often as I do these. I've now replaced a grand total of 14, which
failed prematurely. This is in a 5 month time span. These are/were the
dimmable mini's, 75 watt, with a power factor of 0.90. They are listed as
UL, and energy star, and claims to use only 15 watts.

Something else about these things. I've now had 3 of them go out, which let
out a puff of smoke. It's a foul smelling odor. Exactly what is being
released?

Nothing which is any good for you, I'd guess.

As discussed here and elsewhere, the longevity of CFLs varies all over
the place. My own experience has been, for the most part, the exact
opposite of yours: all my CFLs, including some I bought more than 5
years ago and use all the time, are still burning nicely. Depends on the
brand, etc.

I've only ever had one fail somewhat catastrophically, and it did emit a
pungent, foul odor, that "cooked electronics" smell.


--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.

- Attributed to Winston Churchill