On Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:27:36 GMT, Harry Bloomfield wrote:

Appelation Controlee presented the following explanation :
We have one of those naff gas fires that has the yucky moulded pretend
coals that are illuminated by a couple of red bulbs driving spinners - the
"flicker" effect - by convection. Yes, the fire will ultimately be
consigned to oblivion, but not just yet.
The other day I realised that the two tinted bulbs, at 40w each, are using
more juice than is used illuminating the whole of the room (done entirely
with CFLs - 6 in total, although unimportant to the question following).
By way of experiment, I fitted a couple of CFL lamps in place of the tinted
tungstens to see if they generate enough heat to spin the flickerators and,
although they are a little slow to start, it does work, which is good
enough for me.
Not good enough for SWMBO, of course, because the rosy red glow is now
beaming, cheery yellow.
OK, to the point, unless there's a compelling reason not to, I need to red
lacquer the CFL lamps so that the illusion of warmth is imparted to the
room, and so that, in spite of the CH turning the lounge into a sleep zone
for me, the Mrs doesn't feel cold.
So, and sorry for the long tale, what I'm looking for is a suitable lacquer
to use on the CFL lamps. Any suggestions re. type & source?

Lacking the heat of convection, I suppose the modern way would be to
drive them via a synchronous small clock motor. As this is a
modification and has to work with a flow of air - how about a small
mains powered computer fan to supply the essential flow of air?

A damned good suggestion - I'll look into that. Thanks. :-)