On Jul 27, 1:07*am, terry wrote:
Our outside porch light is fitted with an incandescent long-life 130
volt bulb (50 watts IIRC); currently we are using the second of two
such bulbs we bought some 10 to 15 years ago. The bulb is typically on
for some 10 hours every night. So they are lasting a looong time!

While controlled by a wall switch in our hallway the porch light is,
most of the time, switched on/off by an RF switch controlled by a key
chain fob. If we are away good neighbours across the street take the
fob and switch on the light for us each night and also keep check on
the house. We return the favour if/when they are away. Great long term
neighbours!

We tried a small CFL bulb in the same fixture but the light was so
poor and inadequate and did not start well (sometimes hardly at all!)
in cold weather, so a couple of years ago we put back the long-life
bulb!

Now considering using a larger CFL similar to three that my neighbour
uses in his outside fixtures and which seem to work fine even in cold
weather, but the larger CFLs may not fit our fixture, although I might
be able to take it down and modify it?

The fixture is basically a recessed square tin box, around 10 inches
square, some 3 to 3.5 inches deep, with an external electrical
connection box. The whole thing must be tilted to fit it and the
attached wiring up through the square aperture cut into the plywood
ceiling above the porch. We don't want to change that by fitting, say,
a circular pot-light

So a question: From depth of the depth of the fixture it appears that
my replacement CFL would have to be mounted sideways, as is the
present bulb! Could that be a problem?

The outside CFLS my neighbour is using are vertical, downwards AFIK,
in their fixtures. the ones that seem to work OK outside seem to be
the larger 'curly' ones. Probably the equivalent of 60 watt
incandescents?

In view of various postings here any advice welcomed. TIA.

You may be overthinking this a bit; almost certainly you could just
get a couple 60W-equivalent CFLs and put them in and everything will
be fine. You will save many times their cost over the next few years
compared to the bulbs you are using now (those long-life bulbs use
even more power than a regular incandescent).

To answer your questions: (1) orientation of the bulb should not
matter. (2) cold-starting - I have been using plain old curly CFLs in
my outside fixtures for a couple years now and they work fine in
winter. (Chicago area, gets down below zero fahrenheit.) When it's
cold outside, the bulbs are quite dim when first turned on, but
achieve normal brightness within a minute or a few minutes at most.

I have found that the curly CFLs fit in most fixtures that were
designed for incandescent, but their shape is a little different and
there may be some trial and error involved.

Another thing to consider when buying CFLs is the color of the light.
They vary from a very "cool" light (like the traditional long-tube
fluorescents) to a warmer, almost-like-an-incandescent tone.

-- H