On Oct 8, 9:01*am, Stephen wrote:
On Tue, 6 Oct 2009 23:57:43 +0000 (UTC),
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

I think you might struggle to find a new 8' fitting nowadays.

Thanks for your replies.

I don't desperately need an eight foot light; that's just what was
here when I moved in. I'm sure a smaller tube would light the area
just as well but if I went for a smaller size I would obviously need
to buy a smaller fitting, this one is a bit rusty so a change could be
justified but it might be cheaper just to buy a replacement 8' tube.

simple to calculate it and see. Allow perhaps 10% loss for an old iron
ballast, so 110w total use.


There are still lots of commercial 8' installations
in the UK though, and they'll be around until the EU bans the
tubes.

Are they planning to ban them just like the 100W incandescent bulbs? I

not afaik, but they are on a very ill considered banning spree


never knew that. I don't think it will work.Where shops used to use
one big tube they now use four smaller ones to light the same area so
although the wattage of each tube has fallen, this is balanced by a
four fold increase in the number of tubes which must use the same or
greater power in total.

8' tubes are rather more efficient than 5'


I think the government is wrong to chase after
householders using ten 60W bulbs when shops use several kilowatts of
lighting for ten hours a day, every day; sometimes left on overnight.

Its just politics, not really sense


NT