DIYbanter - View Single Post - "Heatballs"

Larry W

In article ,
zzzzzzzzzz wrote:
On Sun, 17 Oct 2010 17:12:23 -0700, David Nebenzahl
wrote:

On 10/17/2010 4:05 PM spake thus:

On Sun, 17 Oct 2010 15:52:18 -0700, David Nebenzahl
wrote:

On 10/17/2010 9:00 AM zzzzzzzzzz spake thus:

On Sat, 16 Oct 2010 23:33:14 -0700 (PDT), RicodJour
wrote:

Robert Green's choice of words confused the issue, but DG's
thrust was that CFLs cost less for the same amount of light.
They're more efficient. You'll spend less to light up the
place. Little argument there, right?

But that's *WRONG*. Heat is what was wanted. Both are equally
efficient at producing heat. The *light* argument was the
confusing issue (it confused you). ...and a red herring.

Dunno how this seems to have been overlooked in this thread, but
I'm pretty sure you're just plain wrong he CFLs produce *less*
heat for the same amount of *light* produced.

Now it may be true that CFLs may be (close to) as "efficient at
producing heat" *per watt of power consumed*. In other words, four
23-watt CFLs may produce close to the same amount of heat as a
single 100-watt incandescent. (Not sure, though: Don Klipstein, are
you in the house?)

But I don't think that's what you meant. A 23-watt CFL produces far
less heat than a 100-watt incandescent, while producing about the
same amount of light.

So what did you mean, exactly, by "both are equally efficient at
producing heat"?

You came into the discussion too late. Go back to sleep. We were
talking about using incandescent lamps as low powered heaters. Any
light produced is either a useless byproduct or an intermediate step
in distributing the needed heat.

I got that, thank you very much. The question being discussed here is
the *efficiency* of CFLs at producing heat vs. incandescents, no?

No. They are *exactly* the same. Both are 100% efficient at heating.

So
what's your answer? I'm still not sure, but it seems to me that
incandescents are more "efficient" in that way--in other words, more of
their energy gets converted to heat than light, proportionally, compared
with CFLs. Right?

No, all energy use results in heat; 100W in = 100W out. When the light
strikes an object, that which doesn't get reflected heats the object.

A 25 watt CFL placed at a window will not heat the room it is in as much
as a 25W bulb placed at the same window.

--
Better to be stuck up in a tree than tied to one.

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar.org