"Scott W. Harvey" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 17 Jan 2004 11:16:27 GMT, "Richard Steinfeld"
wrote:

I have these exclusively in my home, and have found that
the life of
these things has almost nothing to do with the frequency
of usage;
instead it depends almost solely on the design of the
fixture the
bulbs are used in. If the BASE of the fixture is wide open
(you can
easily touch the base of the bulb while it's screwed into
the socket),
the bulbs seem to last a long time. If the base is at all
enlcosed or
covered, the life is a lot shorter. Also, I've noticed
that bulbs
hanging straight down tend to have a longer life than
those that are
mounted at a 45 or 90 degree angle.

The difference in life is quite dramatic. The bulbs that
are used in
my daughter's bedroom (three of them in a 90 degree
mounted enclosed
decorative fixture) all burned out in 6 to 9 months. Three
of them
used in an enclosed 45 degree angled ceiling fan fixture
in our living
room failed within a year. The bulbs in our bathroom
routinely fail
also (enclosed base, 90 degree mounted).

On the other hand, NONE of the bulbs in my son's bedroom
(six of them
in track lighting fixtures hanging almost straight down)
have failed
in almost two years of constant use. Neither has any the
of bulbs in
our kitchen (one standing straight up, the other hanging
straight
down, both fixtures with wide open bases. Ditto with the
units in our
garage (hanging straight down, wide open bases).

So, it depends on the design of the fixtures in your
house. I continue
to use 'em everywhere because I can't argue with the
savings.


This seems to prove the point: we're talking about heat
dissipation, plain and simple. Watch those bases turn dark
brown!

I would recommend NOT to use the regular bulbs in outdoor
fixtures,
unless they are very well enclosed. The FEIT bulbs you
mentioned even
admonish not to do this in text written right on the base
of the bulb.
The integrity of the sealed base to water is not absolute,
and I have
seen those bulbs fizzle out in a puff of smoke when used
outdoors.
BEWARE!

If you need outdoor CF bulbs, they are available. I'm
using several
flood replacements outdoors as we speak, and they seem to
work very
well, with a long life so far (more than a year now).


I'm getting long life from various of these in one outdoor
fixture. The bulb is mounted upside down and the fixture is
sheltered at the top, open at the bottom. I wouldn't reverse
this setup, however: poof!, I'm sure.



As far as RFI goes, I don't listen to AM radio, so I
can't
comment. On FM and TV, there's little or no interfereance
from the bulbs I've used.

It's hit or miss, even with the same bulbs on different
days.
Sometimes there AM interference, sometimes not. These
bulbs use an
electronic ballast so some AM interference is almost
mandatory.


I'd think so. There's just nothing on AM radio for me any
more. Just one yelling extremist talk show host after
another. They all sound the same. I'm bored.



You may have noticed the FCC
statement on many products in recent years, "...must
accept
interference." Whatever was the person who wrote those
words smoking? What was the supervisor smoking?


Those words are FCC-speak for "we're too damn lazy to
force
manufacturers of this noisy crap to change their ways, so
YOU deal
with it."


Yeah. But such language! I mean, "must" accept
interference. Therefore, the product may not reject the
interference? Someone wrote those words. Someone else
approved those words. Is anyone minding the store?

We're still paying Enronesque electric rates here in
California. Our Administration has not seen fit, so far,
to
get our money back for us. I wonder why.

(Soapbox ON)

It's simple really. If Bush actually did anything to right
this wrong,
it would upset the energy buddies in Texas that have him
firmly in
their pockets. Actually getting the money back for us that
Enron
ripped from us would require a couple more testicles than
Mr. Bush
has, so it won't happen.

One of many reason I won't be voting for our incumbent
President in
November.


Thank you. I thought I'd leave if for others to fill in the
blanks.

When the electric
rates tripled in San Diego, people raced to buy the
compact
fluorescent bulbs: I saw them everywhere.

It wouldn't surprise me....... San Diego was the first
sign that
energy deregulation in California was going to be a costly
fiasco.
That the politicians did nothing about it at that time,
when it was
still possible to reverse gears, speaks volumes about the
leadership
qualities and priorities of our folks in Sacramento and
Washington.


Yes. I agree. I saw it coming too. It was the first.
Admittedly, I don't think that we got it so badly here in
Northern California. It must have been one hell of a shock
for the people in the San Diego area when their power costs
tripled: Whomp!!!

Manditory radio content:
Use of vacuum tubes is known to cause problems to your
(financial) health. In California, I mean.

Richard