I just had the third one of the CFL's (compact flourescent lights) go
bad within about a year... Wondering if one brand of CFL bulbs are
better than others?? The old incandescent bulbs last way longer it
seems...
Steve

On Mar 12, 11:57*am, Steve wrote:
I just had the third one of the CFL's (compact flourescent lights) go
bad within about a year... *Wondering if one brand of CFL bulbs are
better than others?? *The old incandescent bulbs last way longer it
seems...
Steve

I have about 50 HD brand bulbs working 2 years with 2 failurers.
Enclosed fixturs can overheat them. HD has 7 yr warranty

Welcome to my world. I bought into the be-green-use-CFL hype, and ended up
spending a lot of money on CFL bulbs that for the most part don't last a
year. Yes, they have warranties. I don't bother with them though - it's not
worth the trouble and I don't want another crap bulb that will burn out in
10 months.

Like you, I'd like to know what brand of bulbs actually last the 5-10 years
they are supposed to last.



"Steve" wrote in message
...
I just had the third one of the CFL's (compact flourescent lights) go
bad within about a year... Wondering if one brand of CFL bulbs are
better than others?? The old incandescent bulbs last way longer it
seems...
Steve

On Mar 12, 12:57*pm, Steve wrote:
I just had the third one of the CFL's (compact flourescent lights) go
bad within about a year... *Wondering if one brand of CFL bulbs are
better than others?? *The old incandescent bulbs last way longer it
seems...
Steve

Hopefully you will recycle them correctly.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=7431198

Zootal wrote:
Welcome to my world. I bought into the be-green-use-CFL hype, and ended up
spending a lot of money on CFL bulbs that for the most part don't last a
year. Yes, they have warranties. I don't bother with them though - it's not
worth the trouble and I don't want another crap bulb that will burn out in
10 months.

Like you, I'd like to know what brand of bulbs actually last the 5-10 years
they are supposed to last.



"Steve" wrote in message
...
I just had the third one of the CFL's (compact flourescent lights) go
bad within about a year... Wondering if one brand of CFL bulbs are
better than others?? The old incandescent bulbs last way longer it
seems...
Steve


A few years ago I got some CFLs that started to fail.
Each time one failed I called and they sent a new one. Got about 5 new
bulbs. Now they do seem to last much longer.

Lou

Limp Arbor wrote:
On Mar 12, 12:57 pm, Steve wrote:
I just had the third one of the CFL's (compact flourescent lights) go
bad within about a year... Wondering if one brand of CFL bulbs are
better than others?? The old incandescent bulbs last way longer it
seems...
Steve

Hopefully you will recycle them correctly.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=7431198

Not me. They quit working, they go in the trash.

Odd, I've had a regular indoor CFL (because that's what I had handy)
in my front porch for over a year and it's still going. I expected it
to fail but it hasn't yet. I think I have only replaced one CFL, ever
(installed at bottom of basement steps; might have been bumped by
moving stuff around)

nate

On Mar 12, 1:22*pm, "Zootal" wrote:
Welcome to my world. I bought into the be-green-use-CFL hype, and ended up
spending a lot of money on CFL bulbs that for the most part don't last a
year. Yes, they have warranties. I don't bother with them though - it's not
worth the trouble and I don't want another crap bulb that will burn out in
10 months.

Like you, I'd like to *know what brand of bulbs actually last the 5-10 years
they are supposed to last.

"Steve" wrote in message

...



I just had the third one of the CFL's (compact flourescent lights) go
bad within about a year... *Wondering if one brand of CFL bulbs are
better than others?? *The old incandescent bulbs last way longer it
seems...
Steve- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

On Mar 12, 11:57*am, Steve wrote:
I just had the third one of the CFL's (compact flourescent lights) go
bad within about a year... *Wondering if one brand of CFL bulbs are
better than others?? *The old incandescent bulbs last way longer it
seems...
Steve

Not the HD brand thats for sure. I spent big bucks to replace 9
ceiling can PAR floods (6 inch cans) with dimmable CFL's (100 watt
equiv light output). I have some old halogen ones in some other cans
that are used just as frequently. Well, all 9 of the dimmable CFL
floods bulbs stopped working after about 4 to 6 months. The halogen
PAR floods in the other cans have been going for about 5 years with
only one replacement. Both circuits use the same brand high-wattage
dimmer switches.

I think the new dimmable CFL's are something you definitely want to
stay away from. Since my town now charges extra for people to recycle
(no profit in recycling anymore I guess), my CFL's will be in a
landfill somewhere.

The best use for CFL's I experienced to date is in outdoor lighting,
they do last much longer in severe conditions like that, and I hate
changing the outdoor bulbs (mud, ladders, dropping the thumbscrews,
etc.)

HeyBub wrote:
Limp Arbor wrote:
On Mar 12, 12:57 pm, Steve wrote:
I just had the third one of the CFL's (compact flourescent lights) go
bad within about a year... Wondering if one brand of CFL bulbs are
better than others?? The old incandescent bulbs last way longer it
seems...
Steve
Hopefully you will recycle them correctly.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=7431198

Not me. They quit working, they go in the trash.


Dittos. Along with used motor oil

Steve wrote:

I just had the third one of the CFL's (compact flourescent lights) go
bad within about a year... Wondering if one brand of CFL bulbs are
better than others?? The old incandescent bulbs last way longer it
seems...
Steve

I haven't noticed one brand being any better or worse, some have lasted for
several years and others have died within a year--sometimes in the same
fixture. CFLs that are cycled on and off frequently apparently live shorter
lives. However when we replaced almost all our incandescent bulbs with CFLs
we noticed an immediate drop in our power bill, so as long as the retailers
will take back the short-lived ones, we'll go on using them.

HeyBub wrote:

Limp Arbor wrote:
On Mar 12, 12:57 pm, Steve wrote:
I just had the third one of the CFL's (compact flourescent lights)
go bad within about a year... Wondering if one brand of CFL bulbs
are better than others?? The old incandescent bulbs last way longer
it seems...
Steve

Hopefully you will recycle them correctly.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=7431198

Not me. They quit working, they go in the trash.

Our local hardware store collects CFLs and batteries for proper disposal,
since I'm there every week it's not much of a burden to take the occasional
dead CFL there instead of sending it to a landfill.

The newer bulbs tend to last longer. The published life is based on a
minimum 4 hour burn time. The more you turn them on and off, the
quicker they'll burn out. But before everybody freaks out, you should
know that even if a bulb burns out 75% faster than advertised and you
don't recycle them properly, you STILL prevent more mecury from
getting into the environment--AND, you'll save enough money on
electricity charges to buy another CFL and still have change left
over. The electricity to burn a standard incandescent bulb (from a
coal fired plant) pollutes almost twice as much.

On Mar 12, 11:28*pm, Rick-Meister wrote:
The newer bulbs tend to last longer. The published life is based on a
minimum 4 hour burn time. The more you turn them on and off, the
quicker they'll burn out. But before everybody freaks out, you should
know that even if a bulb burns out 75% faster than advertised and you
don't recycle them properly, you STILL prevent more mecury from
getting into the environment--AND, you'll save enough money on
electricity charges to buy another CFL and still have change left
over. The electricity to burn a standard incandescent bulb (from a
coal fired plant) pollutes almost twice as much.

Lots of facts. Can you provide a source?

Limp Arbor wrote:
On Mar 13, 1:05 pm, RickH wrote:
On Mar 12, 10:28 pm, Rick-Meister wrote:

The newer bulbs tend to last longer. The published life is based on
a minimum 4 hour burn time. The more you turn them on and off, the
quicker they'll burn out. But before everybody freaks out, you
should know that even if a bulb burns out 75% faster than
advertised and you don't recycle them properly, you STILL prevent
more mecury from getting into the environment--AND, you'll save
enough money on electricity charges to buy another CFL and still
have change left over. The electricity to burn a standard
incandescent bulb (from a coal fired plant) pollutes almost twice
as much.

When the country goes to coal-powered cars this will all be negated
(plug in hybrids are essentially coal-powered cars)

Shhhhh.

All those Prius owners are making the world a better place.

All the pollution required to make the batteries and recycling/
landfill issues don't count.

Quite!

I have one in my front porch that has been there for 3 years. However, I
don't turn my porch light on very often, so that probably isn't a good test
of longevity. I used to use them in my bathroom, but got tired of them
burning out. Same for dining room and kitchen. It doesn't seem to matter
where/how they are used.

I have a lot that is supposed to be for high temp locations. So far they
seem to be doing well, but it was a one-time purchase at HD, and I'll
probalby never see the brand again.


"N8N" wrote in message
...
Odd, I've had a regular indoor CFL (because that's what I had handy)
in my front porch for over a year and it's still going. I expected it
to fail but it hasn't yet. I think I have only replaced one CFL, ever
(installed at bottom of basement steps; might have been bumped by
moving stuff around)

nate

On Mar 12, 1:22 pm, "Zootal" wrote:
Welcome to my world. I bought into the be-green-use-CFL hype, and ended up
spending a lot of money on CFL bulbs that for the most part don't last a
year. Yes, they have warranties. I don't bother with them though - it's
not
worth the trouble and I don't want another crap bulb that will burn out in
10 months.

Like you, I'd like to know what brand of bulbs actually last the 5-10
years
they are supposed to last.

"Steve" wrote in message

...



I just had the third one of the CFL's (compact flourescent lights) go
bad within about a year... Wondering if one brand of CFL bulbs are
better than others?? The old incandescent bulbs last way longer it
seems...
Steve- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You want facts?

Here's some.

EPA site has some side by side comparisons too.

Just search for CFL & mercury.

Also search for CFL & life

http://www.gelighting.com/na/home_li...curyInCFLs.pdf
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/pro...luor_lamp.html

On/Off issues

http://energystar.custhelp.com/cgi-b...i=&p_topview=1

On Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:29:22 -0700, in alt.home.repair, "Zootal"
zootal.nospam.zootal.nospam.com wrote:

I have one in my front porch that has been there for 3 years. However, I
don't turn my porch light on very often, so that probably isn't a good test
of longevity. I used to use them in my bathroom, but got tired of them
burning out. Same for dining room and kitchen. It doesn't seem to matter
where/how they are used.

When I bought my house seven years ago, I bought a bunch of the cheapest
CFLs that Lowe's offered (Sylvania brand, 13 watt). I installed them almost
everywhere. Some didn't last long, but most did. The ones that failed did
so within the first year. The rest are still installed, working and being
used more or less every day.

Where I used them is places where they are turned on and left on for hours
at a time. I didn't put CFLs where lighting is needed infrequently and/or
only for short periods each day (closets, bathrooms, most exterior
locations). I don't know if that's a false economy. And there were places
where standard fluorescent lighting was the right choice (kitchen, garage).

One CFL I wouldn't waste my money on again is a 3-way CFL. Its three levels
are "dim", "slightly less dim", and "no brighter than the last level".
Maybe that particular technology has improved since then, though.

I put CFLs in two ceiling fans, and I've been pleasantly surprised at how
well they tolerate that environment.

bud-- wrote:
Limp Arbor wrote:
On Mar 13, 1:05 pm, RickH wrote:

When the country goes to coal-powered cars this will all be negated
(plug in hybrids are essentially coal-powered cars)

Not all power generation uses coal. The percentage of coal is likely
to go down and non-carbon-producing go up.

Nope. Coal accounts for about half of our nation's energy production. China
is bringing, on average, three coal-fired power plants per week on-line and
will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Non-carbon producing energy generation facilities will go up. But by an
infinitesimal amount. Virtually all the dams that can be built have been; a
new nuclear facility is at least ten to twenty years off. That leaves wind,
solar, and maybe tidal as possibilities, none of which are very cost
effective or even capable of producing the power needed.

Limp Arbor wrote:
On Mar 13, 1:05 pm, RickH wrote:

When the country goes to coal-powered cars this will all be negated
(plug in hybrids are essentially coal-powered cars)

Not all power generation uses coal. The percentage of coal is likely to
go down and non-carbon-producing go up.

Plug-ins can charge when the grid use is low so new power plants are not
required.

Last I heard the overall efficiency of energy conversion is higher from
power plant to plug-in battery than gasoline car engine.

Shhhhh.

All those Prius owners are making the world a better place.

All the pollution required to make the batteries and recycling/
landfill issues don't count.

A Prius is not a plug-in. It uses a smaller higher efficiency Atkinson
cycle gasoline engine and is rather effective at recapturing energy
through regenerative braking. Miles per gallon is well over 40.

I am not aware there are particular pollution issues with lithium ion
rechargables.

--
bud--

bud-- wrote:
Limp Arbor wrote:
On Mar 13, 1:05 pm, RickH wrote:

When the country goes to coal-powered cars this will all be negated
(plug in hybrids are essentially coal-powered cars)

Not all power generation uses coal. The percentage of coal is likely to
go down and non-carbon-producing go up.

Plug-ins can charge when the grid use is low so new power plants are not
required.
....

Can't have both no new plants and reduce coal significantly.
Significant generation from the non-fossil sources (other than nuclear)
proposed so far have availability issues that are limiting in their
ability to replace much over 20% or so of baseload generation.

There seems a lot of "wish for" and other pie-in-the-sky replacement
"hope fors" in rhetoric (including Boone P's foolishness of using up
natural gas for vehicles) but keeping a 24/7 function grid is going to
require more realistic generation mix for foreseeable future, anyway.

--

On Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:33:06 GMT, (Scott) wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:29:22 -0700, in alt.home.repair, "Zootal"
zootal.nospam.zootal.nospam.com wrote:

I have one in my front porch that has been there for 3 years. However, I
don't turn my porch light on very often, so that probably isn't a good test
of longevity. I used to use them in my bathroom, but got tired of them
burning out. Same for dining room and kitchen. It doesn't seem to matter
where/how they are used.

When I bought my house seven years ago, I bought a bunch of the cheapest
CFLs that Lowe's offered (Sylvania brand, 13 watt). I installed them almost
everywhere. Some didn't last long, but most did. The ones that failed did
so within the first year. The rest are still installed, working and being
used more or less every day.

Where I used them is places where they are turned on and left on for hours
at a time. I didn't put CFLs where lighting is needed infrequently and/or
only for short periods each day (closets, bathrooms, most exterior
locations). I don't know if that's a false economy. And there were places
where standard fluorescent lighting was the right choice (kitchen, garage).

I second the recommendation for Sylvania, and I also have had very
good results with Phillips (I've got one that's going on 7 years of
service now, and several others surpassing 5 years). Also agree on
assigning CFLs to locations where the bulbs will remain on for
extended periods of time, not on and off like in closets or bathrooms.

I broke open the base of a failed CFL.
There were over a dozen electronic components packed in there.

I'm guessing that many of the premature failures occur
because the lamp enclosure isn't vented enough.
and is running too hot.
The heat must be hell on the components in a CFL.

They don't have to worry about this in incandescant encloures.

It would be interesting to measure the temp near the base
after the lamp's been on a while.

On Mar 17, 6:29*pm, "RJ" wrote:
I broke open the base of a failed CFL.
There were over a dozen electronic components packed in there.

I'm guessing that many of the premature failures occur
because the lamp enclosure isn't vented enough.
and is running too hot.
The heat must be hell on the components in a CFL.

They don't have to worry about this in incandescant encloures.

It would be interesting to measure the temp near the base
after the lamp's been on a while.

The ones that have gone bad for me have just been in a socket out in
the open in my basement. They don't seem to actually burn out but the
electronics in them must go bad because all of my bad ones will
eventually light up if I leave the switch on for a long time (up to an
hour). I have a couple locations where the lights are on and off
frequently but they are some of the longest lasting CFL's that I
have. Go figure.

"RJ" wrote in message
...

I broke open the base of a failed CFL.
There were over a dozen electronic components packed in there.

I'm guessing that many of the premature failures occur
because the lamp enclosure isn't vented enough.
and is running too hot.
The heat must be hell on the components in a CFL.

They don't have to worry about this in incandescant encloures.

It would be interesting to measure the temp near the base
after the lamp's been on a while.


Most of mine appear to be some sort of bulb burnout/damage. The base of the
bulb itself is usually discolored. I'm guessing, of course, I don't know if
that was why it failed. A few also show signs of getting hot - discolored
bases, mostly, even though they are in a well ventilated location. I suspect
that the electronics aren't ventilated properly and can't take the heat, and
the manufactures haven't all figured that out yet (or don't care).

Remember back in the late 1970s and 1980s when car makers were playing with
electronic ignition and electronic engine control? At first they put the
control box under the hood. What idiot figured that you can take electronic
components and put them in a place that gets up to 150 degrees or more?
Needless to say, they went bad right and left. Then some genious (wasn't VW
the first, followed by the Japanese?) figured that if you put the control
box in the passenger compartment, it won't get too hot, and now they last
20+ years instead of 2 or 3.

Eventually the makers of CFLs will figure out that, duh, you have to keep
the electronics from getting too hot...