Do you use CFLs (compact fluorescent lightbulbs)?

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Engineer
OT: While at WalMart last week, I noticed that you can now get Candelabra based (small, decorative) CF bulbs. Might start switching them out (still expensive though).

Also, while searching Yahoo (just now), I found dimmable CF bulbs. I didn't know that they existed. Wonder if they are any good?...hmmm

ikeas had those small base cf's for a long time, in all sorts of wattages/sizes.. even as low as 3 watt i think. most of mine are 7/10/15, and they are like 3bucks each.

and yea dimable has always existed. rare, mostly online because they cost more. i never bothered.

 

[walrus]

Replaced almost every bulb in the house with them. The local hardware store was giving one away with every purchase, got 8 free.

 

[mugs]

Yeah, I do. I try not to waste energy

 

[Ornery]

My wife trys mightily to leave every damn light in the house on 24/7, so I use the CFLs everywhere I possibly can. But, my wife still has a knack for figuring out which lamps aren't loaded with CFL bulbs, and leaves those on 24/7. :|

Even worse, she moved one of the CFL bulbed lamps to an outlet controlled by a dimmer! Sheesh, she's out to get me one way or another. Oh, and the fixtures that are controlled by dimmers are left on 24/7... at full intensity of course. :roll:

 

[DrPizza]

I'm up to 20-something of them in this house...

And, for what it's worth, I have them in the garage (unheated) and the barn (also unheated). They're working just fine in the barn - The animal's water buckets were all frozen over yet the light was just as bright as ever.

 

[0roo0roo]

just use ge reveal in the bathrooms. no point having harsh light there in the morning when u wake up from being knackered

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: Ornery
My wife trys mightily to leave every damn light in the house on 24/7, so I use the CFLs everywhere I possibly can. But, my wife still has a knack for figuring out which lamps aren't loaded with CFL bulbs, and leaves those on 24/7. :|

Even worse, she moved one of the CFL bulbed lamps to an outlet controlled by a dimmer! Sheesh, she's out to get me one way or another. Oh, and the fixtures that are controlled by dimmers are left on 24/7... at full intensity of course. :roll:

Your wife sounds like my kids!


Edit: Also, your wife sounds like my wife too!

 

[KoolDrew]

Yes

 

[OrganizedChaos]

i have a 13W flourescent droplight next to my bed thats on 12h a day if that counts.

 

[Sukhoi]

Jerboy?

 

[Xpred]

Originally posted by: BigJ
One thing about CFLs:

You really shouldn't dispose of them in the regular garbage. They do contain mercury, and do pose a threat to the environment.

True... but does anyone ever really not put them in regular garbage?

 

[ponyo]

No. I like the cheap regular bulbs.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: BigJ
Yes.

Another disadvantage they have is they have trouble warming up in colder temperatures.

Yup. I have one that puts out the equivalent of 150w (at 65w) in my garage here in Wisconsin. It lights up in about 4 stages over 5 minutes or so.

 

[FoBoT]

yes, but i spread them out
if a fixture has 3 bulbs, i leave one normal and put in 2 CFL's

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: Engineer

Originally posted by: Ornery
My wife trys mightily to leave every damn light in the house on 24/7, so I use the CFLs everywhere I possibly can. But, my wife still has a knack for figuring out which lamps aren't loaded with CFL bulbs, and leaves those on 24/7. :|

Even worse, she moved one of the CFL bulbed lamps to an outlet controlled by a dimmer! Sheesh, she's out to get me one way or another. Oh, and the fixtures that are controlled by dimmers are left on 24/7... at full intensity of course. :roll:

Your wife sounds like my kids!


Edit: Also, your wife sounds like my wife too!

Wow, I didn't know I had so much in common with you guys! For what it's worth, I just removed the two dimmer switches we had in the house. They never leave the lights dimmed... always completely on or off, so there was no purpose. No dimmer + CFL = savings.

 

[Saint Nick]

Originally posted by: Eli
Yes.

 

[JinLien]

I have 43 in use at my house and a bout 1/2 a dozen new in the closet.

 

[blakeatwork]

never noticed a humming from mine...

we replaced most of our lights with them, except in the kitchen and bathroom.

 

[K1052]

I use them in couple multi-bulb fixtures that are a real bitch to get at and my closet spaces.

 

[Ornery]

I've only used 'em for about a year, and already had a couple puke because they were in enclosed globes or cans. They don't like that!

 

[Anubis]

yes i recently replaced most of the most used lights in our APT with them, the light is SOO MUCH BETTER BECAUSE ITS WHITE, never noticed any flickering even with old ones i have used in the past, no humming either

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Armitage
I got some recently, and I'm not to happy with them. First, what they list as the wattage equivalent to incandescent bulbs is way off. I got some that claim to be the equiv of a 60 watt incandescent and they're very dim - more like a 40W.

I've also had one die on me after only about a month - yea, there's a warranty, but it's to much of a PITA to save the receiprts, etc. for a lightbulb. And finally, in at least one fixture, they flicker all the time. It's on a dimmer switch that is turned all the way up. Maybe it would work better if I replaced the switch.

the ones i have said right on the package DO NOT USE WITH A DIMMER

 

[nissan720]

Well at my job student electrician for the university I have changed out hundreds of regular bulbs to CF bulbs. We date and replace our bulbs after only 3 years to keep the failures down and because the bulbs dim with time. The ones we use (Panasonics) are sprials inside a glass casing; cost us about $5 the average person $10. I read in a Popular Science that using a CF instead of an incandesent will save 1/4 of a ton of coal to power that light.

I have used the dimming but, I don't like them. Ours cost about $15 and the bulbs they replace only cost $1 so I don't think that the power they save will ever balance out the cost.

I have replaced upwards of 3-4k bulbs and I think these are a great way to cut costs and save energy.

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: Xpred
These things last like 5x longer than a regular lightbulb and use 75% less energy! I just recently bought a lot of them to replace my older crappy ones that were burning out. The only downside is that these fluorescent bulbs make some annoying low frequency sounds and flicker later in their lives. Anyone use them now?

I use them wherever they don't have to be enclosed. Started in 2000.

I my bulbs don't give off a sound, I sure don't hear it.

 

[Kenazo]

I used to have them in my home office but found that CFL's gave me a headache when sitting in a room with them for any length of time. Maybe I just had low quality ones, I'm not sure. They were fine in the Kitchen though.