Screw-in Dimmable Compact Fluorescent Bulbs and Dimmable-CFL

[calmloki]

First I've heard of these:
Dimmable Compact Fluorescent Bulbs - Screw-in Dimmable-CFL - 1000-Bulbs - The Light Bulb Superstore

 

[FinanceGeek]

Agree, I have not seen dimmable ones before.

Overall I have had a negative experience with CFLs, spent perhaps $200 a few years back and retrofitted nearly all the bulbs in our house where the fixture could mechanically fit a CFL. Results very poor - dim compared to the incandescent bulbs, yellowish light, flicker, many/most of the bulbs burned out after 1-2 years or so despite 7 year warranties, and 2 of them "smoked" during the failure process. Found also that they work very poorly as outdoor/garage bulbs when its cold - they are VERY dim in cold environments.

For a while I tried to work with the manufacturer (Feit Electric) to get replacements but after 2 of them smoked I just gave up on the concept. We're back to incandescents.

I think its a great idea to replace incandescent lighting with something more efficient, but what I saw of CFLs made me think this concept isn't ready for widespread deployment. I'm not touching CFL technology again any time soon, I think LED based lighting is the way to go.

 

[travelover]

...I think its a great idea to replace incandescent lighting with something more efficient, but what I saw of CFLs made me think this concept isn't ready for widespread deployment.

I think you'd be surprised by the improvements and cost reductions in the last couple of years for CFLs. I've swapped all my undimmed lights over and have been happy both with light quality and life.

 

[mathjak107]

the market is flooded with chinese imports that are unreliable and poor color. stick to the better names like tcp , greenlite and philips.

try to use only ones energy star rated as they are subject to some pretty stiff testing.

dimmable have been around for years but in my opinion i have always found the light from compacts for some reason never equal in light output to their incandescent equivelents so the last thing id want to do is dim them.

 

[FinanceGeek]

I think you'd be surprised by the improvements and cost reductions in the last couple of years for CFLs. I've swapped all my undimmed lights over and have been happy both with light quality and life.

You could be right, it was perhaps 5-10 years ago. But it was a miserable experience and a waste of money that I'm in no hurry to repeat. And our electric bills didn't even go down noticeably despite having nearly the entire house on CFLs for about 18 months.

I firmly believe that CFLs are just an intermediate stepping stone towards solid state lighting. CFLs are really not that environmentally friendly when you factor in the increased manufacturing costs and the mercury presence. I truly believe that white LED bulbs are what we'll all be using 10 years hence. Whereas CFLs offer lumen/watt advantages of perhaps 5:1 over incandescent, LEDs offer around a 50:1 improvement using today's technology, with far better technologies offering 100:1 or better on the horizon.

Today, LED lighting is not cost effective in a residential usage scenario due to the high upfront costs of acquiring the bulbs, you *do* however see them in virtually all new traffic lights, etc. since their lifetime is typically 100x that of incandescent. Many of today's LED lamps (esp lower cost ones) suffer from a chronic ability to dissipate the heat they generate, which is considerable and failure to keep them cool shortens life tremendously.

And, LEDs are available with far more familiar color temperatures than fluorescents. As they provide a pinpoint of light, they also lend themselves far more readily to spotlight applications.

As the costs come down LEDs are clearly the way to go. CFLs are just an interim step in that direction.

 

[travelover]

You could be right, it was perhaps 5-10 years ago.

I totally agree - I bought some CFLs about 10 years ago for 15 to 20 bucks a pop and they flickered and did not last long. But until LEDs come into maturity, I have found the CFLs to be a good value. One side benefit is that you can put in brighter bulbs where you need more light, because they produce much less heat (for my old eyes - good news).

 

[calmloki]

Anti CFL (rumour - dunno if this is factual):
1. each CFL has a bit of mercury, which ends up in our landfills mostly
2. ALL CFLs are made in China

Pro CFL (personal experience)
1. They do last longer - 10 times, no, but longer - we've had CFLs on timers in outside apartment lighting use that burn 12-14 hours/night depending on the season. They've lasted well over a year. Mythbusters experiment aside, seems to me they last longer in extended on state rather than on&off&on&off. Claim is that on initial installation one should leave them on for several hours to "get used to the circuit". They do seem to go bad quickly if changed from one location to another. In our house they get used where the light stays on all day, in key locations where we always want SOME light. Supplement with incandescents. I like using CFLs in the summer - make an ass of myself running around switching off lights and muttering "little heaters little heaters!".

 

[samclem]

Anti CFL (rumour - dunno if this is factual):
1. each CFL has a bit of mercury, which ends up in our landfills mostly

True (all flourescent bulbs have a small amount of mercury in them, though much less today than in years past). However: They save a LOT of energy. And, if your power comes from coal (as much of it does in the US), then you'll be releasing more mercury into the environment if you use incandescent bulbs than if you use CFLs (there's mercury in most coal). Also, many communities have recycling programs for fluorescent bulbs (mine does).

Most of the new CFLs come on quickly, give plenty of light, and last a long time. Many now work well down to 0 deg F. However, duds are still being sold out there: I just bought some yellow CFL "bug lights" for our porches and they are really slow to give light.

 

[clifp]

Anti CFL (rumour - dunno if this is factual):
1. each CFL has a bit of mercury, which ends up in our landfills mostly
2. ALL CFLs are made in China

CFL contain 4-5 milligrams of Mercury. Which I supposes sounds dangerous since a small amount of Mercury is poisonous. On the other hand your basic medical themometer contains 400-500 milligrams or roughly 100 times more mercury.

I have been replacing lightbulbs as they burn out with CFL over the last few years. I have had yet to replace one. On the other hand I broke a themometer a few weeks ago probably the 3rd one I broke over my lifetime. It is very unlikely I'll use more than 100 CFL over my lifetime so the mercury contaimentation is far worse with themometers than CFLs.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

On the other hand your basic medical themometer contains 400-500 milligrams or roughly 100 times more mercury.

And they throw a really crappy amount of light once you duct tape them into the socket.

Except for blowing some 40 watt kitchen 'tubes', I still have every fluorescent I've ever bought. I had one 'buzzy' one that found itself relocated to an outside fixture.

I even 'moved' all the CFL's I put into my old house into my new one and rotated the regular bulbs from my new house back into the old house.

I have a pair of gigantic not-so-compact fluorescent bulbs I bought more than 10 years ago in my garage, and I have a pair of replacement bulbs waiting in case those blow. Guess I overbought.

They are a bit slow to start and take a minute or two to ramp up to full brightness, but I actually like that. Makes turning a light on in a dark room a little less tough on the eyes. And they dont work well at all on a cold winter night.

Costco regularly carries CFL's in various sizes and types for under a buck a bulb with "instant" PG&E rebates.

The best part is, like calmloki, i'm no longer running around the house shutting all the lights off. I've been able to lower my pants back to the waist line, I no longer yell at kids to get off my lawn and I even let my wife tinker with the thermostat every now and then.

 

[Darryl]

I buy CFL when I can get them for less than half price and I switch out the incandescents as they fail. The CFL's I am using do not last as advertised though they last much longer than incandescent. I have had good luck inside and out even in cold weather.

 

[TromboneAl]

I got 10 Maxlite CFLs for 75 cents each, and they are essentially indistinguishable from incandescent. This is a typical sale price around here (includes PG&E rebate).

Note that if you have CFLs that work for you, you are wasting money by waiting for the incandescents to burn out before replacing them.
I know it doesn't sound frugal to throw away a perfectly good incandescent bulb, but it's smarter to start saving money right away.

They do contain a minuscule amount of mercury -- roughly four milligrams, or an amount the size of the period at the end of this sentence. (By comparison, a watch battery can contain up to 25 milligrams of mercury.) Hence, when a compact fluorescent bulb has reached the end of its long life, you should, if possible, take it to a hazardous-waste disposal facility rather than dumping it in the trash.

That said, the mercury in compact fluorescent bulbs currently does not pose a major problem -- and you know I don't take pollutants lightly. In municipalities such as Grist's hometown of Seattle, which is emphasizing conservation as a cost-cutting measure and pushing CFLs to the point of sending them free to ratepayers, there is an attendant concern about the solid-waste-disposal effects down the road. But let me emphasize: The tiny punctuation of mercury should not stop you from buying CFLs, any more than it stops you from wearing a watch.


One final note: Burning fossil fuels to generate electricity creates mercury pollution. Thus using compact fluorescent bulbs actually reduces mercury pollution, because CFLs use far less electricity than incandescent bulbs.

 

[TromboneAl]

P.S. Here in California, when you take fluorescents to the hazardous materials part of the dump, they treat it as if you were delivering a vat of plutonium.

"ENGAGE THE TRUNK RELEASE, STAY IN YOU VEHICLE, AND DRIVE SLOWLY TO THE DISPOSAL POINT!"

Then a robot in a HAZMAT suits come out and takes your CFL.

 

[Darryl]

Note that if you have CFLs that work for you, you are wasting money by waiting for the incandescents to burn out before replacing them.
I know it doesn't sound frugal to throw away a perfectly good incandescent bulb, but it's smarter to start saving money right away.

Al, wow I'm embarassed. Never even occurred to me to throw out a working bulb. I will be completing the upgrade as soon as I sign off. Thanks

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

That was a tough one for me too. Until I'd collected a complete collection of incandescent bulbs that took up an entire large cabinet. When I moved into this house, I found the former owner had left another giant cabinet full of them.

All in the car, back to the old house. My buyer has a bonanza of outdated light bulbs awaiting him...