Alternative, Reduced Expense "Investments"

[Surfdaddy]

If you can live with the drawbacks, use VOIP for phone. Even better, if the person(s) you talk to regularly have PCs and broadband, use Skype. It's free and I've found the voice quality to be substantially better than a landline, even when talking around the world.

 

[mathjak107]

actually the incandescent dimmers today are better at saving electricity...the dimmers of yesterday were simply variable resisters which dissapated most of the electricity saved into heat...for the last decade or so dimmers are actually pulse output..they chop the electricity up by switching on and off very quickly ...the longer the off cycle the dimmer the light gets..very little heat loss and since no electricity is consumed by the bulb in the off pulse they do tend to be more efficiant...well as efficiant as incandescent can get anyway

 

[mathjak107]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Yep, incandescents are inefficient simply because they convert most of their energy to heat. There's no big spike of power usage upon turning them on" quote
actually yes there is a very large spike with incandescent lamps...while a motor may draw 5 or 6 times its running amperage upon start up an incandecent lamp can draw over 10x its running current....the difference is the motor draws it over a longer starting period while a lamp is very very quick to drop down. ....
if you notice switches and contactors carry a resistive rating (lamps and heating) and an inductive rating (motors and ballast driven lamps) ...the better grade contactors actually have different models for lighting with different springs and contact points to better deal with the higher inrush of lighting..........

and yes im in the lighting business now 30 years,,,cant wait to er......

 

[Outtahere]

I have most of the bulbs changed in my house but there are 3 lamps I can't change because they have the kind of shade that clips on the bulb, anyone seen a florescent that will handle that ?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I like the slow ramp up of fluorescents. When you turn a light on in a dark room or hallway at night, you dont get blasted with hundreds of watts of light output right away. Gives your eyes a little time to adjust.

Another big saver for us, living in a warmer climate that features a long hot summer with cool nights: a whole house fan. I installed ours in the attic door opening, connected the wiring to an extension cord and plugged it in at the outlet for the attic mounted furnace. Took about 15 minutes. I used an X-10 remote power controller so I can turn it on and off remotely.

In the evening, when it cools down, I can flip it on and run it most of the night. This cools the house down into the upper 60's for most of the summer. In the morning, I shut it off and close all the doors and windows. The interior temps dont go over 78 until about 5-6pm, when we're just an hour or two away from turning the fan back on. Excepting weeks when we're over 100 degrees and it doesnt cool down until midnight, we dont run the a/c very much.

Nice way to 'air out' the house in 5-10 minutes too.

 

[mathjak107]

I have most of the bulbs changed in my house but there are 3 lamps I can't change because they have the kind of shade that clips on the bulb, anyone seen a florescent that will handle that ?

check out www.tcpi.com...go to prroduct catalogs and click on lamps and fixture
go to decorative lamps....it maybe one of those.....
if you dont see it i need to know what lamp we are talking about and ill try to point you in the right direction

 

[Outtahere]

Thanks mathjack, I guess I need to try a couple of the lighting stores around me instead of Home Cheapo or Walmart. I would imagine I'd save plenty even if the bulb costs me a little more.

 

[shorttimer]

a big moneysaver, besides these great tips is to drive less. The cost of driving a car is similar to what businesses allow, depending on your car with depreciation, insurance etc. it can be up to 50 cents a mile. If you are still working and cannot carpool at least do your errands on the way and back if at all possible.

Stay out of stores, don't recreationally shop or browse e-bay or watch QVC. Too much temptation. If you need something, research online and go directly to the area of the store to buy it. Better yet, see if you can borrow or buy something secondhand.

Learn to cook. It is fun to occasionally go to restaurants, especially with friends, but the amount you spend on one meal you could eat quite well for a week.

Cut the financial ties to your grown children. Help with education if you can, but after undergrad let them learn how to live independent of you. It will be the biggest favor you can do them and you.

 

[TromboneAl]

Birkenstocks
(not really lbyms)

OTOH I still have my Birkenstock sandals that are at least 15 years old. I repaired them one time. I used to wear them every day until I became a cold sissy.

 

[wabmester]

Downsizing home to one of these,

http://www.inhabitat.com/prefabhousing.php

with solar power, a wind turbine, and a well.

That sounds very cool, but the link didn't make it clear which one you're getting. Do you have specifics?

 

[Cut-Throat]

On fluorescents.

- I don't care for the light in most rooms. That said, I use them in the garage and in my workshop. I have not had to change a bulb in 7 years! I got a bad batch at Home Depot of 100 watt equiv. fluorescents. They actually all quit working within a couple months. I took them back (I saved the receipt). I still use the regular bulbs in the rest of the house. I find the light a little more pleasing.

Talk about ramping up to full light, the ones in my Garage - when it's 20 below zero - actually take about 5 minutes to come to full brightness.

 

[free4now]

A good page for technical but understandable info on various light bulbs is:

http://members.misty.com/don/bulb1.html

He addresses the issue of high currents at turn on thusly:

It is fairly well known that a cold light bulb filament has less resistance than a hot one. Therefore, a light bulb draws excessive current until the filament warms up.
Since the filament can draw more than ten times as much current as usual when it is cold, some people are concerned about excessive energy consumption from turning on light bulbs.  The degree of this phenomenon has become a matter of urban folklore. However, the filament warms up very rapidly. The amount of energy consumed to warm up a cold filament is less than it would consume in one second of normal operation.

 

[Nords]

Talk about ramping up to full light, the ones in my Garage - when it's 20 below zero - actually take about 5 minutes to come to full brightness.

Hunh, I don't have that problem here-- I think your garage is in the wrong climate!

 

[mathjak107]

normal flourescents wont ignite well below 50 degrees or reach full brighness....they do however make outdoor rated ones.they ignite just fine..they use an electronic ballast ...only problem i have with florescents is except for the latest t5 t8 styles they all lose more and more brightness for every 2nd they are on....they get dimmer and dimmer over the life of the lamp and since because of the color spectrum given off by flourescents they never have the apparent brightness of other sources right from the get go....even when new they appear dimmer

 

[mathjak107]

in order of efficiancy heres the order

incandescent-worst


quartz or halogen better but still not great efficiancy,,,alot of heat

flourecent -poor color unless expensive color correct lamps are used......poor cold starting,,,,,,only good to 50 degrees unless rated for 0 degrees

mercury vapor /metal halide the beginning of real efficiant lighting.......metal halide has excellent color,,,,can not be turned on and off quickly for room lighting,better for outdoor or warehouse


hi pressure sodium --yellow cast to light but highly efficiant

low pressure sodium-----very very poor color the most efficiant lighting...hard to find as its very difficult to dispose of old lamps..broken lamps in a dumpster can have loose sodium rect with water and start fire,,,

 

[kathyet]

in order of efficiancy heres the order

incandescent-worst


quartz or halogen   better but still not great efficiancy,,,alot of heat

flourecent   -poor color unless expensive color correct lamps are used......poor cold starting,,,,,,only good to 50 degrees unless rated for 0 degrees

mercury vapor /metal halide    the beginning of real efficiant lighting.......metal halide has excellent color,,,,can not be turned on and off quickly for room lighting,better for outdoor or warehouse


hi pressure sodium   --yellow cast to light but highly efficiant

low pressure sodium-----very very poor color   the most efficiant lighting...hard to find as its very difficult to dispose of old lamps..broken lamps in a dumpster can have loose sodium rect with water and start fire,,,

What is mercury vapor / metal halide I have never heard of them

What are hi pressure sodium and low presser sodium bulbs and where do you find them

We use the sprial florescent ones in most of our fixtures

Kathyet

 

[Martha]

Talk about ramping up to full light, the ones in my Garage - when it's 20 below zero - actually take about 5 minutes to come to full brightness.

We have one on our front porch and it never gets up to full brightness in the winter.

In the back for our building we have a high pressure sodium light. It does have a yellow cast, but that is just fine for outside. Sometimes it hums a bit. I think it has been out there for about 7 years, on automatically when it is dark. On very dark days it may stay on.

 

[mathjak107]

What is mercury vapor / metal halide I have never heard of them

What are hi pressure sodium and low presser sodium bulbs and where do you find them

We use the sprial florescent ones in most of our fixtures

Kathyet

mercury vapor is almost obsolete but metal halide is a very efficiant light source used in outdoor lighting...wattages range from 50 watts or so up to 1,000 watt...they require special ballasts and fixtures..they can run from 60 bucks or so up to a few hundred.......the energy consumed is very low and they usually pay for them selves very quicly up here at .20 per kw you can see these in street lights

hi pressure sodium is the same as above..it gives off a yellow cast,,,some street and highway lighting are prime examples...if color isnt important and you just want to light up the yard this is the best option...
some examples can be seen at the site below
http://www.rabweb.com/products.htm

 

[mathjak107]

We have one on our front porch and it never gets up to full brightness in the winter. 

In the back for our building we have a high pressure sodium light.  It does have a yellow cast, but that is just fine for outside.  Sometimes it hums a bit.  I think it has been out there for about 7 years, on automatically when it is dark.  On very dark days it may stay on. 

if it hums teach it the words.............
actually the hum is normal ,there is a ballast in there made up of layers of iron layed on top of each other....the cheaper the fixture usually the cheaper the ballast and it vibrates

 

[Martha]

mathjak, we have an old light post in the front of our property shown in this picture:

There is no on or off switch for this light. Greg took out the bulb because he didn't like the light on all day. Do you know of any relatively simple solutions so we can have the light go on only in the dark? We tried screwing into the light socket a thingy that will turn the light on when it is dark. But the thingy thought is was always dark.

 

[mathjak107]

you could just use a timer to turn it on and off..more sophisticated timers even adjust for daylite savings time......you could also have an electrician drill a hole in the pole and mount a little button photocell...end of problem....your husband can even do it,its simple enough

 

[mathjak107]

http://precisionmulticontrols.com/Photocontrols/Aseries.html example of a button photocell

 

[Martha]

http://precisionmulticontrols.com/Photocontrols/Aseries.html example of a button photocell

Thanks!

 

[larry]

Had local utility do a blower door test to properly size HVAC. Replaced 20 yo furnace and ac with heat pump and back up furnace. Sizing took me from 120k btu furncae to 40k-70k btu furnace(2 stage with VSR motor) and dropped 1/2 ton in ac size. Utility bills throught the winter here were reduced by about 20%

 

[larry]

Downsizing home to one of these,

http://www.inhabitat.com/prefabhousing.php

with solar power, a wind turbine, and a well.

Funny that the second picture down is of a Lustron prefab all steel home. They built many of these across the country after WWII and can be a pain to work on, insulate, sell and insure. Our town has 5-6 of them. Interesting concept but bad practice.