Can anyone beat 20W CFLs @ 8 pence easch ?

 That's right, buy a double pack of 11 or 20W CFLs for 48 pence and get
two packs free at my local supermarket.

Cost per CFL = 8 pence or say 12 c US

It's a promotion of course, possibly part of a 'carbon trading scheme'.
Certainly this one is subsidised by British Gas ( who also supply
electricity ) and I've seen others sponsored by EON, a European energy
company. EON tend to do the the Philips CFLs which I have found reliable
in the past, although these were just a supermarket 'own brand'.

'They' really are keen to get people using them. It's fine with me since
I've been using them for 20 years or so when they cost a small fortune.
I can certainly remember a price of £15 ea in the early days and I only
had a couple which were the most used.

Trouble is, they don't fit every lampshade and can overheat in some
fixtures causing short life. Not a panacea for lighting at all and some
people just don't like the colour.

The other thing that annoys me is that they're compared to low output (
Softone brand name  in the UK )  GLS bulbs, not standard ones, so their
effiiciency is exaggerated. I'm all for cutting the electricity bill but
not on the basis of half-truths. To my mind you meed a 25W CFL to match
a 100W incandescent.

Needless to say, I did fork out the 48 pence though !

Graham

  wrote:

Do they have any electrolytics in them at all?

Matter of fact, then they might last *longer*...

Tim

 

Tim Williams wrote:


The first one that fails, I'll tell you.        ;~)

Graham

 On Mon, 18 May 2009 17:11:07 +0100, Eeyore


Why wait. It's only 8p.

RL

 

legg wrote:


Good point.

BTW on the subject of CFLs, I do maintenance for a local sound venue. They have
a 'white light' in he sound booth, currently a CFL in a metal shade and it was
bust. I went to take the bulb out and the entire glass shattered in my hand.
Luckily it didn't cut me but one has to query the safety of these lamps.

Graham