Compact fluorescent life

 I've been using CF bulbs for some time.  I use them only in places
where they stay on for long periods of time, such as the kitchen
light, porch lights, etc.  I have yet to find one that lasts even 5000
hours, much less 10,000.  Some brands, such as Sunpark, have gone
belly up in as little as 1000 hours.   I want to save energy like a
good citizen, but this is ridiculous.

Do any of you have good experiences with any particular brand?  Any
caveats?

Thanks,

Norm Strong

  My experience has been less than wonderful with them so far. Tried several
brands, including so-called major brands, and few seem to last the rated
life. Saving energy is fine, but they are too expensive to replace with the
current failure rate.

I pretty much gave up and am using mostly Halogen now.

 

I can't work under the light from many of the CF bulbs, mainly those
that are a "warm" color temp.  Eyestrain, headache, foul humor.  My
experience with most regular fluorescents was similar, till the "Vita
Lite" and, later, Ott full-spectrum lights came along.  I like them.

I bought a bunch of spiral CF's of no brand, Chinese manufacture from
Backwoods Solar, 5000 deg. K.  One 11W has been my reading light for
3 years now, a 15W is on my drafting table.  The only failure has
been an 11W in a holder that allowed it to protrude into harm's way:
one of my cats jumped onto the lamp and broke the CF.

Backwoods no longer carries this CF.  I bought a maybe lifetime
supply when they cleared them out.


Tom Willmon
near Mountainair, (mid) New Mexico, USA

Ask me about my vow of silence.

Net-Tamer V 1.12.0 - Registered

 normanstrong wrote:

I've had good experience with a number of different brands.
The GE 14W twisters seem to be about the best of the lot as
they fire up instantly and can operate in enclosed fixtures.

Caveat, use the base to screw them in and not the bulb. You
run the risk of breaking the bulb otherwise.

Anthony

 

normanstrong wrote:


    I've been using them for several years now.  The first one I ever
bought,
which cost me near $20 at the time, was still burning seven years later
when we sold the house.  The second one I ever bought, which was used
in a porch fixture, burned out a couple months ago, nine or so years after

I bought it.  All the others I've bought since then are still going,
except for
a few that were dead out of the box.
   Lately, the local discount store is selling them for fifty cents each.
Presumably the local electric company is subsidizing this.

    --Dale