Conserving Energy in the Home

[Preher TV]

Two in 2.5 years is really bad - I've replaced one, and that was over ten years old.

Wow!! That's sweet, ....I beleive the only reason the 2 crapped out was because it was also the only ones that were some crappy ones my mother in law gave us that she purchaced at the 99 cent store....

 

[3v0]

I used a lot of regular FL lights on aquariums. I only ran the bulbs about a year because the light output had dropped off.

The phosphors on any FL lamp tube dim with age. I wonder if some of the still bright after years of operation is wishful thinking.

3v0

 

[tcmtech]

I dont know of any light source that doesn't grow dim after enough running hours.
For me I dont replace mine until the last photon has served its purpose!

Same with vehicle tires. The worn ones get moved to less critical applications like a trailer then ran until the last foot of distance is gotten out of them.
And the same with the vehicles the tires were on too. The scrap yard has owned all but one of my vehicles after me.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I used a lot of regular FL lights on aquariums. I only ran the bulbs about a year because the light output had dropped off.

The phosphors on any FL lamp tube dim with age. I wonder if some of the still bright after years of operation is wishful thinking.

As do all lights, it's a question of how fast they dim, and how far is acceptable.

 

[ericgibbs]

I suggest you sort out your duff mains then - no problems in the UK with CCFL's - I've only ever bought two (one of which as I mentioned has failed, but after MANY years). All my others have been free, I had some more free ones arrive in the post the other week.

hi,
Ive had a number of CFL fail earlier than the claimed life on the box.

Most failures are in the lower wattage range 3W thru 8W.
They either fail to light or the light output reduces over a period of a few weeks.
The higher rated CFL's say 11W thru 20W give a longer/better performance.
Usage is indoor security lighting.

Now in the UK, the 'tungsten' lamp will no longer be allowed to be restocked by shops.. so I will have to replace my dimmer switches!!!

Also there are no 'clear' guide lines in what to do with dead CFL's.???

 

[Mr RB]

I'm amazed at the life you are getting from your CFLs. Mine die a nasty death usually with smoke. Like I said when opened they are just cooked, dark PCB etc. Ok so i live in the hot tropics of Australia where the nights are as hot as the day and use the lights all night long but even the upside down CFL in the light stand (so the heat rises away from it, the best option) blows every couple of months.

In my dad's house he had to get longer bodied CFL to run in his kitchen drop lights which are recessed slightly into the ceiling because the short bodies ones sit up in the recess and cook themselves in a week or less. He has 6 CFL in his dining setting each is open to the air but under a little glass shade like an inverted cone, and every couple of weeks when we go to visit I have to replace one of them because he's elderly with balance issues and doesn't want to risk falling from chairs etc. He believes in the whole idea of saving the energy and doing the right thing etc so he keeps buying more CFLs and I keep changing them for him.

It's been "LAW" here for a while restricting sales of incandescent bulbs and once that came in the quality of CFLs dropped immensely. Even on new ones you can see areas of poor phosphor coverage in the tubes etc and sometimes there are dead ones new (or that don't light up properly) in the packets of 4 and 6. I'm not kidding about the quality.

Bryan, you're probably lucky you bought some CFL in the old days and live where its cool so they last. I remember the CFLs we used in the business premises down south usually lasted 6 months or more so I think the old ones might be better than the new crap.

As for the USA and England wait until your legislature forces CFLs on you with no choice, (happening in England already huh) the quality will drop immensely and you may think do what I did... Order a great big carton of 100w incandescents...

 

[bryan1]

Hi Roman I knew you lived in Oz but where had me baffled. One guess your above the 22 degree line so yes cfl's do die from high temps. I had the same problem in my house in Port Hedland, where cfls when turned on where the ambient temp was above 40 C they were flicking at best. The old bulbs worked fine so I didn't bother with them untill I bought the farm in the Adelaide Hills and we are off the grid. I have replaced every light fitting with cfl's and sofar none have died. Well I reckon if guys have failures blame it on the grid with wild voltage fluctuating on their service.

I have seen 99c cfl's and buy did buy the $3 ones at coles of course.


Cheers Bryan, as another pale ale slides down the gullet........

 

[chemelec]

Constantly turning Cfl's, On and Off, for Short periods of use Will cause them to fail.
They last longer when left on Continuous.
So they are not suitable in bath rooms, hallways or other areas that require short periods of lighting. And the manufacturers should tell you this on the package, but they don't.
[B}Also, Voltage Spikes in the line will also cause them to fail, Very Quickly.[/B]

The Efficiency ratings refer ONLY to Light Output.
So in the winter months, you will need to use more home Heating, as you have now lost that heat from your incandescent Bulbs.
This actually reduces the cost saving to about 3% overall.
But they are better efficiency in the Summer.

Cfl's are extremely poluting to the enviroment, unless disposed of to a Re-cycling program. And very few people do that with these lights.

The Light Ouput of Cfl's is a quite narrow bandwidth of visable light, giving the impression of Equil brightness to incandescent bulbs to the spectrum of your eyes.
They are also high output Ultra Violet, And at Close range they can cause a sunburn to your skin and damage your eyes also.

In 2 years, I have had 3 failures, But after complaining a lot, I got Free Replacements from the 5 year guartantee on these bulbs.
(I use these Cfl's in about 80% of my house)

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Constantly turning Cfl's, On and Off, for Short periods of use Will cause them to fail.
They last longer when left on Continuous.
So they are not suitable in bath rooms, hallways or other areas that require short periods of lighting.

I've got them in the bathroom, and on the stairs, never had one fail - the bathroom must be six years or so now?.

Just done a quick 'mental count', my entire house lighting is:

8 x CFL's
4 x flourescent tubes
5 x incandescent lamps

 

[tcmtech]

I've got CFL's in my bathroom as well, my main kitchen lights and my boiler room in my shop. They all get turned on and off many times a day and all are at least 3 - 4 years old.

The cheap and early models have short life spans when in high cycling applications but the latest good quality ones dont seem to be having any problems so far.

The ones I have are made by Fiete, Sylvania, and Transport & Distribution Inc of China.
All three brands have proven reliable for me when used as replacements for standard incandescents in normal applications.

 

[Jules_Theone]

In both my house and my parents house every fitting is a cfl including bathroom and porch etc. Cfl's do get duller over time but I frequently change bulbs around - my bathroom light is a 5W because otherwise it is blinding when I get up in the night for the toilet, my bedroom light is a 27W so I can see what I'm working on my bench.

My dad gets broken cfl's from the hotel he works at and I get given broken ones from people, they only either the tube breaks (dropped) or the inverter circuitry. I simply mix and match tubes with inverters to make working lights again and write the date of install on the side so I can tell how long it lasted.

Cfl's are so incredibly cheap now in the UK - 10 for £1 or 9p each at a local large hardware store. Incandecents are being phased out but many people I know are buying them in large quantities. Some people I know have traded down a power rating on incandecent lights - all 100W bulbs are now 60W, 60W are now 40W etc, and that isn't noticable, only if you put a 100W next to a 60W you can see the difference. Another thing are those 5 or 7 bulb chandeliers with 7 x 60W bulbs in them - incredibly bright! better to change to 7 x 3W? otherwise it looks horrible with one 60W in it.

 

[rohto]

Does anyone have any experience with these Monster Green Power Strips? You connect a computer or TV to the main outlet and when it is turned off, all of the other things plugged into the strip also get turned off. Seems like a really cool idea.

Monster Cable | Digital PowerCenter MDP 650 with | 121602 | B&H

 

[BrownOut]

I use CCFL's in all rooms in my house for general lighting. No problems, never had to replace any. The light is soft and pleasant. Bulbs are a little expensive, but their extended life and efficiency should offset most of the cost. No problems while reading, though I often use a 40W reading lamp, as my eyes have some age and require more direct illumination.

 

[mneary]

Does anyone have any experience with these Monster Green Power Strips? You connect a computer or TV to the main outlet and when it is turned off, all of the other things plugged into the strip also get turned off. Seems like a really cool idea.

Monster Cable | Digital PowerCenter MDP 650 with | 121602 | B&H

Doesn't say how much power it uses in standby . Probably not zero.

A lot of things don't like to be suddenly powered off. Newer peripherals don't use much power in standby. It might be useful to cut off your old, non-Energy Star stuff.

 

[Thunderchild]

CFL bulbs are nmore efficient but not as good as stated, we use philips ones, i am sitting in a room the size of two single beds (literally) and lit by a 18 W philips bulb, well for an equivalent to 100 W its pretty dim ! I think its time goverments went the whole hog: if your going to back and possibly impose CFL bulbs you MUST regulate manufacturers !, the old CFL bulbs we had from philips produced more lihgt than the junk I am trying to see by now ! a 20 W bulb would light a room that truly needed a 100 w bulb and here and I in about 1.5 square meters of space wondering why my eyes are tired under an 18 W CFL bulb.

The other big issue seems to be light colour, CFL's actually emit 2700 K light (rather yellowy more difficult to see by) I've just looked at https://www.lightbulbs-direct.com/category/5/energy-savers/ and they are advertising daylight energy savers. these are specified at 6400 K which is natural daylight colour and more visible. along these lines: why do you think its so damned hard to see by those stupid street lights in the UK found on estates ? because they are yellow: what a clever idea lights designed to not have a glare probem (yea like the light above you is a glare problem what about the idiot in the car with his halogen full beam on because the street lights ARE crap) well wonder why they don;t give you glare ? because you can't even see proporly by them.

There are many ways to save power, look at you largest items and when you could turn them off. DO NOT use standby for tvs etc. in the winter I don't turn my bedroom radiator on because my computer makes enough heat, at present with no heating on in the house i have to hottest room. look at what you need and what stuff does.

 

[audioguru]

My neighbourhood got new power meters at the same time. The readout is digital and it started at zero.
My next door neighbours power meter reads almost double what mine reads. She is a single person and my wife lives with me.

Today it is sunny right now in the afternoon and my neighbour has all her incandescent lights turned on. I don't have any light turned on and they are all cfl.

I would not be surprized if my neighbour has her furnace and her air conditioning on at the same time. I saw her windows open and the air conditioner was running.
She wastes as much electricity as is possible.

 

[BrownOut]

Those people piss me off! When I was growing up, we didn't waste anything, because we just didn't have it to waste. Nowadays, people think there is infinite resources, and they can just blow it into the atmosphere without consequences. My college roomate used to turn the heater to 80, and sit around in shorts. Drove me crazy! Nobody can live with me now because I dress for the seasons, rather than run the heat to 80 in the Winter and the A/C to 65 in the Summer. Instead, I dress for the seasons, and adjust the temp to the edgs of comfort. I get very few visitors LOL!

 

[Thunderchild]

Those people piss me off! When I was growing up, we didn't waste anything, because we just didn't have it to waste. Nowadays, people think there is infinite resources, and they can just blow it into the atmosphere without consequences. My college roomate used to turn the heater to 80, and sit around in shorts. Drove me crazy! Nobody can live with me now because I dress for the seasons, rather than run the heat to 80 in the Winter and the A/C to 65 in the Summer. Instead, I dress for the seasons, and adjust the temp to the edgs of comfort. I get very few visitors LOL!

I'm with you, some people really amaze me. There are so many people I would like to see in a situation where they really have to make do and see ehat happens, at work if its cloudy they put the heating on, if its sunny the aircon, you really can't keep them happy, luckily I work on the shop floor (QC inspector) although I find it cold in the winter - too cold for comfort but I know theres not a lot to be done about it, with all the welding etc we have to have lots of extractors and I think the quantity of air going into the factory and getting heated only to be extracted again does not bear thinking about. At home we conderve everything, even water to flush the loo, when my dad lived on his own the water board came and changed his meter because they thought it was faulty he used so little (£ 2 p/w).

 

[flybynight]

Easy. Turn stuff off.

Big misconception. Don't just turn stuff off, Unplug stuff. Cell phone chargers alone waste 40% energy just by being plugged into the wall. Many other devices too, the only way to be sure that it is not wasting energy is to just unplug it from the wall.

 

[BrownOut]

I daisey chain power strips for all my computer stuff, chargers, desk lamp, electronic amusment, etc. When I'm not using these things, I can disconnect them with a single, master switch. Or, by switching off the "slave" strips, I can strategically disconnect the appliances I'm not presently using.