light bulbs

[ArkRescue]

New Year's countdown to end of 40- and 60-watt bul

"WASHINGTON - Fans of 40- and 60-watt incandescent light bulbs only have a few more days to stock up, because they will no longer be made after the end of the year. "

New Year's countdown to end of 40- and 60-watt bulbs - WTOP.com

 

[Chris0nllyn]

As discussed before, there's nothing wrong with the CFL's. They are 3 times more efficient than incandescent and produce much less heat.

Yes they are slightly dimmer when first turned on but they come to full brightness within 5 seconds or so. If you still feel they are dim, try using a higher color scale or wattage (see below).

I have a 2,500 sq. ft. all electric house and have had $43.00 electric bills.

Save this post for prosperity, like it or not, incandescent lamps will be a thing of the past.

P.S. Great advances have been and are being made in LED technology. LED will replace CFL's sooner than later. We will see it in our lifetime.

LED is already far ahead of where it was just a few years ago. The Lumens per Watt output keep growing year after year, as well as cost drop.

That's the biggest deciding factor. Cost. In many cases, they are almost double the cost of Fluorescent fixtures.

Personally, I like Induction lighting. Cheap, durable, easy relamping, better color rendering, and lasts longer than LED.

I can - swirly bulbs are definitely dimmer than their old school counterparts.

You probably got the wrong watt-equivalant.

A 60 watt incandescent bulb emits about 800 lumens. You'd need a 13-15 watt compact fluorescent to match the output.

Personally, I use 100 watt equivalant CFLs. Only 23 watts, and 1,600 lumens.

Keep in mind, it takes about 30 seconds for the CFL bulbs to warm up to full output.

A CFL in one of my ceiling fans is blinking - what causes that? The one offender I unscrewed partially (there are 4 CFL's in that fixture).

Assuming you don't have lighted switch, and you mean they flicker when on...it sounds like the charging circuit in the light is going bad.

 

[Merlin99]

I like your idea of stockpiling!!! Going to BJ's this weekend--maybe they'll have some!
I wonder if they will be sold on E-bay? (You know they will!

My brother bought about 20 cases of R-12 freon years ago before it became illegal. It cost less than a dollar a can then, he gets about $25 a can for it now.

 

[mamatutu]

Just bought my first 4 pack of compact florescent bulbs today. I was expecting sticker shock, but the price was not bad.

 

[MMM_donuts]

We have a mix of CFL's, halogens, and LED's in our house and they're all working great. I have no complaints about the amount of light or about any of the going out. We just replaced all the old incandescent bulbs as they went out.

We've also slowly made other changes to improve our energy efficiency, like with our appliances and stuff, and we're very pleased with the reduction in our energy costs.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

Just bought my first 4 pack of compact florescent bulbs today. I was expecting sticker shock, but the price was not bad.

It's worth noting that SMECO has programs with local retailers that give us consumers automatic savings on CFL and/or LED bulbs.

Save on Lighting

 

[GWguy]

I've had terrible luck with CFLs. They burn out way before they should, make noise, and I don't care for the light they cast. Always feels 'cold'. As was said also, 3-way bulbs are an issue. I like to turn the lights down when watching a movie, and up when I read. Tried using a few in the garage in the opener, lasted about a month. In these temps, the garage ceiling lights barely come on and take frikkin' forever to brighten.

I've got a decent stock of incandescents until the price of LEDs comes down.

 

[ArkRescue]

hey Baja: I know people who have some home-made heated tins (usually cookie tins) to keep critter water from freezing in the Winter. We use 75W bulbs or similar depending on the needed heat. What can we use in the future that is new technology that will do the same? If anything?

 

[mamatutu]

It's worth noting that SMECO has programs with local retailers that give us consumers automatic savings on CFL and/or LED bulbs.

Save on Lighting

Thanks for the info, Chris!

 

[Chris0nllyn]

I've had terrible luck with CFLs. They burn out way before they should, make noise, and I don't care for the light they cast. Always feels 'cold'. As was said also, 3-way bulbs are an issue. I like to turn the lights down when watching a movie, and up when I read. Tried using a few in the garage in the opener, lasted about a month. In these temps, the garage ceiling lights barely come on and take frikkin' forever to brighten.

I've got a decent stock of incandescents until the price of LEDs comes down.

Switching them on and off a lot kills CFL bulbs. Also, they tend to take forever to warm up in cold weather. They won't work at all at around -10 degrees. (Let's hope it doesn't get that cold )

Light bulbs have different "temperature" ratings. Measured in Kelvin. If you get a higher Kelvin temp bulb (like around 4500K), it will look blue. Stick with around 3000K for a warm color.

They make dimmable CFLs (and LEDs). You could opt for a wall dimmer in lieu of 3-way bulbs.

hey Baja: I know people who have some home-made heated tins (usually cookie tins) to keep critter water from freezing in the Winter. We use 75W bulbs or similar depending on the needed heat. What can we use in the future that is new technology that will do the same? If anything?

LEDs and CFLs don't produce nearly the same amount of heat as incandescent bulbs, so as far as new technology bulbs, you may be out of luck. Assuming you can't use a lower wattage incandescent. (The new laws ban 60W and above, so you may be able to use a 40 watt, but I'm not sure if it would help when it's really cold out).

I'd go with heat tracing. Tape it to the underside of the pan, and when the integral sensor drops below 40* the wire warms the pan (or pipe).

Frost King 6 ft. Electric Water Pipe Heat Cable-HC6 at The Home Depot

 

[ArkRescue]

LEDs and CFLs don't produce nearly the same amount of heat as incandescent bulbs, so as far as new technology bulbs, you may be out of luck. Assuming you can't use a lower wattage incandescent. (The new laws ban 60W and above, so you may be able to use a 40 watt, but I'm not sure if it would help when it's really cold out).

I'd go with heat tracing. Tape it to the underside of the pan, and when the integral sensor drops below 40* the wire warms the pan (or pipe).

Frost King 6 ft. Electric Water Pipe Heat Cable-HC6 at The Home Depot

That's funny because I just bought one of those (exact item and at HD - hey been spying on me? lol) and installed it to keep the outside faucet from freezing .... now to keep the hose empty after use to not have a frozen hose. For people who have no need to know, keeping a hose empty isn't easy - they think most/all the water just runs out on it's own - nope and you find that out when you can't get water to run through the hose .... grrrrrr someone forgot to empty the hose again.

 

[czygvtwkr]

The ones labeled double life, which I think all the ones Ive seen in the store lately are still fine because they are not regular bulbs...

 

[czygvtwkr]

SS - PS - people can get illegal stuff all the time - why can't we get bigger capacity flush toilets? The one I have was a special find new in the box that was long forgotten about in a pile of old stuff that was going to be trashed - I saw it and grabbed it! I didn't know what I had until I read the label on it - OMG I have a new ... old toilet - yippee. I bet had I sold it I could have made a bunch of money huh? Anyone been sent to jail for selling an older style flush toilet? Let's start the bidding at $500 - for the critter rescue ......

Canada, there is actually a fairly large number of people that smuggle good toilets in from Canada.....or so I have heard.

This is an excellent toilet, I am a big man so the $99 ones just don't do the job..... Product Detail

 

[GWguy]

Switching them on and off a lot kills CFL bulbs. Also, they tend to take forever to warm up in cold weather. They won't work at all at around -10 degrees. (Let's hope it doesn't get that cold )

Light bulbs have different "temperature" ratings. Measured in Kelvin. If you get a higher Kelvin temp bulb (like around 4500K), it will look blue. Stick with around 3000K for a warm color.

They make dimmable CFLs (and LEDs). You could opt for a wall dimmer in lieu of 3-way bulbs.



LEDs and CFLs don't produce nearly the same amount of heat as incandescent bulbs, so as far as new technology bulbs, you may be out of luck. Assuming you can't use a lower wattage incandescent. (The new laws ban 60W and above, so you may be able to use a 40 watt, but I'm not sure if it would help when it's really cold out).

I'd go with heat tracing. Tape it to the underside of the pan, and when the integral sensor drops below 40* the wire warms the pan (or pipe).

Frost King 6 ft. Electric Water Pipe Heat Cable-HC6 at The Home Depot

I was aware of the Kelvin temps, even 'warm' CFLs look pale to me.

I too was going to recommend the heat tape. Used it before for seed trays and such.

 

[GWguy]

That's funny because I just bought one of those (exact item and at HD - hey been spying on me? lol) and installed it to keep the outside faucet from freezing .... now to keep the hose empty after use to not have a frozen hose. For people who have no need to know, keeping a hose empty isn't easy - they think most/all the water just runs out on it's own - nope and you find that out when you can't get water to run through the hose .... grrrrrr someone forgot to empty the hose again.

Been there.... used to have about 100' foot of hose out to the barn in NY. Took forever to get it unthawed. Finally trenched a line.

 

[ArkRescue]

Been there.... used to have about 100' foot of hose out to the barn in NY. Took forever to get it unthawed. Finally trenched a line.

Yeah I'm considering the same with a frost-free line ... costs money.