Today I got an email from a friend titled “The Bulb is Burning Out”. I had long forgotten the incident, but back in 1991 when screw in fluorescent lamps were new I purchased a pack from the local utility for what at the time was a good deal. They of course are made to save energy and also have a really long life.
I had a lamp left over and brought it to my friends who were building a house. I suggested it would be great over the cellar stairs because the fixture was in a location difficult to reach and I figured it was the perfect spot for a long life bulb.
Well, here we are 13 years later and she wrote to tell me that the lamp is finally starting to flicker. After the lamp is changed, she won’t have to change it again until she retires.
Replies
Wayne,
Did the same thing myself. About the same time, I was sick and tired of changing the bulbs in our outside lamp post. It's on a photocell so it is on every night. I bought one of the "new fangled" flourescents and even though I normally dont do this type of stuff ... I cut the end off the box and stuck it up on my bulletin board in the garage with the date of purchase. I think my comment to my Wife was "lets see if this thing lives half as long as they say" Well it lasted 10 years almost to the day ! Made a beleiver out of me !
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
And the new ones are probably better.
Not really. I've had them not last as long as incandescents. Especially the reflector flood ones.
-- J.S.
Not for me.
I had a 7 year bulb burn out in about 7 months.
Same kind of bulb also burned out in about 8 months.
Another lasted for almost two years.
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow
Geeze...
Yur ruff on everything...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
You can find good deals on 'em in membership discount stores like Sams and BJ's. I too have installed them in locations where I got tired of changing bulbs, but havn't had them mong enough to say how great they are - maybe a year. Matt
I use them wherever I can, especially in our entryway where it's a trick to change the bulbs. Unfortunately they don't fit a lot of fixtures (though the newer units are smaller and fit more), and we have several rooms with dimmers, and the dimmable units are way too big to fit,
In the farmhouse I used to own there was a small barn which had electricity run to it in 1910. After years of living there I pulled down the fiberboard from the cieling joists which someone had tacked up there probably in the 60's. At the top of the roof rafters was an old ceramic fixture with an old Edison type bulb still in it. I climbed up, took the bulb down, cleaned it up, screwed it in to a socket just for kicks and voila! The filament looks like a woven caliope of sorts and it's about 25 watts. That was about 15 years ago and I still drag the bulb out and light it up for conversation with company. The lower the wattage the longer the life.
I saw recently somewhere that one of those bulbs has been glowing non-stop for sumpthin like 90 yrs. Mebbe the Smithsonian or Princton U?
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
These bulbs you guys are talking about, how many people are required to change them?
John
> I saw recently somewhere that one of those bulbs has been glowing
> non-stop for sumpthin like 90 yrs. Mebbe the Smithsonian or
> Princton U?
I think it's a theatre in Texas.
Just found it, Livermore Ca. Texas is a close second..damn Google is so cool.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
I saw recently somewhere that one of those bulbs has been glowing non-stop for sumpthin like 90 yrs. Mebbe the Smithsonian or Princton U?
In 90 years you'd think they'd figure out how to turn the lights off.
And I don't care how long a bulb burns if its only putting out 25 incandescent watts of light. I've been in houses/basements with that kinda illumination.
jt8
Wayne:
Unless you live in a warm climate, you were fortunate. A lot of these so called compact fluorescent bulbs tell you not to use them outside, especially in colder climates. The ballast seem take a beating in the colder weather. Rookie
Yeah, I don't use them in the garage or outdoors.
Cold weather is a consideration. Many are for indoor -- warm weather use. There are some made for exterior use that will work in the cold.
I do have a gripe with manufactures who label a lamp for outdoor use, then in really tiny print on the package list a spec that it's only good to -25°F. If the lamps won't work in winter, they should say so more prominently on the package.
My experience, though, is that they will operate colder, but not reliably, and are slow to start and come up to brightness.
Well, even up here in the frozen north, we hardly expect anything to work below -25F. But if the package says -25 then odds are it's really only good down to about -5.
Stuck one of those screw-in ring-type flourescents into an ugly table lamp. The lamp probably gets more long-burning use than any other light in the house. That was about 6 years ago and the thing is still going strong.
Started phasing in the compact flourescents throughout the house 2-3 years ago. Had to replace a couple cheapie 1970's light fixtures, but other than those trouble fixtures, haven't had a CF burn out.
They are starting to make CF's that have the narrower base on them. Haven't tried them yet, but probably will the next time they have them on a good sale.
There are also some CF's that are supposed to have a full-spectrum light. haven't tried those either.
> There are also some CF's that are supposed to have a full-spectrum light.
Not physically possible due to the green spikes of mercury. The problem isn't missing wavelengths, it's way too much energy in those two narrow bands. Dichroic filters might get you close, but the bulbs would cost something north of a hundred bucks each..
-- J.S.
> There are also some CF's that are supposed to have a full-spectrum light.
Not physically possible due to the green spikes of mercury. The problem isn't missing wavelengths, it's way too much energy in those two narrow bands. Dichroic filters might get you close, but the bulbs would cost something north of a hundred bucks each..
So if they say they have full-spectrum its false advertising? Or is it true, but just a matter of MOST of the spectrum being drowned out by the 'narrow bands'?
jt8
The really good ones do cost something on the order of 100 bucks, but fairly decent ones (with a CRI above 80 or so) are available. In fact, I'd guess that a lot of the cheapies now have a CRI about that good.
Remember, the light in a fluorescent isn't put out by the mercury (which is mostly UV), it's put out by the phosphors.
> So if they say they have full-spectrum its false advertising? Or is it true, but just a matter of MOST of the spectrum being drowned out by the 'narrow bands'?
It's true that they have some output throughout the visible spectrum, which could reasonably be called "full". The green lines of mercury don't overwhelm the rest of it, it's just that they make the total output very different from the kind of black body distribution that our eyes evolved to handle. This bothers some people more than others, and it really raises hob with film and video cameras.
-- J.S.