Dustin

Yes and they are horrible, they don't work well, seem dangerous and flicker.

gunnut

I have been since 1993 or so, or whenever Fry's opened. That was the first purchase I made at Fry's, 2 CFL bulbs. Now most of my house runs on CFL, especially those lights that stay on for hours.

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Parihaka

I haven't eyeballed them but my father-in-law is installing LED's for the main lighting in the living room of the house they are building. I'll ask about them and post details.
As for incandescents, the power bill in this house was greater for lighting alone than the entire bill (water heating, cooking) for our previous. It took me three years but now every light in the house is either CFL or halogen, and the power bill is a fraction of its former self

bolo121

Im doing my bit for the environment this new year.
Bye bye '17' crt hello 20' LCD.

DaveinCoalinga

All the lights in my house are CFLs. I have used them for years and love them.

crooks

All the rooms in my house have them at this stage - the local hardware stores love me, because we live in a sort of isolated region outside the city itself I had to buy backups as well, about 40 !

I find them very good, they've been up for a year and the ESB bill is down about 15%.....and now the neighbours think I'm an econut .

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chuck

I do not use CFL's in my home however as a buyer of many types of lamps for the school district I work for I have purchased them many times. There are two types of CFLs in use. One has a pin base that plugs into the lamp holder used mostly in commercial settings and then there is the screw in type used mostly in the home. Many of our schools have tried replacing the incadescent "can light" bulbs with CFL's. However, there is a high failure rate with these lamps because they are placed upside down in the ceiling. The heat is directed upward and heats the ballast until it fails. I found this to be true of all brands. Some burn out in a matter of months if not weeks. In several of the schools they have gone back to incadescents. In the home a table lamp is the proper application, however, the lighting is not the same. There are a few very good explinations within these posts to explain why the lighting is not a good. I found it odd that this post was accompanied by advertisements to buy these lamps, anyone else find it odd.

JAD_333

I am looking at 2 CFL's screwed "upside down" in a keyless ceiling fixture in my office that haven't burned out after 4 years of nearly constant use. They don't generate a lot of heat. The ballasts are warm, but that is true for "right side up" CFLs. The light quality is fine. Have you been buying good quality CFLs? What brand?


Google sniffed out a key word. Running ads helps pay for the site.

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chuck

I have purchased all the top brands, Sylvania, GE, etc. I have found that the Sylvania lamps have been burning out faster than the rest. That is not to say they are worse than the others. I am sure that for every one I find having been installed "upside down" and burned out there have been a thousand installed the same way working just fine. My information is anecdotal the same as yours. I have bought CFL's for schools and they liked them fine. Some didn't, and returned them because they weren't worth the trouble of replacing every two or three months. I can't begin to explain why some burnup prematurely.

Ironduke

I have to say I'm surprised at the results, 68% of WAB members who responded to the poll indicated they use CFL light bulbs. About 10% of American homes use them. Does anybody have figures for European usage?

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ArmchairGeneral

Only people who care will vote, so naturally the poll will be skewed.

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"Apocalyptic thought is curiously pleasurable."
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dalem

And internet polls in general are not representative of the population.

-dale

Ironduke

My hunch is that is skewed as people who use CFLs are more likely to vote.

I do think though that active WAB members are more likely than the general population to use them, probably because the average WAB member is more technology-savvy, and also because a large portion of our membership resides in countries where usage is higher.

I was expecting a higher proportion of respondents indicating that they use them than that of the general US population, but not two-thirds, rather the reverse.

Ray

The only problem with the CFL is that they are not robust to stand power fluctuations.

And the illumination is not that much as a florescent tubelight!

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"Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

HAKUNA MATATA

Ironduke

Actually, CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) bulbs are that.
I've read that. I understand brownouts aren't uncommon in India.