100 watt incandescent light bulbs

[joaks]

All of my household bulbs, except the one over the stove and the one in the fridge, are CFLs. I have never had one melt, burst or otherwise fail prematurely. The new ones give off nice light as well. I use them to lower my electric bill. I'd rather use LEDs but am not sure the ROI is quite right yet.

I honestly do not understand a lot of the objections to the CFLs. Certainly you might want an incandescent light in some applications but some people are really dead-set against changing them.

 

[MrHorspwer]

Originally Posted By: daves87rs
LOL @ the comments....stil have mine in the garage.....


The garage was the one place I kept my incandescent bulbs... until I found 300W CFLs. They are monsters! With an actual draw of 68W, they'll screw into any fixture designed to handle a 100W incandescent.

They're really big, so enclosed fixtures are off limits, but open fixtures in basements, garages, and barns are perfect places for them.

Also, Home Depot has started stocking Cree LED bulbs in 40 and 60W. Well reviewed LED bulb for $10. Dimmable and available in 2700K and 5000K temperatures.

 

[Tom NJ]

Originally Posted By: joaks
I honestly do not understand a lot of the objections to the CFLs.


Here is a good one... this from the US EPA:

Tom NJ

Cleaning Up a Broken CFL

Before Cleanup
1. Have people and pets leave the room, and avoid the breakage area on the way out.

2. Open a window or door to the outdoors and leave the room for 5-10 minutes.

3. Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning (H&AC) system, if you have one.

4. Collect materials you will need to clean up the broken bulb:
- Stiff paper or cardboard
- Sticky tape (e.g., duct tape)
- Damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes (for hard surfaces)
- Glass jar with a metal lid (such as a canning jar) or a sealable plastic bag(s)

Cleanup Steps for Hard Surfaces
1. Carefully scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place debris and paper/cardboard in a glass jar with a metal lid. If a glass jar is not available, use a sealable plastic bag. (NOTE: Since a plastic bag will not prevent the mercury vapor from escaping, remove the plastic bag(s) from the home after cleanup.)

2. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder. Place the used tape in the glass jar or plastic bag.

3. Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place the towels in the glass jar or plastic bag.

4. Vacuuming of hard surfaces during cleanup is not recommended unless broken glass remains after all other cleanup steps have been taken. [NOTE: It is possible that vacuuming could spread mercury-containing powder or mercury vapor, although available information on this problem is limited.] If vacuuming is needed to ensure removal of all broken glass, keep the following tips in mind:
- Keep a window or door to the outdoors open;
- Vacuum the area where the bulb was broken using the vacuum hose, if available; and
- Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister) and seal the bag/vacuum debris, and any materials used to clean the vacuum, in a plastic bag.

5. Promptly place all bulb debris and cleanup materials, including vacuum cleaner bags, outdoors in a trash container or protected area until materials can be disposed of. Avoid leaving any bulb fragments or cleanup materials indoors.

6. Next, check with your local government about disposal requirements in your area, because some localities require fluorescent bulbs (broken or unbroken) be taken to a local recycling center. If there is no such requirement in your area, you can dispose of the materials with your household trash.

7. Wash your hands with soap and water after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing bulb debris and cleanup materials.

8. Continue to air out the room where the bulb was broken and leave the H&AC system shut off, as practical, for several hours.

Cleanup Steps for Carpeting or Rugs

1. Carefully scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place debris and paper/cardboard in a glass jar with a metal lid. If a glass jar is not available, use a sealable plastic bag. (NOTE: Since a plastic bag will not prevent the mercury vapor from escaping, remove the plastic bag(s) from the home after cleanup.)

2. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder. Place the used tape in the glass jar or plastic bag.

3. Vacuuming of carpeting or rugs during cleanup is not recommended unless broken glass remains after all other cleanup steps have been taken. [NOTE: It is possible that vacuuming could spread mercury-containing powder or mercury vapor, although available information on this problem is limited.] If vacuuming is needed to ensure removal of all broken glass, keep the following tips in mind:
- Keep a window or door to the outdoors open;
- Vacuum the area where the bulb was broken using the vacuum hose, if available, and
- Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister) and seal the bag/vacuum debris, and any materials used to clean the vacuum, in a plastic bag.

4. Promptly place all bulb debris and cleanup materials, including vacuum cleaner bags, outdoors in a trash container or protected area until materials can be disposed of. Avoid leaving any bulb fragments or cleanup materials indoors.

5. Next, check with your local government about disposal requirements in your area, because some localities require fluorescent bulbs (broken or unbroken) be taken to a local recycling center. If there is no such requirement in your area, you can dispose of the materials with your household trash.

6. Wash your hands with soap and water after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing bulb debris and cleanup materials.

7. Continue to air out the room where the bulb was broken and leave the H&AC system shut off, as practical, for several hours.

Future Cleaning of Carpeting or Rugs: Air Out the Room During and After Vacuuming

1. The next several times you vacuum the rug or carpet, shut off the H&AC system if you have one, close the doors to other rooms, and open a window or door to the outside before vacuuming. Change the vacuum bag after each use in this area.

2. After vacuuming is completed, keep the H&AC system shut off and the window or door to the outside open, as practical, for several hours.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Originally Posted By: Anduril
Wait, banned? I swear I saw regular light bulbs the last time I was at Wal-Mart.


The 100W were banned this year. I think the 75 and 60W will be banned in January.
Not sure if I got that right. But I think that's what I read a year or so ago.

What bugs me are the prices of the 25W CFLs. Why are they so expensive and not available in 4pks?

 

[crazyoildude]

led is nice stays cool and uses next to nothing in power

Does anyone know how much better the led bulbs are compared to the cfl's in energy consumption ?
How much can be saved?

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: Tom NJ
Originally Posted By: joaks
I honestly do not understand a lot of the objections to the CFLs.


Here is a good one... this from the US EPA:


LOL! Way back when our government was debating the CFL/incandescent subject, I remember one member of the government saying that he had called the EPA on what to do if a CFL bulb was broke in his office. At that time, the official procedure (according to the EPA) was to evacuate the office and have a hazmat team come in for an official cleanup....at the tune of about $6K. At least, this was what he said when he was in front of the TV camera.

 

[Papa Bear]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04

Edit: I see now on the packaging, that the distributor of the bulbs is in Canada...


I need some cheap incandescent 40W G25 bulbs. Who in Canada is distributing them ?? ....

 

[Anduril]

Originally Posted By: Kruse
Originally Posted By: Tom NJ
Originally Posted By: joaks
I honestly do not understand a lot of the objections to the CFLs.


Here is a good one... this from the US EPA:


LOL! Way back when our government was debating the CFL/incandescent subject, I remember one member of the government saying that he had called the EPA on what to do if a CFL bulb was broke in his office. At that time, the official procedure (according to the EPA) was to evacuate the office and have a hazmat team come in for an official cleanup....at the tune of about $6K. At least, this was what he said when he was in front of the TV camera.

I throw them away and vacuum up the powder. Switched our whole apartment to CFLs several years ago, did the same thing when we bought our house. At ~$1-$1.50 per bulb on Amazon, it didn't cost much except time and headache unscrewing each fixture and replacing the bulb. I'm sure they've paid for themselves already.

Garage is lit by regular tube-type fluorescent lights which are plenty bright.

The only place we use incandescent is for our reptiles, which require heat. During the winter we use heat bulbs.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I...don't break them!

 

[Shannow]

^ THAT !!!

do you remove them from their fixture with a baseball bat ?

I've broken two incandescents, and had another one snap off the base while I unscrewed it.

Normal fluoro tubes one or two (not to mention the 2-300 that I broke disposing of them at landfill).

 

[exranger06]

I don't get all the fear about CFLs and mercury. Long fluorescent tubes have mercury and have the same dangers when broken, but everybody has been using those for decades and nobody is afraid of those.

 

[tom slick]

We've used linear florescent bulbs for decades in industrial lighting, garage lighting, office lighting, etc. They contain as much, or more, mercury than a CFL, and nobody thinks twice about them, but because we want to hate the CFL we freak out about the mercury and hold up the "They've got mercury!!!!" banner.

I'm not claiming that we need to warmingly embrace the CFL and sing its praises but I find the "OMG broken CFL bulb, call the hazmat team" argument thin. Nobody cries the same claim when discussing T12/T8/T5 bulbs.

 

[antiqueshell]

I know here in SC that the state has said that they will defy the federal EPA on this and allow 100w and all other incandescent bulbs to be sold here. Actually a company is going to have a plant here and they will manufacture incandescent bulbs of all wattages here.

I have been using the CFLs now for about 4 years and have never had one melt or catch fire, the ones that have failed have flickered for a minute or so and then just stopped producing any light and the base becomes cold to the touch, a fail safe probably turns the ballast off.

The latest ones have decent light and color temps I actually like the 3500k temp the best, for living spaces, and use 4100k or so for kitchen, bath, and garage spaces.

I've always been very sensitive to light temperature color. I absolutely hate bluish color light the most.

 

[MrHorspwer]

Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
led is nice stays cool and uses next to nothing in power

Does anyone know how much better the led bulbs are compared to the cfl's in energy consumption ?
How much can be saved?


A 60W LED (800 lumen) consumes 9.5W. A 60W CFL (810 lumen) consumes 13W.

The LED does have some inherent advantages, but if you've already switch to CFL, there is a minimal difference in energy use. Certainly not enough to justify replacing a working CFL with an LED.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Anduril

I throw them away and vacuum up the powder. Switched our whole apartment to CFLs several years ago, did the same thing when we bought our house. At ~$1-$1.50 per bulb on Amazon, it didn't cost much except time and headache unscrewing each fixture and replacing the bulb. I'm sure they've paid for themselves already.

Garage is lit by regular tube-type fluorescent lights which are plenty bright.

The only place we use incandescent is for our reptiles, which require heat. During the winter we use heat bulbs.


I have them all over the home and Ive never broken a single one. Broken plenty of incandescent bulbs, but the CFLs, while they do get hot, dont get as hot as an incan, and thus I think dont get stuck as easily.

Let's look at the practical side of it too, how much mercury does a CFL hold? The newest ones have as little as 0.8mg, the older ones as high as 3mg.

So let's look at this practically - not all of the mercury will come out of a broken bulb... Maybe half. So let's say a typical bulb is 2mg of mercury, so thus there is at best 1mg of mercury vapor at time = 0.

Let's say it breaks into a room that is 3mx3mx3m, that's 9m3. A little air motion exists, so that the vapor gets somewhat dispersed, but none of it leaves the room...

OK, so we have 1mg in 9m3, or 1mg in 9000L of air.

The human lung is around 6L, but not all of it is exchanged per breath; the tidal volume is around 0.5L. An average adult male breathes around 20 times per minute, so exchanges around 10L of air per minute. Let's say he is in the space for 10 minutes immediately after the break, and there is no settling, no dilution of air, etc., it stays full concentration.

Each liter of air in the space has around 0.0001mg of mercury vapor in this scenario, that is, 0.01 micrograms of mercury per liter of air.

10L of air exchanged through the lungs per minute, 10 minutes, and the lung absorption rate of mercury is around 85%.

100L of air, 0.01microgram per liter, then 85% of that means somewhere between 0.85-1 microgram of mercury would be absorbed from this event.

That assumes that the event was not dealt with in the manner recommended, which would be to evacuate the space, prevent the vapor from mixing, etc.

Per the US H&HS, 60z of fish doses the body with around 48microgram of Hg. Even if gastrointestinal absorption is 1%, the dosing is roughly on par.

So, in other words, your worst case exposure is around the same as eating a serving of fish, and can easily be made far lower via rather simple precautions.

Ganong, William. "Fig. 34-7". Review of Medical Physiology (21st ed.).

Hursh, JB., Clearance of Mercury Vapor Inhaled By Human Subjects. Arch Environ. Health, 31:302-309.

http://www.earthtechling.com/2011/10/the-mercury-myth-how-much-mercury-do-cfls-actually-contain/

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: MrHorspwer
Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
led is nice stays cool and uses next to nothing in power

Does anyone know how much better the led bulbs are compared to the cfl's in energy consumption ?
How much can be saved?


A 60W LED (800 lumen) consumes 9.5W. A 60W CFL (810 lumen) consumes 13W.

The LED does have some inherent advantages, but if you've already switch to CFL, there is a minimal difference in energy use. Certainly not enough to justify replacing a working CFL with an LED.


Its only a few watts for CFL vs LED, returns are diminishing, though percentages can be high. LED also has some power differences based upon color temperature.

I have a Cree 40 and 60W bulb here. The 40W (450 lumens) claims 6W, the 60W (800 lumens) claims 9W.

I did a test where I put a few different bulbs into an old chandelier in our home. I had a couple 13W GE CFLs, that are around 825 lumens, the "40W" Cree in the same color temperature, and then the Cree "60W" in "daylight" color.

The Crees were in the far left (blueish, 60W) and far right (cool white, 40W) positions. The other spots were 13W CFLs.

While the closest position (a CFL) looks brighter, looking at it in person, you cannot see that. The 40W LEDs look the same brightness and the same light throw as the 60W CFL.

So practically speaking, IMO you can get the same light for 6W from LED or 13W from CFL. I dont have the lumens rating for the CFL.

I like LED bulbs, only have a few, but when these US assembled Crees came out in HD for a relatively decent price, I had to bite. I have a few philips LEDs that are the US-manufactured L-prize bulbs (look like a funny yellow bulb when off).

I really do prefer LED light for whatever reason. It is more pleasing to me than CFL if I really am looking hard. Perhaps its just in my brain. Im not the biggest fan of CFL, and despite my analysis above to show that some of it is overblown, Id much prefer that CFLs go away and that LED really comes down in price. I have no real need for incandescent bulbs when the halogens put out more light for less power, and the CFLs and LEDs use far less energy.

 

[HTSS_TR]

I had been using CFL for more than 10 years. Back in the late '90 CFL didn't lasted much longer than incandescent but lately it seems to last much longer, something like 4-6 years.

Currently I have CFL everywhere except in the fridge and chandeliers. Since I bought a bunch CFL bulbs for 19-29 cents each, upgrade all CFL bulbs to LED will cost me around $150-200 and power saving is probably no more than $2-3 a month, it will take 7-10 years to recoup the up front money. My electricity costs about $30-35 a month in summer and around $35-40 a month in winter, there isn't much I can lower this expense.

Never had any CFL broken or on fire.

 

[TrevorS]

My experience with CFLs is that their longevity is very unpredictable.

I have a 100w equivalent in a lampshade that has been running for 8 years a few hours every day, so perhaps 9000 hours at 3 hours a day.

I have others that have burnt out within a year or two, usually just outside their guarantee.

My sense is that LEDs are more reliable. They are also very cool for interior car lighting. So I'm hoping they come down in price / attract the rebates from power companies that CFLs have.

 

[The_Jeff]

Sierra Club doesn't mind mercury in CFLs as it means less coal mined and less airborne mercury that way.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: TallPaul
Fire hazard, besides releasing mercury in your house every time one breaks.


You lost me there.

How often do you break open a CFL and how often do power supply caught on fire in your T8 ballast, your computer, your VCR, your TV, etc etc?