CFL's simply don't last all that long...

[Turk]

"Calif. Discovers Fluorescent Lightbulbs Burning Out Faster Than Predicted"

"State government concludes that it will not realize the savings it expected."


"It was all flowers and roses when the state of California launched its $548M USD program to help promote consumer use of compact fluorescent lamps. Manufacturers and utilities were onboard because they received bonus pay to enact rebate programs. Citizens were happy as they received cheap CFL bulbs, which promised to save them money on power expenses. And the politicians were happy, as they looked sufficiently "green" to satisfy the eco-minded voters.

Now that utopian vision of futuristic lighting has dissolved into rancor and disappointment. A multi-million dollar program by the state designed to evaluate the actual results has concluded that energy savings were not as good as expected and that utilities were being over-rewarded for their performance."





http://www.dailytech.com/Calif+Discovers...rticle20741.htm

 

[oil_spaz]

I replaced nearly every bulb in my house in 2003 with CFLs. I remember the packages stated "lasts up to 7 years". The "up to" part was right: I have replaced nearly all of them at least twice since.

 

[highmilegeguy]

Originally Posted By: tpitcher

"Calif. Discovers Fluorescent Lightbulbs Burning Out Faster Than Predicted"

"State government concludes that it will not realize the savings it expected."


"It was all flowers and roses when the state of California launched its $548M USD program to help promote consumer use of compact fluorescent lamps. Manufacturers and utilities were onboard because they received bonus pay to enact rebate programs. Citizens were happy as they received cheap CFL bulbs, which promised to save them money on power expenses. And the politicians were happy, as they looked sufficiently "green" to satisfy the eco-minded voters.

Now that utopian vision of futuristic lighting has dissolved into rancor and disappointment. A multi-million dollar program by the state designed to evaluate the actual results has concluded that energy savings were not as good as expected and that utilities were being over-rewarded for their performance."





http://www.dailytech.com/Calif+Discovers...rticle20741.htm




If you read the article, it states that the problem of overall longevity stemmed from people putting them in " disadvantageous locations like bathrooms "
Much like being outdoors, CFLs have electronics in the base and electronics don't respond well to wet or damp or steamy ( bathroom ) environments.
Thats what cut the ave lifespan from 9 years to 6 years.

And this whole article seems like a political piece about the utility getting credits for promoting the use of CFLs. I don't see any legitimate studies backing up these claims. Just alot of anecdotal nonsense from individuals like we're seeing on this board.
It says many third world countries are also changing to CFLs because of the greater efficiency. So you would have to think CFLs are nothing but a grand conspiracy that everyone has been fooled into.
Why people are drawn to the irrational conspiracy theory stuff has always baffled me.

 

[paulo57509]

Originally Posted By: tpitcher

"Calif. Discovers Fluorescent Lightbulbs Burning Out Faster Than Predicted"

"State government concludes that it will not realize the savings it expected."


"It was all flowers and roses when the state of California launched its $548M USD program to help promote consumer use of compact fluorescent lamps. Manufacturers and utilities were onboard because they received bonus pay to enact rebate programs. Citizens were happy as they received cheap CFL bulbs, which promised to save them money on power expenses. And the politicians were happy, as they looked sufficiently "green" to satisfy the eco-minded voters.

Now that utopian vision of futuristic lighting has dissolved into rancor and disappointment. A multi-million dollar program by the state designed to evaluate the actual results has concluded that energy savings were not as good as expected and that utilities were being over-rewarded for their performance."





http://www.dailytech.com/Calif+Discovers...rticle20741.htm





Off Topic: This is similar to what is happening with the plastic shopping bag situation in CA. They essentially eliminated the use of paper bags in favor of plastic bags to save trees. Now they want to ban the plastic bags because they can't be easily recycled.

On Topic: I read someplace that it's frequent on-off cycles that kill CFL's.

 

[Papa Bear]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
Sorry to say in this house in 5.5 years we have gone through around 25 CFL's. And they are not inexpensive. Plus they need to be saved in a bucket for proper disposal.

Even worse than that, some on dual switches have been inadvertently been left powered and in particular the flood variety lamp base gets quite warm even though there is no evidence of visible photon output. Now that's stupid as well.

I have seen no true savings from CFL's.


All the CFL's that I buy at Canadian Tire have a 5,6 or 8 year warranty. I keep the packages and receipts and 2 or 3 times a year return the nearly full packages that have the burnouts in them. Canadian Tire cheerfully gives me new bulbs (and a new warranty ) so my costs for new bulbs for the last 8 years has been $0.00.
Can't complain about that ...

All the CFL's that I buy are made in China and most don't get to 25% of their warranty life.
I have my first CFL, a GE that I bought many years ago, it's made in Japan, and it still is going strong.

 

[Cutehumor]

no wonder the price of CFLs have dropped over the past few years, the making of these bulbs went to China. sad, alot of made in USA incan bulbs factories shut down.

 

[highmilegeguy]

Well, all I can say is my CFLs must be made with kryptonite.
Most are chinese made and have yet to begin popping like soap bubbles.

Since these high tech items are so bad, I think you guys should revert back to candles. All you do is [censored] about modern life so I recommend you get some wax and string and that way you won't have to get taken by all these conspiracies running rampant to steal your money, LOL.

 

[ryansride2017]

It's strange that some never have replaced a CFL bulk, like me, while many others have replaced many. Makes me wonder if there is something more to it like electrical spikes, etc. in certain areas.

 

[Virtuoso]

In our experience, CFL's do last longer but I don't think we get rated life out of some. I do remember an energy savings when I switched our home over to the CFL..and getting used to the light. It's different.

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: Papa Bear

All the CFL's that I buy are made in China and most don't get to 25% of their warranty life.


Thanks - no one here will do a warranty thing. I wonder why?

Anyway, I dumped the full 5 gallon pail at Thanksgiving time. That was 5 years worth. Here's the collection since:

I wonder if it is spikes or dips, but my power monitors and backups don't indicate anything too weird about our power here.

 

[MNgopher]

I am firmly in the camp that most CFL's do not last as long as claimed. I've only lived in this house for five years, and as the old bulbs burn out, I install CFL's in locations they should work. I've replace some of those three times now. Not impressed...

 

[CivicFan]

My experience with CFL-s is the opposite of Pablo's. We switched most of our bulbs to CFL-s around 2000 and they are still fully functional.

 

[tom slick]

I have 3 dead cfls right now that are less than 2 years old. 2 are PAR 38 shape ($8 each) and the other is a standard curly type.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

I've had mixed results with the compact fluorescent bulbs.

I started changing the bulbs over in 2001 or so when some of our "new with the house" incandescent bulbs started burning out. In areas where they frequently get turned off and on they only seemed to last a year or so. 3 way compact fluorescent bulbs also seemed to have a very short lifespan.

There are other areas that some of the bulbs are in the 6-8 year old range. Surprisingly, the areas that they seem to do well are outside (5 lanterns on the front of the house) and in the garage. A minor drawback-when it's cold they do take a minute or two before they're fully bright. These are lights we normally leave on when not at home, or I'll often leave the garage lights on for my wife if she's coming home after dark.

There are a couple other areas that the seem to do well-the light over the stairway is often left on, and lamps that get turned on in the evening and left on until we go to bed still have the 6-8 year old CFL's.

Just from my experience I'd have to conclude that they do well with "turn it on and leave it on" fixtures and lamps, but don't do well in areas where the light is frequently cycled. I also don't think the 3-way CFL's do well either.

For those applications I have a stockpile of regular incandescent bulbs that should last until something better comes along.

 

[mailman74]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
Sorry to say in this house in 5.5 years we have gone through around 25 CFL's. And they are not inexpensive. Plus they need to be saved in a bucket for proper disposal.

Even worse than that, some on dual switches have been inadvertently been left powered and in particular the flood variety lamp base gets quite warm even though there is no evidence of visible photon output. Now that's stupid as well.

I have seen no true savings from CFL's.
+1000%

 

[mailman74]

Just more of the windmill huggers non sense.

 

[QuadDriver]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
Sorry to say in this house in 5.5 years we have gone through around 25 CFL's. And they are not inexpensive. Plus they need to be saved in a bucket for proper disposal.

Even worse than that, some on dual switches have been inadvertently been left powered and in particular the flood variety lamp base gets quite warm even though there is no evidence of visible photon output. Now that's stupid as well.

I have seen no true savings from CFL's.


I have been running them for 8 years and still have most of them in use. not to mention, as I swtiched each house over, I saw my power bill drop by an avarage of 7-8$ a month....do the math.

 

[JHZR2]

I installed CFLs in the ceiling fan fixtures in my living room and kitchen when we moved in five years ago. Shortly thereafter I put them in our hallway stairs fixture.

To date Ive replaced one in the kitchen. None in the rest. The fan fixtures in the LR and kitchen dont have the best heat removal, they get hot and I think this is why the one failed. These fixtures are used every night for hours each.

Ive had a few others fail, I believe that all which have failed have been mounted base upwards.

Ive never bought a wal-mart bulb, and Im fairly sure that has something to do with it.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Pablo

Even worse than that, some on dual switches have been inadvertently been left powered and in particular the flood variety lamp base gets quite warm even though there is no evidence of visible photon output. Now that's stupid as well.


Huh? You have them turned off on a three-way switch setup and they stay hot? Sounds like a current leakage issue to me. If the lamp is electrically isolated via switching, and there is still current flowing, you have a problem.

If they are just left on during the day not adding much light, that is just a dumb issue that was existing long before CFLs...

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Pablo

Even worse than that, some on dual switches have been inadvertently been left powered and in particular the flood variety lamp base gets quite warm even though there is no evidence of visible photon output. Now that's stupid as well.


Huh? You have them turned off on a three-way switch setup and they stay hot? Sounds like a current leakage issue to me. If the lamp is electrically isolated via switching, and there is still current flowing, you have a problem.

If they are just left on during the day not adding much light, that is just a dumb issue that was existing long before CFLs...


No that's not it. Please re-read. And think about it. The CFL bulbs consume power even after they are burnt out. Power is left ON by someone in the family, because naturally because the bulb is not working......

Quote:
1) CFL burns out.
2) Power to light gets left on inadvertently before I have time to get ladder tomorrow and change the bulb.
3) 4 days later, unscrew dead bulb and base is quite warm.

That is a useless waste of energy!! Thank goodness not ALL CFL's do this.

This also could be obviously a problem in multi CFL fixtures and one or two burn out and it takes a week or two to change while the others are making diminished but enough light.