Flourescent Replacement Bulbs

[BradC]

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We just bought two CFL Sylvania 3500K, and the color is absolutely horrid. Wouldn't want to stay in the same room with a CFL for longer than 5 minutes. CFL are good for a utility room, but for general inside ambient lighting I think I'll stick with incandescent. Halogen is actually my favorite lighting which is slightly more efficient than incandescent. The CFL though, I don't know how people can live with them. The color temperature is worse than being in an office building with wall to wall fluorescent tubes.

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Most of our CFLs are soft white (2700K). We have a couple that are Cool White (4100K). Daylight bulbs would be in the 5000K to 6350K range.

Both types of CFLs we have are great for what we use them for. We have cut about 100 kWh of electricity use per month just by changing from incandescent bulbs to CFLs.

 

[1sttruck]

Color temperature is different from color rendering, and a lot of CFLs have humble color rendering. As a number of people have said, try one or two out before buying a bunch. I like trying CFL and regular bulbs in one room, to see how the CFL color looks. 100 watt equivalent CFLs are about 23 watts. The twin 40 watt FL fixtures in the garage, using GE kitchen and bath lamps, put out plenty of light.

 

[Jim 5]

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I wonder how much electricity the city is saving since they switched every traffic light to LED?

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Forget about the savings in electricity. Think about how many city workers a city like L.A. has out there changing incandescent light bulbs in traffic signal lights. Not to mention double overtime if an important intersection bulb goes out at 2 am or worse 5:30 pm.

I'm guessing that the savings in high-paid city worker labor, and the savings in traffic issues due to bulbs lasting 100x longer is where the real payoff is.

 

[Trucku]

I am sure they will pay for themselves very quickly with all of the advantages of it. I am sure research, production and installation must have been huge $s.

 

[tom slick]

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I wonder how much electricity the city is saving since they switched every traffic light to LED?

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The incandescent traffic light bulbs are 150W. The LED ones are 10W. That should be enough to figure it out.

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The lifespan of the bulb probably outweighs even the energy savings. it costs an amazing amount of money to maintain the lighting on the streets. I was at a lighting seminar where there was a discussion on street light bulbs that were over $300 each, and still used about the same amount of electricity but they lasted something like 8 years and municipalities still came out money ahead.

 

[brianl703]

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Not to mention double overtime if an important intersection bulb goes out at 2 am or worse 5:30 pm.

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If that ever happens, it's due to mismanagement. First, they can usually replace bulbs before they fail--they know how long they last. In addition to that, traffic lights generally have at least two signal faces for through movements, so if one burns out it isn't that big of a deal.

That being said, I once saw a VDOT-maintained signal that had 2 of the 3 green lights burned out. A few days later the intersection was in flash mode--I suppose the remaining green light burned out. When that happens, the controller senses the fault and puts the intersection into flash mode.

 

[brianl703]

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In fact I am considering changing all of my 60watt incadescent bulbs to 100 watt bulbs, and the 100's to 150's.

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Make sure your fire insurance is paid up if you're stucking 100 watt bulbs into a 60-watt fixture. (Most are only rated for 60-watt bulbs).

I saw the effects of putting two 100 watt bulbs into a fixture rated for two 60 watt bulbs.

The neutral wire is supposed to be white, not brown!

Glad I caught that before the insulation really started deteriorating. Then I might have had to run a new piece (or pieces, since that junction box has about 4 cables going into it).

I replaced that fixture with a 48" two-tube flourescent.

 

[keith]

Pick your poison:

The CFL mercury nightmare

"It's quite odd that environmentalists have embraced the CFL, which cannot now and will not in the foreseeable future be made without mercury."

 

[Squishy]

I think of it like nuclear power plants. Sure, there's that pesky nuclear waste to deal with, but it's still cleaner overall than coal-fired plants.

 

[CivicFan]

Actually, the modern CFL-s contains a tiny amount of mercury. The amount is equivalent to the ink that covers the ball on the ball point pen's tip. I wonder why it was made into a nightmare as the directions for a broken CFL are not very complicated: scoop the pieces with sturdy pieces of paper and dispose them in a bag. The post important thing is not to brathe the dust.

 

[NJC]

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Pop them in the microwave oven. Incandescent bulbs do really interesting things in there...

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I know that's one way of checking door leaks on microwave ovens. And if it glows inside the oven it must be absorbing energy which must means it could explode like an egg if left in too long.

See this video (no explosions, sorry.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woBoHKLoJxI

 

[benjamming]

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Actually, the modern CFL-s contains a tiny amount of mercury. The amount is equivalent to the ink that covers the ball on the ball point pen's tip. I wonder why it was made into a nightmare as the directions for a broken CFL are not very complicated: scoop the pieces with sturdy pieces of paper and dispose them in a bag. The post important thing is not to brathe the dust.

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It's a nightmare because:
"The DEP sent a specialist to Bridges’ house to test for mercury contamination. The specialist found mercury levels in the bedroom in excess of six times the state’s “safe” level for mercury contamination of 300 billionths of a gram per cubic meter."

Also,

"Consider the procedure offered by the Maine DEP’s Web page entitled, “What if I accidentally break a fluorescent bulb in my home?”

Don’t vacuum bulb debris because a standard vacuum will spread mercury-containing dust throughout the area and contaminate the vacuum. Ventilate the area and reduce the temperature. Wear protective equipment like goggles, coveralls and a dust mask.

Collect the waste material into an airtight container. Pat the area with the sticky side of tape. Wipe with a damp cloth. Finally, check with local authorities to see where hazardous waste may be properly disposed."

Is this correct - "As each CFL contains 5 milligrams of mercury, at the Maine “safety” standard of 300 nanograms per cubic meter, it would take 16,667 cubic meters of soil to “safely” contain all the mercury in a single CFL."

 

[1sttruck]

"Make sure your fire insurance is paid up if you're stucking 100 watt bulbs into a 60-watt fixture. (Most are only rated for 60-watt bulbs)."

Yup, and that's one of the reasons why CFLs are nice as you can get a higher output bulb into a fixture, provided it fits dimensionally.

 

[brianl703]

Mercury: EPA’s website contains the following information:

“Breaking one fever thermometer is unlikely to threaten the health of the consumer. Proper cleanup of spilled mercury and adequate ventilation can minimize the risks even further.” http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/bnsdocs/hg/thermfaq.html
Since the average four-foot fluorescent lamp manufactured in 2001 contains 8 milligrams, or about 100 times less mercury than is contained in a typical 700-milligram fever thermometer, and a typical compact fluorescent lamp may contain even less mercury, lamp breakage would appear to cause virtually no risk of harm. However, the legal requirements for disposal may be quite different.

http://www.nema.org/lamprecycle/broken-lamps.doc

 

[javacontour]

I got to benefit from my CF bulbs last night.

Some fuzzy and now toasty woodland creature took out my power last night, so I got to fire up my generator and test my backfeed outlet and procedures last night for about 2.5 hours until the power was restored to my neighbor's and my home.

So I turned off the main, cabled the generator to the 30A outlet I wired to feedback power into my home, started the generator and then turned on the 30A outlet to energize my break from "inside" my home.

My home came to life again!

I figured I had 20+ bulbs fired up and all but a few were CF bulbs. I've used replacements for 60 and 75 watt bulbs so let's just say each bulb drew about 20W instead of 60 or 75.

If those bulbs were 60W, then that would have been 1200W of a 5000W generator. Instead, I estimate that I was drawing less than 400W to light my home.

The few places where I had standard bulbs, such as in my bathroom, I unscrewed 3/4's of the bulbs so I only fired up one 60W bulb when I went to "Mission Control"

I was just happy as a clam to demonstrate that my idea about powering my home worked as I never tested this since I wired the outlet and built the cable back last December.

It also saved me from exercising the generator tomorrow on the first. I figure it got a good workout last night.

 

[BrianWC]

All my bulbs are CFLs now. Well, except for my hall dimmer light and main bath vanity bulbs. Year over year, even with an extra window unit I added to give that meat locker feel to my bedroom, I'm showing lower energy usage. I've got a nice little 1,700 square ft. bungalow and with two kids, lights are on everywhere. It has made a difference, environmental effects or not. BTW, my Wal-Mart stocks the 6 packs of the 60 watt equivalent bulbs by GE for maybe $6-7? I like the light. I think the biggest difference may be in my kitchen, where I went from 4 100 watt flood incandescents to 4 26 watt CFL floods. Bedroom bath also had two floods I swapped out. Now, I hate the warmup time of the floods but otherwise, the difference is unnoticeable except for my electric bill.