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When you transitioned from incandescent bulbs to CFLs, did you do it all at once, or did you let the incandescents burn out before replacing them?
It's a question of frugality vs needing to keep up with the latest innovations ASAP.
I've got a friend who has a healthy struggle with OCD, meaning he is VERY particular & anxious about every little detail, but it's not quite bad enough to be considered a "disorder."
He's unusually verbal & active about replacing every incandescent he still comes across...he has taken care of all his family's lights in all their houses.
The last two rooms in his own house that give him anxiety are the kitchen & bedroom because:
1) the old incandescents are still going strong;
2) he's so particular about energy efficiency & frugality that he can't even bring himself to turn those incandescent lights on in the first place!
3) if he rarely turns them on, they'll never burn out!
4) if they never burn out, he'll never get to put in the CFLs that he bought months ago!
So, on second thought, maybe he does have a disorder. But he's so darn cute.
On Burn-Out in high usage area I replace incandescent bulbs with CFL's. In Low Usage area I replace them with incandescent bulbs,
The cost/saving of putting in a CFL's just does not pay for some lights that get used maybe 10 minutes a month. (Various Closets, Attic, Lamps in rooms that never get turned on).
I also have a stock of incandescent bulbs that I need to use up, so those bulbs are a sunk cost. (Bought a bunch from my nephew, who was selling them for his soccer team.) So i might as well use them.
We resisted CFLs because of the danger to small pets. By the same token, we converted to LEDs top-to-bottom as soon as affordable LEDs became available (at that point mainly to have a reason to leave CFLs behind).
11-24-2015, 07:19 AM
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I replaced every bulb in my place with LEDs when I moved in. The old incandescents are in a box in a closet and will be reinstalled when I move out.
It seems like the CFL's don't put out nearly the light of incandescent's, somewhat defeating the purpose, even if they do save money. One could also use candles and save a ton.
The 'new' LED's provide more light, and cost less to run, but, cost an arm and a leg, however, they are supposed to last forever. We'll see. We're going this way.
We resisted CFLs because of the danger to small pets. By the same token, we converted to LEDs top-to-bottom as soon as affordable LEDs became available (at that point mainly to have a reason to leave CFLs behind).
Yes, thank you for mentioning LEDs. I forgot to mention them in OP. We're current with those too.
It seems like the CFL's don't put out nearly the light of incandescent's, somewhat defeating the purpose, even if they do save money.
This is a bit like saying that a 1 quart bottle doesn't hold as much liquid as a gallon jug. The amount of light is measured in lumens. A typical 75 watt incandescent bulb put out about 1200 lumens. There are CFLs that put out 1200 lumens. It is just a matter of buyers making their purchasing decisions based on a comprehensive and honest understanding of their own needs and based on an informed understanding of what's being offered (assuming an honest and comprehensive description is made available), without allowing typical American consumer bargain-blindness drive them to make poor purchasing decisions.
The industry did advertise a lot of bulbs as "XX watt equivalent" when they didn't put out anywhere near the lumens as the typical XX watt incandescent. It took many years for the industry to be forced into being more honest in their packaging. Interestingly, now that they're forced to do so, it seems that their advertised equivalencies are more accurate. (It could also have to do with the fact that it is less expensive to offer a high lumen CFL these days, both because economies of scale have brought prices down and because the increasing popularity and decreasing prices of LEDs is forcing the price of CFLs down. I wonder how many CFL manufacturers are worrying about making back their original investment in ramping up production of CFLs, now that it seems possible that sales will start leveling off and perhaps start declining, in favor of LEDs.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by jghorton
The 'new' LED's provide more light, and cost less to run, but, cost an arm and a leg, however, they are supposed to last forever.
LEDs won't suffer the same reputation as CFLs (of being too dim "defeating the purpose") because the expectation that packaging clearly display the lumens was already established before LEDs became a viable alternative financially.
First of all, I never totally transitioned to CFL's. I hated the light quality and the look of those bulbs. I used them in some very high use fixtures where quality of light wasn't quite as important or where there was shade that softened the light a bit and hid the ugly corkscrew bulb.
However, I find LED lights much to my liking. We've slowly, over the course of a year or so, more or less totally transitioned to LED's. We only have a very few Incandescent bulbs left in our home and NO CFL's.
LED's have many advantages over CFL's, If you break a CFL inside your home, it more or less becomes a hazardous waste site and there are specific and detailed protocols you need to follow to clean it up. Granted, most don't follow them, but I would assume there are procedures for a reason. If you break an incandescent or LED bulb...oh well, get the broom or vacuum cleaner and in two minutes you're done cleaning it up.
When transitioning to LED's we looked for sales, rebates etc... The latest deal I got was getting the flood lights for our various ceiling "can" fixtures for $2.99 each. I purchased about 20 of them and our puzzle is now basically complete.
We have a few closets left with incandescent bulbs. The lights are on for two minutes a day max. It doesn't really make economical sense to replace those until they burn out in 10 or 15 years.....lol.
Before the old bulbs were 'all but' taken off the market, I went out stocked up on a virtual lifetime supply of the excellent 'Reveal' bulbs.
Unbeknownst to me, my husband was out doing the exact same thing on the same day!
We are both older, enjoy reading, and can definitely tell the difference in quality of the lighting.
So now, one of these days, when the good old bulbs are illegal --and those of my generation who prefer the quality of light from them -- are in distress, you'll see me on some disreputable streetcorner going "Psst. Yeah, you. I can make you a deal. I got 40 and 60 watt. I got 75 watt. I can even turn you on to a 100 watt Reveal in the original box"
First of all, I never totally transitioned to CFL's. I hated the light quality and the look of those bulbs.
I wonder about this. When I first started buying LEDs I hated them. Then I discovered the impact of color temperature - 2700K @ 1200 lumens is much nicer in our home than 5000K @ 1200 lumens. Same amount of light - just nicer. I had it in my head that CFLs never gave us that choice, that CFLs were always that harsh, cool white light. However, I see now that there are 2700K @1200 lumens CFLs. I'm not sure I've ever seen a "soft white" CFL in action in person. Maybe they are newer (i.e., maybe there are CFLs now that Jasper would like, which weren't available a few years ago)?
Quote:
Originally Posted by jasper1372
LED's have many advantages over CFL's, If you break a CFL inside your home, it more or less becomes a hazardous waste site and there are specific and detailed protocols you need to follow to clean it up. Granted, most don't follow them, but I would assume there are procedures for a reason.
There are. We have broken CFLs a couple of times. (It was after the second breakage that they were banned from our home.) First priority for us: Get the 7 pound cat as far away from the breakage as possible, in a room with the window open to the outside. Then we would worry about the 15 pound cat. Big difference in cats - given what I've read, that could mean a very big difference in possible impact to their respective health.
We're not quite so old yet that we have anything to worry about from minor exposure to one or two broken CFLs. But I'd be extremely concerned with infants. I'd also keep youths and teens away, but without any real concern about it seriously adversely affecting their health.
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