Are you happy with your fluorescent light bulbs

[Roderick_Femm]

@Anne Neville

They’re a pain to deal with if they break.

Mr. Neville recently knocked over a lamp in our bedroom, breaking the compact fluorescent bulb. He said we should sleep in our guest room that night, because of the possibility that the bulb released mercury vapor when it broke.

I like compact fluorescents, otherwise- I can put a brighter bulb in a lamp that only takes a 40-watt bulb, which is good. But I’m not sure they’re good for klutzes like me and Mr. Neville, on the whole…

I love CFLs, but this is the part that gets me. We’ve had them so long that they are starting to burn out, and I have no idea how we’re supposed to dispose of them. There are warnings not to just dump them, you have to recycle them in some special way because of the mercury inside. Where? How? All the advertising on TV about CFLs doesn’t mention that part.

I suppose I’ll start accumulating burned-out CFLs in a recyclable paper bag until I have enough to worry about.

Roddy

[What_Exit]

@Roderick Femm

I love CFLs, but this is the part that gets me. We’ve had them so long that they are starting to burn out, and I have no idea how we’re supposed to dispose of them. There are warnings not to just dump them, you have to recycle them in some special way because of the mercury inside. Where? How? All the advertising on TV about CFLs doesn’t mention that part.

I suppose I’ll start accumulating burned-out CFLs in a recyclable paper bag until I have enough to worry about.

Roddy

I have one burnt out at the moment. I save it with my dead batteries and eventually make a trip to the recycling center to dispose of it. I am still hoping the some of the stores will take them back. I know some stores take dead batteries already. As I was already saving up dead batteries, saving the CFLs does not bug me much.

Jim

[MeanJoe]

@What Exit?

What type of bulbs did you try?

My sister hates the standard high intensity open bulb CFL. I started using the softer, enclosed bulbs in many of my fixtures and she did not realize that it was a CFL until one day when I switched on the kitchen light and it was a little slow to start. The light from these bulbs is not harsh at all but you need to put up with a dim start before they fully warm up. They were not expensive, I got 3 for $9 IRC. The full warm up, I would guess took about a minute.

I have many standards CFLs that pretty much turn on instantly and then warm up to full in 20-30 seconds. I have one older one in my bathroom that does have that annoying short delay before it turns on at all. It warms up quickly at least.

The technology is changing rapidly. There are different types to suit your needs.

The energy savings really adds up as the bulbs go into most lights in the house.

Jim

@Jurph

I’ll second What Exit? and urge you to look for bulbs with a different color temperature. Some brands do have a 60Hz flicker, and many have a slow warmup period, but the glare and washed-out color are a function of the bulb’s color temp. I’m not insisting that there’s a bulb out there that you will like, but I don’t think you have seen everything CFLs have to offer.

The packaging that came with the bulbs is long gone so I do not know that the color temperature or jigawatts of the bulbs are. They are both enclosed bulbs, not the bare “coil” style. I do recall some type of wording about being natural light or some-such thing.

As for the trial-and-error approach, sorry but at the price of CFLs trial-and-error would almost immediately negate any energy cost savings for the next few years.

MeanJoe

[DrDeth]

For those of you that have problems with CFLs but still want to save scads of energy and have a bulb that lasts nearly forever, try a LED bulb. They have none of the problems of CFLs, however, they are very expensive. And they are rather hard to get in brighter sizes, too.

[What_Exit]

@DrDeth

For those of you that have problems with CFLs but still want to save scads of energy and have a bulb that lasts nearly forever, try a LED bulb. They have none of the problems of CFLs, however, they are very expensive. And they are rather hard to get in brighter sizes, too.

I look forward to LED bulbs, but I am waiting for the prices to drop and options to increase.

I am looking into picking up some LED Christmas lights however, that technology is mature enough and it appears they are not too pricey. I already use a 9 LED flashlight as my reading light at night. One set of 3 AAA batteries (rechargeable) lasts 10-12 days and I don’t disturb my wife this way.

Jim

[DrDeth]

@What Exit?

I look forward to LED bulbs, but I am waiting for the prices to drop and options to increase.

I got a couple of low lumens bulbs (at reasonable prices) which I use in hard to get to, nearly always on locations. Try eBay.