I’ve been a fan of compact fluorescent bulbs for normal household use for a year or two. A bit of research, coupled with a hellaciously hot summertime has pushed me to make the radical change. Almost all lamps in my home are now compact fluorescent.
While I am a cameraman and extremely fond of true daylight coloring, I bow to the pressures of the family and mostly purchase “Warm White” colored lamps.
For those uninitiated, this is what they look like. There are also some that have vertical bent tubes instead of corkscrew but I am fond of the corkscrew ones.
It’s taken a bit of doing. Many lampshades in the house are the type that have round springy clips that allow you to press them gently directly onto a standard bulb for mounting. The compact fluorescents are very delicate, and cannot take any pressure at all. They are also physically incompatible with said shades. So, a bit of money is spent up front finding the right shades and buying shade harps to accomodate a corkscrewed bulb.
Having said this, I love the light. They come up to full temperature and intensity in about two minutes and throw a remarkable amound of bright light. Additionally, a 75 watt throw bulb draws roughly 19 watts of electricity. The bulbs last roughly 5 years. The difference in cost between standard bulbs and these compact fluorescents makes them an efficient choice, and one that will pay off eventually.
I’ve found a supplier of 300 watt Daylight color temperature bulbs. They’re gargantuan, I saw them in use at a colleagues home a few months ago. Two of those bulbs ( which likely drew about 60 watts per bulb ) illuminated a huge living room with daylight-feeling light. Can’t quite go there yet in my house- I don’t have a fixture with a large enough globe to cover the compact fluorescent that big. But it’s tempting.
It is not just cause they are cool. We are animals, whose eyes are constructed to work best in full-spectrum daylight. At the dusk end of the day, our eyes struggle. ( AAA stats, if I can find em, support this claim because there is a real ballooning of traffic accidents at dusk, when there is marginal light in the sky but few cars have lights on and streetlights are not yet on ). Our eyes are least stressed when using this kind of light. While not all the bulbs are full-spectrum, some ARE 5600 Kelvin daylight bulbs- and I can feel how easy it is to be in a room lit with them.
Look for A shaped bulbs. The flourescent bits are enclosed in a glass or plastic bulb which will accomodate the lampshade holder. There are also candelabra base bulbs available for smaller lamps and fixtures.
The latest thing I have seen is dimmable fluorescents. I haven’t tried them yet (kinda pricey), but I’m looking hard at them because I have installed dimmers in my bathrooms to avoid that 300 watt wake-up blast first thing in the morning.
We use three of them in the dining room, which gets daily use, and have had no trouble with them.
Now’s the time to get 'em. We bought the first one in the mid-90s, and they were quite expensive (I want to say $15-$20 each, but I can’t believe that). Now, you can buy them packaged six to a blister pack.
We’re even replacing the bulbs on the bathroom vanity, which are softball-sized globes. Two of the six are florries, which looks kind of odd at first (they’re dimmer than the regulars). But after a few minutes, you can’t tell them apart.
Egg-zackly. I replaced 6 softball types in our bathroom too. Less wattage draw for more luments. It feels like alchemy, all things being equal.
I would suspect that any ceiling fan that is slightly out of balance would vibrate to the point where you would crack the corkcscrew tube and wreck the bulb immediately. The fans will be my Waterloo. I hope it goes well.
Yep, I got 4 to a blister pack at Lowe’s for $ 7.99. 60 Watt, warm color. Amazing. I too remember first seeing them. As is always the case, when something goes from a boutique item to mass-appeal the price drops precipitously.
NurseCarmen, I didn’t know that. It won’t make me shy away ( and besides, I’m almost done with the whole darned house ). If I can get 4 years instead of 5, with the bulbs eventually warming up to full brightness, I’ll be happy. If I get 5 years, I’ll be ecstatic. If I get 6 years, I’ll be orgiastic but that might not be the healthiest thing for me to be.
I date my lamps with a Sharpie just out of curiousity, to see how long they last. A quick check of mine showed that the oldest, the one in my bedside lamp, is now over 7 years old. Still works great, and I read a bit in bed nearly every night before I go to sleep.
A great place to check for lamps online is www.bulbman.com. They have damn near every lamp in stock and will ship overnight if necessary. Plus they’re in LV, and they’re way cool people.
For years I’ve had problems with lightbulbs burning out. The longest a regular incandescent lightbulb would last was about a month. I was replacing roughly a lightbulb a day.
About 2 years ago, I saw the compact fluorescents on sale for about $12 for 3 of 'em so I bought a pack. Since then, the prices have come way down and I started replacing all of the bulbs with them.
At this point, I think I’ve gotten every bulb in the house, except maybe a few lamps that never get turned on. I’ve never had to replace one. The oldest of these bulbs is still working and I haven’t noticed any increasing warmup delay. They all seem a little dim when I first turn them on.
Each of the CF bulbs I’ve bought are 13 watt Sylvanias and they light the rooms well with the usual two or three lamps turned on.
I also dated several of mine in pencil. The oldest ones I can see right now are from November of 2003.
I only have one lamp in the house that has the type of shade that clamps onto the bulb and I didn’t have any problem with it except that the shade can get knocked off the bulb pretty easily. The ones I buy are the corkscrew type and they have a hard plastic coating on them. They don’t seem to break easily.
Anyway, I highly recommend these bulbs. I’m going to buy a few of the slightly higher wattage bulbs for some of the darker areas in the house now that the price has come down pretty low and they’re widely available.
I wish I could replace all the bulbs in my house, but sadly the flourescents still flicker (totally imperceptibly to me) and 10 minutes spent under one will give my wife a migraine.
I got some 60W equivalents at IKEA, they are the same size and shape as a standard A bulb, with a plastic bulb around the works. They work pretty good, but I found that if I replaced all 3 bulbs in my overhead light, and used it as the only lighting, everything had a strange color cast, was a bit dim seeming, and it takes too long to light up. So, I use 2 fluorescents and 1 incandescent, and moved the 3rd bulb to my kitchen fixture where it’s now 1F and 1I. Since these lights are on a lot, it’s nice to get some savings.
I still think the 60W incandescents are a bit brighter than the fluorescent equivalent, or it just seems that way.
From an environmental point of view, nobody can touch these things. Imagine the national energy savings if they were in widespread use.
That said, I’m not a huge fan of the kind of light they produce. It seems to give everything a greenish cast. Certain paint colors in my house look quite awful with these bulbs. But certainly for instances where you just need light and don’t care about esthetics (closets, for example), compact fluorescents are the way to go. Also, you can mix and match, where you have a couple of flourescents for the energy savings, and a couple of incandescents to give you the light quality you need.
Incidentally, Home Depot has been selling off the 60/75-watt type cheap. Go get some!
I replaced most of the bulbs in my house, including on all of the ceiling fans, about a year or two ago. They’ve held up fine, even on the fans. I’m used to the funny colored light now, and it’s nice to not have to change any bulbs. I didn’t know they existed in a vanity size; I’m going to have to check that out.
I see your 7 years, and raise you…let’s see, got the lamp in 1983 at the latest, 22 years for my fluorescent bedside lamp. I’m not saying every fluorescent bulb is going to last that long, but hot damn, when they last, they really last.
We’re still in the process of changing over in our house. I have no complaints about the fluorescents - you just have to get used to your lights taking a second or two to come on. No big deal.
I’ve thought about these lights but haven’t got any yet. I really do like “natural” colored lighting though. From the first post it seems there are some that mimic natural light- is that just in the intensity of output or is it in the light color? Is the color better than traditional overhead fluorescents?
My kitchen light eats bulbs, like once every month or two. When I saw one of those fluorescents with the package that says it lasts 5 years, I bought it (about $5). It lasted two months. I’ll be happy to use them once I get that kitchen wiring thing straightened out.
( Generalization Forthcoming ) Daylight at noon in North America is roughly 5600 degrees Kelvin. ( don’t you Kelvinators come leaping on me, we in the film and light and light color temperature biz don’t say " Kelving 5600". We just don’t. So there. )
Sunset in North America comes in at anywhere from 6000 K on up, as the color bleeds from the sky.
Tungsten light is at 3400 Kelvin. MOST Fluorescent tube bulbs- and I say most, as in yer average " GE Cool White 40 watt " vanilla type o bulb, comes in at about 4200 Kelvin. Things get ugly fast when flurescent tubes are mixed and matched, because the color temperature shifts as someone walks across the room. Feh, I say.
Anyway, some Compact Fluorescents say they are " Daylight Color 5600 " and darn it, they are. I am sitting under two of them right now and the color is quite calming. Not too cold, but natural daylight-feeling.
Now, before one thinks I am mis-representing. I know for a fact that the Duro-Test light bulb company of New Jersey makes a full-spectrum 5600 Daylight fluorescent bulb. They have for years. In addition to being excellent Grow-Lights, they are used in banks to create light panels that help folks fight SAD ( Seasonal Affective Disorder). Exposure to true daylight each day has proved to ameliorate symptoms. This cite says that daylight is 5000 Kelvin. Video cameras and film stocks are both rated for white daylight in North America to come in at 5600 Kelvin. Interesting…
( Small aside. When shooting closer to the equator, the intensity and quality of the light is radically different. It’s amazing to meter and quantify. But I digress… )
I suspect these compact fluorescents are measurable with a digitial color meter but while they may hit 5600 degrees Kelvin, they likely do NOT produce the full spectrum of light as the Duro-Test Lights do. They look nice but wouldn’t have the same “curative powers” as Grow Lights would. IMHO, that is.
Interesting you mention intensity and color. I’ve found the compact fluorescents in Daylight 5600 Kelvin only in the 75 watt or 100 watt or 150 watt or 300 watt sizes. Haven’t seen them yet in the wildly popular and easy to find blisterpacks of 60 watt bulbs. No idea why.
CFs are available in R30 and R40 floodlamp styles. I also have PAR38 (outdoor flood) CFs in my outside motion sensor fixture. They work great. Of course, if you have low voltage track lighting, you’re out of luck.
Here’s a link to the Sunwave Full Spectrum CF. They call 5500 K midday lighting and claim restorative powers for this bulb.
I’ll be happy to use them once I get that kitchen wiring thing straightened out.
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