Energy Saving GU10s

sunflower76

I have 30 240v GU10 lamps throughout our home :eek: They must be costing me a blooming fortune! I suppose the only saving grace is that they are in the bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen so they aren't constantly on.

I've been putting off replacing them as they are only a year old and it hardly seems moneysaving to bin them all and buy replacements and also becasue I've read that energy saving versions are quite poor. Added to this, the bedroom ones are dimmerable.

So, as we tighten our belts, I fiigure that we really should get at least some of them changed. What are my options and how much will I save? I guess I could easily change all of the landing / stairs to energy saving ones as they don't need to be bright and the kitchen and bathroom I reckon I could change two of the four in each room at least. I'm less confident about the bedrooms as they need to be dimmerable - is there an option for this?

So, based on my new BG rates of 20.595p pkwh (first 125 units) and 9.500 how much will it mean in real money? :rolleyes: I need to know that I can save the same as I fork out as they aren't cheap.

Thanks for any help - I just can't get my brain to function!!!

matty2767

i got megaman bulbs some 7w and some 9w. they do dimmable versions as well. thse areslightly more expensive than ones from b&q but they give good a colour temperature.

digimortal_2

i have replaced our gu10s with white LED gu10s.. *1.2watt each.. but not as bright as the standard 50watt.. think you can buy a pack of 2 for about £8 @ B&Q...

checkout www.imeasure.com to track your elec use.. have a read here to find out what other people are doing to cut the cost down etc..
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=980757

daveyjp

We have megamand replacements in the kitchen. They do take a while to get to full light - 20-30 seconds. Bit of a problem if you are just nipping into the room.

dgp1000

I've tried them in one room and to be honest I got so many complaints about it being too dark that I took them out again. What I have done though is fit lower wattage standard GU10s and no-one seems to have noticed.

ccygirl

I recently tried 3.2w LED GU10 Bulbs. The light was useless, I was very disappointed. When they started to fail within a week the company i purchased them from agreed to take the whole lot back. They were £10 each.

I then tried GU10 CFL low energy bulbs, they are 7w each and they give off enough light although a bit slow to start with. They were £6 each.

I think LED's are the future of energy saving lights as they are improving all the time. We just need to wait until they become cheaper!

Magentasue

I've been thinking about this today and just came across this:

http://www.bettergeneration.co.uk/efficient-appliances/comparing-gu10-energy-saving-ceiling-lights.html

I think there's a lot to be said for personal recommendation.We have biobulbs in the kitchen, bathroom, landing and hall now. We also have megaman bulbs in downstairs and bedroom lamps. Slowly getting there. The lamps are fine but the biobulbs were a disappointment. People raved about them so I got one. The light was ... different. At first i didn't like it and everybody complained. After a few days, we got used to it and got some more. Now they're normal to us. Can't describe the difference - it just seemed weird.

What we couldn't get used to were the really cheap energy saving bulbs = the first ones to come out. So dull it was depressing and they ended up in a charity shop.

windows414

My Gas Central heating boiler is now past its sell by date, and I am looking to replace it my question is that gas has historicaly always been the cheaper option but with the large hike in gas prices which is now the best option a Gas Boiler or an Elect Boiler to Run my heating System, your input would be appreciated

Magentasue

windows414 wrote: »

My Gas Central heating boiler is now past its sell by date, and I am looking to replace it my question is that gas has historicaly always been the cheaper option but with the large hike in gas prices which is now the best option a Gas Boiler or an Elect Boiler to Run my heating System, your input would be appreciated

Personal preference tells me it's got to be gas. There are other threads about this, like these:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1191487
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1080191&highlight=electric+boiler

jd87

windows414 wrote: »

My Gas Central heating boiler is now past its sell by date, and I am looking to replace it my question is that gas has historicaly always been the cheaper option but with the large hike in gas prices which is now the best option a Gas Boiler or an Elect Boiler to Run my heating System, your input would be appreciated

Hi welcome to MSE forums. Just for future reference, when you want to ask a question about a new topic you have to create a new thread by clicking the "new thread" button at the top of the page with the list of topics. As the thread title says, this page is for talking about GU10 energy saving bulbs.