Energy Saving Light Bulbs

Ripperoo

slight invisible arcing can cause premature death

I reckon this was happening with me.

Until recently, I would replace for instance 3 blown bulbs in a four-bulb light fitting and it would be seemingly be OK. A couple of days would go by and when switched on at the wall, either one of the new bulbs would blow or one in the the other rooms.

Always happened when switching on the lights at the wall.

Upon further investigation after replacing around 30 of these bulbs throughout the year I figured summat wasn't right somewhere (I was just blaming poor quality bulbs).

Anyway, I removed one of the light fittings from the ceiling and had to tighten the screws in the block-connector as they didn't seem to be as tight as when I originally fitted the light fitting. ???

When I checked the other light fitting (which was blowing bulbs like they were going outta fashion), I originally must have tightened the screw in the connector block for the live wire too tight as the metal inside the connector block had a small crack in it (which probably meant there was a poor contact).

Changed the connector block and haven't had a blown bulb in 2 - 3 weeks, which if you knew the bulb history in my house is quite amazing.

So my advice if your bulbs keep blowing would be to check that the wiring connections at the ceiling and switches are good.

Whoa! Sorry about the long post!

shrek101

Many thanks guys for the help, I certainly check the connections. Although I can get 3 bulbs for about £3 its costed a small fortune so far with this one contact constantly blowing bulbs. it must of blown about 20-30 bulbs so far this year, whilst the other 2 on the same fitting have only been replaced once.

jstyles

Rpoints site has a post detailing how to get four free energy-saving lightbulbs if you receive certain benefits such as child tax credit. Click here for a look :http://www.rpoints.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=81475&start=0&ruid=1686

shanni

I received 2 of these energy bulbs recently from the freebies board. One of them works fine but the other kept 'flashing' every few seconds (when it was turned off) so I took it out of the light scocket. Faulty maybe? I've put a normal bulb in the light now and there are no probs.

alanobrien

Just found out maplins are doing a bogof on energy saving bulbs
until 22 Jan.

15w 8000 hours bulbs are now 2.99 for 2.
Maplin code is N01BX
You can buy in store or online.

Unfortunately this offer seems to be limited to bayonet fitting bulbs only.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/

markie27

Does anyone know where I can get energy saving light bulbs cheapest or even a freebie, I want to get them mainly to reduce electricity costs but it seems pointless to pay expensive prices for the bulb only to get it back on the electric bill, any thoughts????

I found my new favourite lightbulb site through another thread (http://forum.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=fiddly;action=display;num=1103656238 )

THese people have a cool little calculatory thingy where you can see exactly how much one of their bulbs will save you per year:

http://www.lightbulbs-direct.com/article_view.asp?ArticleID=4

Their bulbs seem good value - got some wickid little corkscrew shaped ones as well! ;D