Energy-saving bulbs aren't compatible with dimmer switches - does anyone know why?

esuhl

peter999 wrote: »

Incredible paying £10 through the nose for dimmable bulb, when old 10p bulbs were perfectly ok & have been with us for last 100+ years.

Progress or an excuse to make things more complicated & make money !!??

peter999

The old bulbs may have cost 10p in the shop... but you're ignoring the other costs! Incandescent bulbs are around 2% efficient - for every £1 of electricity that is actually used to light your room, you spend £50 in wasted energy! I'm not sure about the "energy-saving" (CFL) bulbs, but LEDs are 80% efficient, so each £1 of light energy costs you just £1.25.

And that's still ignoring environmental costs...

karin

We have a dimmer in our bedroom and I have stocked up and got about a dozen of the old bulbs so that should last some years as we only change the bulb about once a year.
All the other lights use the new ones.
Last week in Tesco I got 5 of the new ones for £1 which is very cheap.

isofa

Found all the cheap Tesco bulbs to be utterly useless (the enclosed type). They are so slow to start up, emitting a purple/pink glow for minutes before they "warm" up, and wouldn't recommend them to anyone. We brought a batch, and they are just a complete waste of money. I additionally can't use them to work/read by as the flicker triggers migraines.

Remember if they are to be used close to you, you really should ensure you are using the "closed" ones which are secondary encased in glass (they look like a traditional lightbulb) as this traps UV, which the energy saving "stick" bulbs emit, details from the Health Protection Agency: http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1223534061375

Avoriaz

esuhl wrote: »

The old bulbs may have cost 10p in the shop... but you're ignoring the other costs! Incandescent bulbs are around 2% efficient - for every £1 of electricity that is actually used to light your room, you spend £50 in wasted energy! I'm not sure about the "energy-saving" (CFL) bulbs, but LEDs are 80% efficient, so each £1 of light energy costs you just £1.25.

And that's still ignoring environmental costs...

Although in winter and other cold periods that energy isn't necessarily wasted as it contributes to heating the house.