Energy saving lightbulbs

anotherbaldrick

Azari wrote: »

Again, there must be something amiss with your set-up.

There is nothing peculiar about me or my set-up . A ceiling fitting in the study with just a wall on/off switch in leafy Surrey. No dimmers , no loose connections , no maniac children, nothing. The low voltage halogens we have all around the place ,about 25 , the builder must have been getting a deal on them , but they last great. I think I have some which have never been replaced in 14 years although we had one case of a transformer that cooked. The mains GU10's though are a different matter I also have some in wall fitting spotlights and they are no better, just easier to get to to change.

Azari

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

There is nothing peculiar about me or my set-up .

So how do you explain the fact that your bulbs seem to go at around 40 to 80 times the rate that mine do?

(Of course, it could be that my mains voltage is very slightly lower than average - incandescent light bulbs are very sensitive to the voltage at which they are operated.)

moonrakerz

Azari wrote: »

So how do you explain the fact that your bulbs seem to go at around 40 to 80 times the rate that mine do?

There could be any number of reasons for this, such as a poor light switch in the circuit, something putting transient high/low spikes on your house supply (fridge/freezer/immersion ?).


Are the light fittings adequately ventilated ?

kirkie_2

So where is the best place to buy them?

anotherbaldrick

moonrakerz wrote: »

There could be any number of reasons for this, such as a poor light switch in the circuit, something putting transient high/low spikes on your house supply (fridge/freezer/immersion ?).


Are the light fittings adequately ventilated ?

I thought of this and bought and fitted a new decent quality switch unit. The bulbs are all in an open fitting securely suspended below the ceiling. I am not the only one who has this beef, put "GU10 bulbs blowing" into google

chocdonuty

energy saving though they may be, i just hate the light they give off, takes ages to get up to full brightness and it really is a horrible light, not to mention ugly! There are so many pretty light shades out there but they just look awful with a energy bulb in there Weirdly my brand new (well almost 2yr old) flat has both standard bayonet fitting bulbs and some new pin type bulbs which cost a fortune, look awful and i'm very limited as to where i can buy them. grrr!

Azari

moonrakerz wrote: »

There could be any number of reasons for this, such as a poor light switch in the circuit, something putting transient high/low spikes on your house supply (fridge/freezer/immersion ?).

That's basically what I said but Baldrick insists there is nothing amiss.

I know people do suffer difficulties with these bulbs but there must be a good reason why I have to replace my bulbs, on average, once every seven years some people seem to have to replace them monthly.

skiddlydiddly

Is the chap buying new bulbs all the time using branded ones?I fitted a 4 bulb strip(it had 50w halogen bulbs in the same dimensions as those GU10's) and it blew all 4 within 2 weeks.Replaced them with some Philips bulbs(dropped to 30w as they were actually making my head hot when near them) and not had one pop since, around 6 months ago.
Of course, the drop in wattage might be contributing but my money is on it being the cheapo bulbs it came with.

Wee_Pilsbury

Moved into my new flat 2 years ago and put in new energy saver bulbs to every lamp/centre light. Still going with no problem.

I really like them actually - it used to drive me mad when traditional lightbulbs seemed to burn out really quickly!

hillcats

We have low energy everywhere in the house except the loft conversion which still has the original 50w bulbs (ouch) but these are rarely used anyway as we use the low enery bulbs on the bedside tables 99% time.

We still have two old energy saving bulbs downstairs that have been in place since we moved into this house which is over six years ago and they are going strong. I also date the bulbs as I change them to check how long it has lasted and the average seems to be three years, which is not bad as our kids are always leaving lights on.