Are halogen bulbs expensive to run

Likestowrite

I've just bought a new living room light fitting from M&S on-line. It has 6 bulbs in glass shades.
http://www.marksandspencer.com/swirl-6-arm-flush/p/p22319221 )

It said in the details that it comes with light bulbs, but gave no information about what kind of bulbs they were. Now they've arrived I can see they are small halogen bulbs and I'm worried because I've heard that halogen light bulbs are expensive to run.
These are the details on the box the bulbs came in. Although they are called saver I'm not sure what this means.

220--240--50Hz
360 Lumens
Energy D
28W 40W light
Halogen saver G9

If they will be expensive is there an alternative bulb I can buy that would fit?

I had big low energy bulbs in the previous light fitting, so not very knowledgeable about other kinds. Any advice would be great.

sew_what

6 bulbs of 28W will use 168Watts of electricity - ie almost the same as 3 old fashioned 60W lightbulbs.

The type of lightbulb is G9 - if you google that, there are low energy and LED versions, but they probably won't be as "sparkely" as the halogen bulbs.

Likestowrite

Thank you. I don't mind if they're not as sparkly as long as they fit the light fitting. I read somewhere that LED lights are bigger than halogen and often won't fit the glass shades.

My fitting has small glass shades so I need an LED bulb small enough to fit.

I found these. Are they likely to be what I need?
http://www.ledconnection.co.uk/led-spot-lights/led-g9/led-g9-capsule-bulb-3w-warm-white.html

pitkin2020

its one of those things that is going to be dependent on the usage. If this is your lounge light the savings from putting in LED for a couple hours a day is going be very small across 6 bulbs, yes a saving will be made but its going to be pennies. Which when offset against the cost of decent LEDS bulbs will probably closer to zero, again depending on the hours they are burning for.

LED bulbs have got better in terms of size and looking at your fitting you shouldn't have too much trouble with the bulbs fitting like for like

Likestowrite

Thank you. Just seen a blog article that compares the cost of LED and halogens


"TP24 did its calculations based on a typical modern kitchen which would have 5 halogen lights. It compared the costs of these with the equivalent CFLs and LEDs. Its figures are based on the lights being on for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week for a year.

The annual amount added to your electricity bill for running those five lamps would be £95.37 for halogen, £20.98 for CFL and £4.77 for LED.

http://www.yougen.co.uk/blog-entry/1905/Comparing+light+bulbs%273A+upfront+costs+vs+running+costs/

I won't be having mine on that much so the cost won't be as high as that. And I could maybe have a floor lamp with a CFL bulb for when I don't need the room so bright and limit my use of the halogen lights.

pitkin2020

thats the thing if the useage is low the savings are going to be low, there will still be savings but I made the point as some people seem to think the saving is going to massive and its not always certainly in domestic situations.

AdamantUK

6 Bulbs of 28W will use 168 Watts of energy. At approx £0.15 per kwh (depending on your electricity tariff) will use about 2.5p per hour to run the light fitting.

If it runs for 6 hours a day, every day, then it will cost you 15p a day to run or £54.75 a year.

The LED bulbs you linked to are 3W each so pretty much 1/10th of the energy of the 28W bulb and so would cost you about £5.90 a year to run.

This then saves you £48.85 per year.

The bulbs, however, are £5.49 each and so would cost £32.94 making the saving in the first year £15.91.

So, if you like the light LED bulbs give out (which won't be as nice as the halogen, IMO) and you use it for 6 hours a day then it's worth doing.

The less hours you use the light per day, the longer the payoff.

I'd guess that any less than about 3-4 hours a day would make the payoff longer than it's worth in all likelihood, especially if one of the LED bulbs blew early!

jamesperrett

AdamantUK wrote: »

I'd guess that any less than about 3-4 hours a day would make the payoff longer than it's worth in all likelihood, especially if one of the LED bulbs blew early!

The LED bulbs that I've been buying from Toolstation recently have all had a 3 year guarantee - not something you get with most halogen bulbs.

pitkin2020

jamesperrett wrote: »

The LED bulbs that I've been buying from Toolstation recently have all had a 3 year guarantee - not something you get with most halogen bulbs.

finding the receipt to take them back in 18 months though is going to be the issue lol

Likestowrite

AdamantUK wrote: »

6 Bulbs of 28W will use 168 Watts of energy. At approx £0.15 per kwh (depending on your electricity tariff) will use about 2.5p per hour to run the light fitting.

If it runs for 6 hours a day, every day, then it will cost you 15p a day to run or £54.75 a year.

The LED bulbs you linked to are 3W each so pretty much 1/10th of the energy of the 28W bulb and so would cost you about £5.90 a year to run.

This then saves you £48.85 per year.

The bulbs, however, are £5.49 each and so would cost £32.94 making the saving in the first year £15.91.

So, if you like the light LED bulbs give out (which won't be as nice as the halogen, IMO) and you use it for 6 hours a day then it's worth doing.

The less hours you use the light per day, the longer the payoff.

I'd guess that any less than about 3-4 hours a day would make the payoff longer than it's worth in all likelihood, especially if one of the LED bulbs blew early!

Thank you so much for working all that out. It was really helpful. I've got the light fitting up and the halogen in and I like the lamps so going to stick with them for now (and have a floor lamp with a low energy bulb to use instead when I'm watching TV)

Nilrem

pitkin2020 wrote: »

finding the receipt to take them back in 18 months though is going to be the issue lol

Put the receipt in one of the (now empty) bulb boxes in the cupboard where you keep your spares

We're just starting to move over to LED's in our house (having got sick and tired of the low energy R50, candle and golf ball* types in the bedroom, living room etc), and I'm carefully keeping the receipts in the cupboard where I store the spare bulbs/torches/batteries (I'll probably end up with a lifetime's supply of low energy bulbs for the loft, shed and hall given how many are being swapped)
I'm also making a note on the stem of the bulbs of the rough date they're fitted (most have space on the plastic casing where it won't be visible when fitted).

Mr Osram will be getting some complaints if they don't last the three years.



*The halogen golf ball bulbs seem to last about 3-4 months, and the R50 CFL's barely give half the light of the incandescents (but at least don't explode when they die, tripping the lighting circuit at 3am, leaving me trying to avoid the glass in the dark as I go to the fuse box).