Ten Year Guaranteed Energy Saving Bulbs

SpammyTheSpammer

OK, some may remember me waxing off about CFL bulbs a couple of years ago. In particular, I was unsure about how long they would last and if they would pay for their over-inflated cost relative to the old incandescent bulbs. I took to writing the date of purchase on the bulb (so that I could find the receipt if needed) and also the date that it was fitted into a socket, if not immediately.
The light in the downstairs hallway failed so I hauled out the bulb. It was purchased & fitted on the 27th of July 2013 and claimed to be a 10 year guaranteed bulb.
So I dug out the receipt - Spammy has a filing cabinet and keeps receipts by month because I am a true MSE in that respect.
Now we come to the crunch, I bought two of these bulbs from POUNDLAND. I really cannot bring myself to return these and claim my money back, the thought just makes me cringe and remember the man in front of me in a till Sainsbury's queue a few years ago. He was claiming that his roll of toilet paper (72 sheets) only had 71..... I DO NOT WANT TO BE HIM!!!!

Azari

Another problem with bulbs - particularly LED ones, is that you can often only get the exact sort you want from fleabay - and they almost invariably come from China (inc HK).

Try claiming a refund from one of those sellers when your 10 year guaranteed bulb fails after 18 months!

On the plus side, they are quite cheap.

zax47

Azari wrote: »

Another problem with bulbs - particularly LED ones, is that you can often only get the exact sort you want from fleabay - and they almost invariably come from China (inc HK).

What a load of..... as the poster Elstimpo will confirm I'm sure - there are several good value UK sources for LED bulbs with vast ranges of just about every type of bulb and they give true and honoured guarantees. I would, however be surprised if any of them offered a 10 year guarantee, 5 years is more typical.

BTW, one of the first things we learn as electricians is that bulbs are what gardeners plant to grow flowers - what you are talking about are lamps.

forgotmyname

Checkout some of the reviews of cheap chinese mains voltage LED's, One review took it to pieces and found that there was a 50.50 chance of the outer case being live depending on which way you insert it.
And the same bulb has a wafer thin layer of board separating the live/neutral.

How long will it take for that to get brittle from the heat and fail?

With mains stuff buy from reputable sources. Even then there is a risk but they do have recalls and some safety standards.

shaun_from_Africa

zax47 wrote: »

BTW, one of the first things we learn as electricians is that bulbs are what gardeners plant to grow flowers - what you are talking about are lamps.

Even though "lamps" is the correct word to use, "bulbs" is still used by a great many electrical retailers, online advice websites, Trading standards and other government departments etc.
Word usage and phraseology often changes over time and even though some words and terms may not be used 100% correctly, as long as everyone knows what is being discussed, what's the problem?

System

I wouldn't read too much in to bulb guarantees to be honest , if someone returns one where I work and its a decent length of time they don't get very far as they are classed as consumables .

Azari

zax47 wrote: »

What a load of..... as the poster Elstimpo will confirm I'm sure - there are several good value UK sources for LED bulbs with vast ranges of just about every type of bulb and they give true and honoured guarantees.

It would be nice if, instead of being rude, you actually gave a link to one of these sources.

It would be interesting to understand why these sources don't offer their full range of wares on fleabay and Amazon. I can assure you I don't wait for three weeks for deliveries from China just for the fun of it.

BTW, one of the first things we learn as electricians is that bulbs are what gardeners plant to grow flowers - what you are talking about are lamps.

I always think of them as lamps but whenever I use the term to in speaking, people get confused or snarky, so I translate to the term most people understand and accept.

Azari

CHRISSYG wrote: »

I wouldn't read too much in to bulb guarantees to be honest , if someone returns one where I work and its a decent length of time they don't get very far as they are classed as consumables .

You'd better hope I don't turn up where you work with a faulty lamp, then.

A well made LED lamp is no more a 'consumable' than a TV set!

I wouldn't return such a lamp after more than a couple of years but I'd certainly expect it to last that long and consider that it was not of merchantable quality, if it didn't.

pooch

SpammyTheSpammer wrote: »

OK, some may remember me waxing off about CFL bulbs a couple of years ago. In particular, I was unsure about how long they would last and if they would pay for their over-inflated cost relative to the old incandescent bulbs. I took to writing the date of purchase on the bulb (so that I could find the receipt if needed) and also the date that it was fitted into a socket, if not immediately.
The light in the downstairs hallway failed so I hauled out the bulb. It was purchased & fitted on the 27th of July 2013 and claimed to be a 10 year guaranteed bulb.
So I dug out the receipt - Spammy has a filing cabinet and keeps receipts by month because I am a true MSE in that respect.
Now we come to the crunch, I bought two of these bulbs from POUNDLAND. I really cannot bring myself to return these and claim my money back, the thought just makes me cringe and remember the man in front of me in a till Sainsbury's queue a few years ago. He was claiming that his roll of toilet paper (72 sheets) only had 71..... I DO NOT WANT TO BE HIM!!!!

I very much doubt there was such a guarantee

Bulbs have an indicated expected lifetime, typically 10 years for CFL bulbs, but even then terms apply.

e.g how many hours it burns during those 10 years (it does not assume continuous), how many times it is switched on, etc
(Typically they use about 1000 per year, 10 years = 10,000 hours, which on average is less than 3 hours per day. How long did you have your lights on last night?)

No manufacturer could ever give a 10 year unlimited guarantee as they have no control over how the bulb is used.
Furthermore, when should such a guartantee run from?
Date of manufacture? Date of retail sale? (there is usually no sell bt date on a light bulb), Date oif first use? (How can that be proven later?

I got a whole stack of these bulbs, some free, many costing 10p each or less (when the energy firms were subsidising the cost), that I acquired about 8-10 years ago.

Interestingly last week was the first occassion I have ever had one fail on me (except where I have forcibly broken one previously by accident).
That made me also look into how long ago I fitted it. I think I fitted it about 8 years ago, but on inspection, that bulb was only estimated to last 6 years by the manufacturer (some of the early, free ones were only 6 years, whereas I have others of the same make & model that do say 10 years)
But it's only an indication of expected life expectancy, and assumes certain usage. There is no guarantee.

These are big branded bulbs, like Philips and GE, so I doubt Poundland are offering any such guarantee.

Bettie

SpammyTheSpammer wrote: »

I really cannot bring myself to return these and claim my money back[/B], the thought just makes me cringe and remember the man in front of me in a till Sainsbury's queue a few years ago. He was claiming that his roll of toilet paper (72 sheets) only had 71..... I DO NOT WANT TO BE HIM!!!!

:T
lol That's tickled me :rotfl:

Cornucopia

On CFLs, I still have some original Ikea ones in regular use, from back when Ikea was the best/cheapest place to get them. These have been in use for in excess of 5 years, which I consider to be more than adequate given that they were typically £1-2 to purchase.

The issue is that the older the technology, the less satisfactory the result. So the argument for replacement is not about lamp failure, so much as the lamp technology falling behind in terms of brightness, start time and physical size & styling.

For LED lamps, there are more than enough reputable sources in the UK for there to be no need to buy questionable items from China. John Lewis, for example, stocks a reasonable range (if not cheap), and Ikea have a range that is cheaper but possibly not the very latest specification.

There are several good online shops if a very specific lamp specification is required. The nature of LED technology is that is maturing, and sometimes this can throw out anomalies in the market place.