Life span of energy saving lightbulbs

Primrose

Is there a guaranteed life span on these? I thought they were supposed to last about five years. Just removed an Osram economy one which has blown, on which we'd written an installation date of 31/3/2013.


Of course the packaging has long since been thrown away, so how on earth do you get a refund with no receipt and no packaging? Is this just another consumer racket? Has anybody else ever tried to get a refund for light bulb, or is there in fact no standard industry guarantee?

Risteard

Primrose wrote: »

Is there a guaranteed life span on these?

No. There isn't.

molerat

They obviously had VW calculating the MTBF figures for them

bluesnake

I have had 3 out of 5 led bulbs blow within a day.

I had one cfl on 24/7 on for seven years and no issue, then someone switched it off to save power and it would not come on again.

Think you are not doing bad having a 2012 bulb still going.

CFL were originally marketed as 10 year life span.

Apparently light bulbs were the first product to have a built in obsolescence. Originally they rarely would fail, and the manufacturers made no money, so they designed the filament to have a shorter life.

Ectophile

With CFL or LED fittings, the actual lamp itself may be good for tens or hundreds of thousands of hours.

Unfortunately, they need a bunch of electronics to drive them. The manufacturers skimp every penny when buying the components, so the driver usually fails long before the lamp it's driving.

That's why energy saving lamps used to be really expensive, but are now dirt cheap.

almillar

If they're guaranteed for 5 years, the seller can expect you to keep the receipt and packaging for 5 years. Did you? Probably not. That's how they can do it.

Grenage

I've never had a CLF fail in 10+ years, and I've not had an LED bulb fail in the 5 or so years I've been using them.

I would imagine that the receipt alone would be enough if there was a guarantee.

alumende27

I bought a bunch of LED bulbs from screwfix 14 months ago. All the standard size bulbs are still working fine. Of the candle bulbs half failed within 9 months, which they replaced for free and I've just had another two go since Christmas.

Last house had LED gu10 downlighters in the kitchen, the first lot all failed within 6 months, and I spent a bit more on the replacements which were then fine.

Had CFL in my last but one house and never had to replace one in 10 years.

almillar

Of the candle bulbs half failed within 9 months, which they replaced for free and I've just had another two go since Christmas.

They sound like rubbish, or else you've been very unlucky. Wonder how many 10,000s of hours they're quoted to last?

I've had a few big powerful CFLs fail with just a bit of a flash so it does happen. LED's not quite there yet to replicate the brightness and spread of CFL ceiling lights.

moneyistooshorttomention

What is CFL please?

I've been buying halogen ones recently (from T*sco own brand ....:cool:) and I believe I read they should last 2 years. They haven't lasted nearly as long as that.:mad:

So I'm trying to find ones that I can put in and then just leave in for a fair few years...

EDIT; just answered my own question - ie "compact fluorescent"...oh right...the ones with mercury in and dispose of rather carefully if they break. Next then....

alumende27

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

EDIT; just answered my own question - ie "compact fluorescent"...oh right...the ones with mercury in and dispose of rather carefully if they break. Next then....

and they can break very easily. When we moved into this house a year ago, I changed a couple of CFLs (in the spiral style) with some LEDs we had. One of them, the bulb shattered in my hand, embedding glass shards into my thumb. At this point realised we had no plasters or first aid kit unpacked yet.

They sound like rubbish, or else you've been very unlucky. Wonder how many 10,000s of hours they're quoted to last?

20,000 hours and a 3 year manufacturer's guarantee (T&Cs apply... sigh). LAP brand from screwfix. I think I might just be unlucky.

I work from home and installed an LED panel on the ceiling in my office which is brilliant. Not really good for normal living areas but it would be great for a kitchen too. It's 3000lm at 36W, which is the equivalent of 2 x 100W bulbs. Time will tell how long this one lasts...