replacing household lights with LED bulbs, advice sort please

daggers_jones

Hi all

We are looking for some advice on replacing our household light bulbs with LED ones. Has anyone done this and seen a saving on their energy bills?

It could be quite an expensive process and don’t know if it is worth it in long run?

Secondly there is a myriad of suppliers of LED bulbs and I am aware of the importance of getting the right level of luminescence along with the difference between the warm colour verses cold, but is there anything else that needs considering?

Thanks

 

victor2

Are you replacing good old incandescent bulbs or  CFL ones? If the former, you will see huge energy savings, as a 60w incandescent bulb can easily be replaced with a 10W or smaller LED.

LED bulbs can be a bit expensive, but don't buy cheap ones, as they won't last. Go for known brands or suppliers such as LED Hut.

Don't believe the 10,000+ hours life claimed either. I've had many LED bulbs fail after a few years, and they were good brands. Cheap no-name brands fail within months IME.

You have realised that colour is important. The best way to establsh what colour you like is by trying a few. For example, in our kitchen, we have 11 "daylight" (around 5W 6,000K) bulbs and they're great because it gets little outside light and we wanted it to appear natural, which it does. Doesn't break my heart, or bank balance, if they're left on most of the day either!

Rooms where you want a softer light, such as bedrooms, do well with "warm" LED bulbs.

[Deleted User]

LED bulbs can appear to be expensive  - however, the key thing to note is that a 9.5W bulb will out as much light as 60W standard bulb. We prefer ‘warmer’ bulbs in sitting rooms etc and ‘cooler’ bulbs in kitchens; Utility rooms etc.

if you are replacing overhead downlighters then just be aware that some of the replacements on offer have what is known as chip-on-board (COB) rather than a bulb. If the COB fails then you can end up having to replace the whole downlighter.

LED Hut is a good place to look at what is on offer and prices.

In sum, it is one of best energy-saving improvements that you can make.

Sandtree

daggers_jones said:

is there anything else that needs considering?

Standard LEDs cannot work with a dimmer switch so if you have any dimmers make sure you buy the appropriate bulbs for them.

As to if its worth it? Well a 60w bulb will be replaced by a 8w LED meaning you are saving 0.052kWh for each hour its on a day with 1kWh being say 30p (inc VAT) at the next change to the cap. So if you have an average of 6 bulbs on for 4 hours a day your saving 37p/day, £2.62/week etc

Obviously the biggest saving is achieved by not turning the light on at all!

EssexHebridean

We went through this process last year - and have now switched the majority of ours over. The exception is one fitting in our bedroom - it's ancient, and will be being replaced - but not right now, and it takes those hideous spotlight style bulbs. I'm not willing to buy what will be quite pricey replacements for it allowing for its limited remaining lifespan. we'll probably, all being well, get it replaced later in the year. Other than that we elected to replace everything apart from existing lower-energy candle-bulbs - we have a display unit with 6 bulbs total - we'd been replacing with more energy efficient as the old incandescents blew anyway - so those already replaced were left in situ and just the four remaining incandescents replaced. We figure that regardless of not being able to necessarily identify any specific savings right now - over time there will certainly be a saving, and with the way things are going price wise, it definitely felt like  good decision! 

jimjames

Yes done this and saved a lot of energy. In high use areas they can pay for themselves in a few months.

Few examples, hallway went from 100W to 5W, kitchen from 400W to 35W. In many cases the bulbs are not that expensive to switch over to.

I bought most of mine from Screwfix

FreeBear

victor2 said: LED bulbs can be a bit expensive, but don't buy cheap ones, as they won't last. Go for known brands or suppliers such as LED Hut.

I bought a stack of LED bulbs from Poundland soon after they started stocking them (4/5 years ago ?). They seem to be lasting quite well and I haven't had to replace any due to failure.

Certainly well worth replacing bulbs throughout the hose. Over the last year, I've used around 70KWh on lighting which would be a massive saving over incandescent bulbs.

jbuchanangb

I replaced 30 50w halogen bulbs about 18 months ago, including 5 which had to be dimmable. Kitchen had 5, Bedroom had 10, bathrooms had 3 each. Various other rooms. Most benefit obviously from lights which are on the most (Kitchen & Living room). Downward trend in energy consumption.

It was the top proposition on the EPC provided when I bought the house.

Verdigris

It was the top proposition on the EPC provided when I bought the house

Yes, £50 of LEDs can quite often put a house up one band on an EPC, leaving aside what a flawed system it is, generally.

MattMattMattUK

All my GU10 bulbs are Philips, not much more expensive than the generic brands, in bathrooms I have the Cool White 4,000k bulbs, in the hall and kitchen I have the Warm White 2,700k version, both are 4.5W - 50W equivalent bulbs. In the bedrooms, study, lounge/dining and study area I have Hue Colour and Ambience bulbs, the 1,100 lumen (9W - 75W equivalent) in the lounge/diner and study area and the 800 Lumen (8W - 60W equivalent) in the bedrooms, the colour of those can be anything I want. During the day they tend to be on daylight (5,500-6,500K), in the evenings down to a warmer white in the 2,500-3,000k range, if my nieces and nephews are around, whatever random colour they set them to, they are also fully dimmable. I do accept that the Philips Hue bulbs carry a significant premium over normal LED bulbs and seem to have increased even more than when I bought them last year. 

Sea_Shell

Verdigris said:

It was the top proposition on the EPC provided when I bought the house

Yes, £50 of LEDs can quite often put a house up one band on an EPC, leaving aside what a flawed system it is, generally.

It seems strange to me that a consumable, replaceable item, such as a light bulb, forms part of the EPC rating.

I thought it was based on the "fabric" of a house... heating, insulation, windows, doors etc.

If you take out all the bulbs, does that get you even higher up the scale 😉🤔

"No bulb" is even more energy efficient, after all 😉