Changing to LED bulbs

Floss

I've got low energy light bulbs in my home  all bought new when I moved in 3 years ago. Is it worth the outlay to buy LED equivalents and replace them all?

goldfinches

I would say yes it is. I replaced my halogen bulbs in 2019 and the electricity meter readings that I took every day showed me that I was using between 1 and 2 KWh less each day. 

Here's the note I made at the time - changed the bulbs over from 5 halogens rated 42W and 1 traditional rated 77W to 6 LED bulbs rated 15W - looking back my highest daily consumption the week before this was 6.42 KWh and the week after I did this it was 4.49 KWh.

After seeing the difference changing the bulbs I used most I replaced all the others too and put the halogen ones aside to use as replacements in an emergency.
I haven't yet had to replace any of the LED ones which I bought from Screwfix, my boxes say Sylvania and these are the nearest I can find on the current Screwfix website Sylvania ToLEDo BC GLS LED Light Bulb 1521lm 13W 4 Pack | Light Bulbs | Screwfix.com

I hope that's helpful and if you want to ask anything else, let me know.

JIL

My lightbulbs were all changed when the house was rewired, 2 years later I haven't had to change any. It's also very cheap to run them and the electrician explained they were 30% of the cost of the old ones. 

fatbelly

I  would say it's worth replacing the lights you use most. LEDs also have the advantages of no warmup time and running cooler. 

Our kitchen had a dozen downlighters with cfl bulbs. They were annoying when they glowed pink for about 30 seconds before giving a decent light. I replaced them all with LED GU10s from poundland at £1 each and am very pleased with the improvement, better light and lower wattage.

Nonnadiluca

We changed ours a few years ago, got the LED bulbs from Poundland and all still going strong. Is it worth it? Financially I would definitely say yes, but also the less energy we use the better all round.

prowla

All but my living room are now on LED lights; the living room isn't because I have a dimmer switch and the LED bulbs I bought from Tesco didn't dim to low enough for ambient light.

For the rest of the house I got the Philips Hue ones; whilst they may not be a cost saving, they give loads of control options and I have my kitchen lights come on when someone enters. The bulbs themselves are controlled via WiFi or Bluetooth.

Floss

Thanks for the comments - my home is small but perfectly formed with well thought-out lighting & switches so I don't need motion-sensor or remote lighting.

NorthernMonkey1

LED filament bulbs are very cheap from wilko, and last for years. Definitely worth the outlay, and give a much nicer light than Compact fluorescent bulbs.

Auti

Hi, how do you know if a bulb already in a light is an LED one? Also how do you tell if a strip light in the kitchen is LED? Thank you

Rodders53

What lamps are you currently using?
What wattage are they?  How many lumens do they provide for that?  What colour temperature?

Do you have any spares?  (Pictures)
Or can you remove one or two from the fittings to read the markings / provide pics?

3 years ago I'd have expected LEDs to be provided/fitted as the older compact fluorescent lamps that were marketed as 'low energy/energy saving' had long fallen out of favour.  LEDs are 'low energy'...

Modern LEDs are not significantly different to ones from 3 years ago and thus almost certainly not worth replacing. (IMHO).  

Only if rooms are far too bright might it be worth reducing the number of lamps in use or replacing with lower wattage lower lumen output ones.

Auti

In the spotlights (normal screw thread not small) I have a Philips Tornado ESaver and the bulb is a thin tube in a spiral. I have taken out some bulbs to check and they are LED as far as I can make out googling the maker ans number on them. I do wish they would put LED on the actual bulb thank you for your help