A word about low-energy light bulbs.

michbright

Just thought I'd add my little bit here...

When DH and I got married in 2002, we bought an uplighter for the living room and a Philips low energy lightbulb. We have moved 3 times since then and most recently have put the lightbulb in the passage upstairs for our daughter, who needs a light on at night.

After 6 years of nearly constant use this lightbulb finally stopped working a couple of weeks ago. The rest of our lightbulbs (apart from a few halogens) are GE low energy and are very happy with them.

ikr2

85% of our light bulbs are fluorescent energy savers. Most of them do give off a starker light but the rest of the household are OK with them now because I use "warmer" coloured lamp shades to soften the tone. Using lamp shades also means I have to buy slightly brighter bulbs. So to replace a 60W incandescent I usually buy a 14W or 15W energy saver (rated 75W incandescent equivalent).

I also don't bother with "Ecotone" or "Soft tone" GLS style energy savers as the bulb is hidden behind a lampshade, which does the softening of the light. I can buy the generally cheaper "stick" types.

The odd bulb goes from time to time but the one in the dining room standard lamp is 12 years old and still going

Slinky

I've got a low energy bulb (it's huge), currently residing in the hall, which I remember buying when I lived in Jersey 16.5 years ago! It's survived 4 house moves! It was one of a pair, the other packed up probably about 5 years ago.

I seem to recall paying about a tenner for it then.

Ben84

I haven't had a problem with energy savers failing. Almost all of mine are well past their life expectancy. I still have some of the really big old Philips bulbs that Dad bought, so they must be from 1995 or earlier.

geordie_joe

Ben84 wrote: »

I haven't had a problem with energy savers failing. Almost all of mine are well past their life expectancy. I still have some of the really big old Philips bulbs that Dad bought, so they must be from 1995 or earlier.

I have had problems. I got a dozen last October and about 4 of them didn't last a day! The rest are still going strong, but it's still been less than a year.

flyingscotno1

I worked in a lighting retailer and we used ESB in all of our lights. In our place they would last about 2 years max, but some lasted months. Variable to be honest. A good number will fail before expected life, but in general they were fairly good and the odd ones that did fail were esp. noticable as they were always the ackward ones!

0rsen

geordie_joe wrote: »

I have had problems. I got a dozen last October and about 4 of them didn't last a day! The rest are still going strong, but it's still been less than a year.

This is why I advocate LEDs. The energy-saving bulb manufacturers boast that the bulbs will last up to eight years, but only give one year's guarantee. I have experienced a very high failure rate over the past few years, even with better-quality lamps, and reckon that any savings on my electricity bill have almost been negated by replacement costs.
I was in the electronics industry for over 30 years and can't recall an LED failing. This is why I have now converted to them where viable.
Incidentally, many people don't appreciate that a major contributor to high electricity bills is the humble refrigerator.
Lighting is only part of the story.

jaz_2

Ben84 wrote: »

I haven't had a problem with energy savers failing. Almost all of mine are well past their life expectancy. I still have some of the really big old Philips bulbs that Dad bought, so they must be from 1995 or earlier.

Mine are the £1 from Ikea variety, the house is full of them. They were all bought when we moved here about eight years ago. So far only one has given up.

HenryandPaula

I have found some 80 LED Bulbs that are fantastic on e bay - They come from Hong Kong and cost £5.58 including p and p - It means that even if they only last 2 years it's cheaper to get them from HK and replace every 2 years than it is to get from the UK.

I have seen them in the UK for £13.00 and they have the same length of service.

I won't put a link on as I was accused of plugging a sweet website before and I don't even work for them