CFL Bulbs that really last for 5 Years

[BobL43]

OK, Now I understand why my Taxes are going up.


I do not mind if it helps You out.

If you are an old fart too, then you also collect Social Security that I paid for and pay for Medicare premiums every month even though I payed my whole working life for, each paycheck too.

Just got notified that I git a tremendous 100 buck a month raise from Social Sec next year. WHOOPEE! And my Medicare premium went down 10 bucks a month. I'll try not to spend it all in one place!

I don't mind helping you out either, that's what friends are for

[capecod12]

Those new CFL bulbs are dangerous. I bought 2 last year, and both of them failed. They got really dim one day, glowing darkish orange, and started to smell hot. The base was extremely overheated! I turned it off, took it out with a pot holder. Same thing happened about a month later with the other one.
Thank goodness I was in the same room and was there to turn them off. Have had 2 friends who were not in the same room when their bulbs failed and started to burn. They were alerted by a lampshade on fire, and the other guy heard it sparking.
I Googled this, and yes it does happen, so I went to the hardware store and stocked up on 100 and 75w old fashioned safe bulbs.

[ballvalve]

That is a greeting from China, "hello stupid amelican; you buy any junk we make with a fake UL label on it"

....and all of our closed light bulb factories.

[capecod12]

Yes, certainly agree, I plan never to buy another one, no matter where its made.
I have plenty of nice old/new bulbs down cellar.

[ballvalve]

Actually, you get 4 for $1.29 cfls around here from the utility. Never had one burn or blow up yet. Maybe they test them and check the producer.

[BobL43]

Actually, you get 4 for $1.29 cfls around here from the utility. Never had one burn or blow up yet. Maybe they test them and check the producer.

do they come with the label that says it contains items that are known by the state of CA to cause cancer like everything else has?

[DonL]

do they come with the label that says it contains items that are known by the state of CA to cause cancer like everything else has?

I think they only put that on the packaging that we buy.

In California their light bulbs say "May cause Pregnancy if turned Off"

[BobL43]

I think they only put that on the packaging that we buy.

In California their light bulbs say "May cause Pregnancy if turned Off"

That is funny Don.

[DonL]

It amazes me that a lot of the products you see on the Internet are not available for sale in California.

I am surprised that they are even allowed CFLs.

[ballvalve]

Interesting point. They label motel hallways for dangerous lead poisoning, [doorknobs??] but the CFLs with mercury get no label or warnings. Pack of fricking morons run this state.

[capecod12]

This is part of a quote, an editorial in our little local paper,,,,,,"Victory of sorts for environmentalists blinded by ideology, but a mistake from any other perspective."

[DonL]

This is part of a quote, an editorial in our little local paper,,,,,,"Victory of sorts for environmentalists blinded by ideology, but a mistake from any other perspective."

That sounds about right...

[capecod12]

Thinking ahead,,,,,,,we replaced all the 4 foot fluorescent bulbs in the big fixtures in our cellar over my husband's workbenches, just to make sure that we got the good ones before the overzealous tree huggers got to messing with these.

[Dana]

It takes only about 1000 CFLs to add up to the amount of mercury in your old round Honeywell T-stat with the mercury switch. The exposure you'd get from smashing a CFL and grinding it up under foot to ensure that ALL the mercury was in the air, and you closed the windows & doors for a week long nap would be roughly equivlant to eating nothing but tuna sandwiches for a coupla weeks. If instead you cleaned it up quickly and double bagged it, the exposure for the cleanup guy is about a tuna sandwiches worth.

Most CFLs sold in capecod12's MA are subsidized by the utilities in some way.

Nearly all CFLs in the world are made in China, and most will last several years if used in a non-abusive environment. In recessed lights, base up they'll crap out sooner by cooking the ballasts, or wrecking the glue, particularly with 18W+ versions. (A typical 100W replacement is 23W.) But side burnouts like that are pretty rare, and SFAIK non have resulted in a house fire- just a fizzle & flash followed by the stink of burning electronic. No mercury is released unless you break the twisty-glass.

Edison base fixtures are designed to isolate the heat of the incandescent bulb from the combustible building materials, keeping your house from catching fire, which is exactly the OPPOSITE of what you want to do for the longevity of CFL & LED replacement bulbs. But despite that they just keep on going, if you have decent power quality and don't abuse them. I lost one to an event where a tree limb came down on the power lines and welded one of the phases to the neutral entering my house, but that did in a DVD player too, and a zone relay on the heating system. I have many that have been in service for a decade or more. I end up replacing linear fluorescents more often than CFLs. In ~20 years of CFL use I've broken only the glass open on one (playing roller hockey in the basement. :-) ) YMMV.

[DonL]

I hope that you won the hockey game Dana, Maybe had to take a timeout ? lol

I do not worry about the Mercury or the Lead in many products, I just try not to eat them. I do like Tuna tho.

When I was in school we would play with Mercury, It is some cool stuff.

Can't count the times when the Doctor put the Mercury thermometer in my mouth.

I do think that the electrical in the CFLs play out before the Gas does, as does in the florescent tubes.

It is hard to dissipate heat when there is no place for it to go but IN.