That is a book still being written, John. Welcome to the cutting edge. Most of us have yet to reach the first year with our CFL's. I have more than two years with them but my first year was spent at the 23W level. I think if you can get a year out of the bulb its probably as good a time as any to plan to replace it. They are said to last 5 to 7 years in household use. Some of us have seen these bulbs burn out for one reason or another in three months.

H

Hey, John,

Good to hear from you. After about a year, my 23W and 42W are going strong, after a couple of the 23 burned out right away. I'm itchy, though, wondering if they're as effective as they were.

Anyone with a light meter happen to do any baseline measurements w/ their CFLs awhile back?

Whitecat8

Hi John good to see you pop in! Find the same. Some burn fast some don't. Hard to say. Keep the receipt. They are usually warenteed for 10,000 hours. You can calculate that by your run time to get an idea

WC have one, Did readings daily for the past year +. What do you need?.

Clara

Clara - What a gal. My question is - does light from CFLs get weaker over time? WC8

Yep, that was my question too - not whether CFLs die, but rather, do they get weaker in the same way that big long fluorescents get weaker? My bulbs are still working, a good year-plus that I've had them, but I need to order a few more for additional lights and am wondering if I should replace the ones I have.

And yeah, I've been taking a break from the orchid forums. I was finding that I was getting a bit tired of my plants, they were becoming a chore, so I got rid of like 25% of them and now, while still a lot, I have around 70, it's a hell of a lot better than 100+ I had before. And, I've moved everything over to semi-hydro, so what lives lives and what dies dies, and that's made my life easier, and the it's made it easier for me to ask friends to water. I'd still like fewer, but other than a very nice villosum that I got from Marriott, just bloomed, and I realize I don't like Paph villosums - lol - I'm pretty happy with what I have left. So far.

John -

Several of us are downsizing. It's funny - the ideal number of plants seems to be around 65. Last month, I went from 108 to 90, heading for 65. Mine are a pain to water.

What happened to that 25% - or do you want to say? :) (Kevin got ribbed royally recently by Howard for tossing some of his in the trash.)

If you're at the point of replacing T8s or another type tube, or going CFL, the current thread, "Hey, Clara - What lights did you get?" has a couple of posts that may provide a quick tutorial.

Summary - CFL good; tubes bad re: amount of light for plants, amount of energy consumed, and amount of utility bill. Additionally, the CFLs provide heat which can cut/eliminate the need for a space heater, if you have enough of them in an enclosed space. (Hope I'm doing justice to the thread.)

Last year, I got 2 42W CFLs, along w/ "brooder clamp lights" from HD. They're those round, shiny metal, ugly clamp-on things, but the 10.5" fixtures are the perfect size for the 42W CFLs. A side note - from hours on the Web and phone, I've concluded that's the largest brooder light made. An inexpensive fixture for 85W doesn't seem to exist, unless you want to find parts here and there.

Anyway, last winter, I had one 42W bulb over Phals, Phrags, and Paphs. They were about 6' away from the window. Everything rebloomed. Caveat - they were all outside the summer before.

So - before you buy more tubes, CFLs are sure worth checking out. 1000Bulbs.com seems to have the best prices.

Whitecat8

Thanks Whitecatt, but I think I'm not explaining myself well :-) I HAVE some CFLs already, for over a year now, 42w bulbs, and I want to know WHEN I need to replace them. I.e., does the quality of the light, the amount of kelvins, or anything else diminish over time with CFLs, and thus do you need to replace them every 6 months, every year, every few years, or only when they burn out?

See what I get for not re-reading the whole thread? :) You were perfectly clear - it was my memory that was muddled. WC8

They definitely get 'weaker' as time goes by.

I just replaced a 23 watt guy and ended up with a bit of scorch on leaves from the brighter light. I'll be replacing all of my higher wattage ones in the next week (it's been a year), because they're noticeably putting out less light.

I just rotate them into the household lights since the household lights regularly blow.