New (long lasting) Lights

20 years ago

Well, ya know those new low energy light bulbs we've been talking about? In another thread I posted that I've replaced most of the old standard bulbs in our home with these new long life expensive types. Last nite I was swatting a fly that had landed on the lamp shade of one of these new bulbs and the bulb blew out. This "swat" was gentle and hardly made the shade vibrate but it was enough to kill the new bulb. There is no filament to break in these newer bulbs so I'm unsure what happened? Maybe they're more prone to break under low stress when turned on? Tried everything to get it to restart to no avail. That one lasted all of 6 months....

Here's the type :

{{!gwi}}

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Comments (7)

brendan_of_bonsai
20 years ago
Those are compact flourescent retrofit bulbs, any number of things could have happened, they have quite a few components, for even longer lasting high efficiency light T-5 Flourescents that are underdriven are a better option, although they won't fit in a light socket.
wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
20 years ago
vgkg,
I have a couple of those bulbs. They seem to flicker a bit. I guess that concerns me.
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vgkg Z-7 Va
Original Author
20 years ago
Hi Wayne,
That is odd about the flickering. Makes me wonder if your electrical supply is up to snuff? You're not on brown out mode out there are you? I'm surely no expert (on anything) but if your power grid is producing reduced voltage to save on energy then that may be the cause?
pnbrown
20 years ago
Wayne, they will flicker almost imperceptibly because they are flourescent, after all. But the energy savings is so huge it's well worth it to me. We cut our electric bill almost by half, not to mention the saving in not replacing bulbs all the time.
meldy_nva
20 years ago
I've been using the compact retrofits for years, gradually replacing the incandescents as those burn out. I think it may depend on the "brand" whether or not there are flickers (2 of the newer bulbs do flicker slightly, none of the very newest or oldest have any flicker); also, the two newest can take a long time (5+ minutes) to get to full brightness. I don't know exactly when the first replacements were put in (I think DD was in college which would be 8+ years ago) but the oldest just burned out last month... it was in a kitchen fixture which is usually 'on' 8 to 14+ hours every day. I consider them worthwhile simply on the basis of longevity.
ericwi
20 years ago
I recently was forced to replace two cfc units, I think they were 14 watt, that failed in about 1000 hours of operation. They were mounted horizontally, in an open fixture, with an aluminum reflector behind the lamp. I think that the aluminum reflector prevented heat from escaping upwards, and I suspect that the lamps ran hot as a result.
meldy_nva
20 years ago
ericwi - I think that was a ridiculously short life for this type of bulb. Did you complain to the manufacturer? I really don't think heat had anything to do with it, as my oldest ones were horizontal in an enclosed ceiling fixture. Several years ago, I did get a 2-pack, and both bulbs died in about 3 months. I wrote to manufacturer, and received an apology and a coupon for another 2-pack (which are still going strong), so something may have happened to the bad units during the shipping.