Time flies!

Put one of them fancy new energy efficient bulbs in the barn for the cats last spring. I just left it on all the time since it only draws 20 watts or so. Well it burned out tonight...that was a really fast 10 years!!

That has pretty well been my experience, too. BUT, the fine print states that the estimated lifetime is based on a minimum number of hours per daily use.
Several years ago, before govt.mandates, we purchased some "long life" bulbs from somewhere that I don't remember now.They were supposed to be equivalent to 100W. Using them was a two step process. First you turned on the switch,then If you wanted to see anything, you lighted a candle for light! They probably put out about as many lumens as a 40W.

The new CFL bulbs are good for 8,000 hours if you buy the good ones and I would say that is based on ideal conditions. If you run it 24-7 that would be a total of 8,760 hours for a one year of service.

I presume your talking about a CFL. How much light do you need? Or are you using it for heat?

Unless I forget like I do most times I don't want to, the life span is based on 4 hrs a day useage. All tho more $ (bought a few years ago) I use a LED in a lamp run from 2 hours to 6 hours a day and it might out last me. It consumes about 15 watts and is rated at 60 watts. It gets almost as hot as a reg bulb.
We use many CFLs around here. I checked using a kill-a-watt to confirm the rated wattage and they were wrong. According to packaging 60W CFL light used 15W however mine use less, 10-13W. When replacing 3 60W incandesant bulbs with 3 CFLs power useage went down by about 144W.
Another bulb we use in a room is a 4W nitelight and it's on 24/7. This is in a heated part of the house and in 6 years I've replaced one (1st one lasted 4 yrs).

I found a 10W LED bulb at WallyWorld couple years ago and it's outside on garage and it's pretty bright. I have this on a $3 timer set for 4 hours a night during winter and 2 hrs in summer. This bulb is rated for 50,000 hours. 4 hrs/day for 50,000 hrs life = 34 yrs, 2 hrs/day @ 50,000 hrs = OMG!!! Well worth the $10 I paid for it. LMAO

I put CFL's (60 watt equivalent) on both the front
& back porch lights over 8 years ago. Couldn't get
the covers on over the bulbs, so the bulbs are
exposed to the elements, but they have been
running continuously 24-7 since I installed them -
with the exception of one 3 hour power-failure a
couple of years ago. The light output has
diminished somewhat over time, but they still put
out enough light that you can see everything in
the yard at night.

I think that I have gotten more than my money's
worth out of these bulbs. They've lasted longer
than any incandescent bulb that I've ever owned. I
just wish they were in a color spectrum a little
bit closer to daylight, instead of that darned
bluish tint.

Doc

I put some in my house back in the 90's. They are still working. They last on average, at least 2x the old bulbs. Maybe more.

We"ve had excellent life with CFLs, including those in totally enclosed fixtures (heat buildup) and frequent on-offs (also hard). I used to have to make a monthly pass through the house replacing the Edison bulbs but we go through very few CFLs.

Re blue tint - Be careful about the color temp you buy. Daylight-like bulbs are around 6500K (if I remember correctly) and are real blue. 3500K are much less blue (Lowes carries these), 3000K are even less so (but are hard to find). The most common CFLs seem to be 2700K, which is supposed to make you think of an Edison bulb, but we find those to be too orange in color to suit us.

At almost 72, not sure I really care if a bulb lasts 8 years or not....

I recall some time back the building manger of some high rise's telling me the light bulbs in the stairwell's, on 24/7 would last sometimes 10 years, never having that on/off cycle.

Time flies like the wind, but fruit flies like bananas.
Zach

The ONLY thing those CFL bulbs are good for is
target practice (well - except for the
mercury....)! We USED to have them in a couple of
ceiling fans, but left them when we moved, The
only way they throw out enough light was to have
4-5 of them in a fixture together, by themselves,
it was better to be dark. I've replaced TWO
incandecent bulbs in the past year and a half -
and one of those was dropped.

LED lights are WORSE! They throw out nothing but
blue shadows. Give me a flashlight (or ANY light)
with a REAL BULB anyday!

You are right on that. A bulb that is switched off and on a lot will not last near as long. Of course you don't want to leave a high wattage bulb on to long, so it is natural to shut them off. I had a small night light bulb that I know was on for at least a year. I unplugged it cause I needed the outlet for something else. Plugged it back in and it only lasted a couple hours. A few years back I was having trouble with regular fluorescent bulbs burning out. Talked to electrician and ask him why. He said turning them off and on was the problem. Started leaving them on all day and they lasted probably 3-4 times longer.

I put a 100 watt equalivant, 29 watt CFL, in
our entryway, and can"t stand the noise.
It hums and /or buzz"s whenever on.

Put the equivalent of 150 watt cfi"s in the flood lights around the house. They draw far less electricity and its been years since I changed one.

Read on the internet that the govt has outlawed incandescent bulbs. After what is on the shelves is gone, they are gone. If you like incandescent bulbs better stock up.

yeah, but what are you supposed to do if you need the 100 watt bulb to keep your well house from freezing up.
That is where I need the heat from the bulb. You cant get the heat from an LED.
My well house is below grade and the heat strips will not work below the waterline so I have used bulbs for the last 50 years to keep my water running in sub zero weather.

Any suggestions?

PMO calls for 100 watt bulbs in dairy barns every three cows. I can tell you that whatever is availible now is about the same as a 20 watt bulb on half power. You almost have to milk cows with a flashlight. The 8 foot flouesent bulbs don't throw the light they used to either. Wonder how the milk inspectors are gonna handle this.

My experience has not been good. Have had many
failures - I didn't document hours, but I think
I'm replacing CFL bulbs at a rate that fairly well
matches CHEAP old incandescents. Lack of light
output, especially in colder temperatures is
frustrating. Long wait for warmup is another
issue. I have a couple in a motion detector light
- by the time they warm up, they are turned off by
the timer -useless for security. Other major
issue is the radio spectrum noise they produce,
just like other fluorescents. Put me down as
unimpressed. Thanks congress!

That and the fact that you have mercury in there. I remember not all that long ago the field man was going around to make sure we didn't even have a mercury vacuum gauge.

From what I understand, no more 100 watt incandescent bulbs can be made but there isn't anything says the companies can't make 100 watt heat bulbs.

Just a quick search of 100 watt heat bulbs pulled up quite a few hits like the following,

http://www.amazon.com/Flukers-Red-Heat-Bulbs-watt/dp/B0006L2UEW

I think there's a way around that whole thing. Can't you still buy incandecents as a "rough service" bulb?

Our kitchen has 4 inset lights in the ceiling, they are the big round ones, like out side on the auto light. We have been putting 60-75 watt incandescent lights in there for years, and we were getting about 2 years a bulb, at $5 a bulb. SO this time when we went to Home Depot to get a new one, I convinced mom to buy the $30 LED bulb. Package says 100 watt light at 27 watt usage. It has a 10 year warranty on the light, if it goes out, they will replace it!!! So here is my math:
Every 2 years x $5 over 10 years = $25 in light bulbs
Every 10 years x $30 over 10 years = $30 for a light bulb
The LED has MASSIVE energy savings, MUCH better light, and a warranty! Worth the extra money? I think so! Bryce

If you get 10 years....

I have one bulb in the cold barn, from when they came out. Works ok, don't use often tho, and takes 15 minutes to get any light in the cold.

Other areas on the farm, the curly bulbs have lasted less than a week.

In the kitchen where I put one, every single family member complained, too dark, had to go back to a 100 watt conventional.

I got a real expensive led 3 watt bulb, put it in the basement for a night light. Like it, if indeed it lasts for years?

Lot of farmers use regular bulbs for a heat lamp in a well house, barn, etc. the curly bulbs are of course worthless....

So they have their place. And they have places they are worthless and now create a hardship.

Retailers can continue to sell bulbs. They cannot make or import any any more. I believe the small wattage have been ended this December too now?

I bought a bunch, so I have a supply for the areas the mandated alternatives do not work. Hope they last me a while.

They also

There used to be an outfit(dis-remember the name ) that sold long-life incandescent bulbs that were stamped 130 volts - I still have some and they still work - they weren't as prone to burning out in a trouble light; kind of like a rough-service bulb. In 24-7 service they would last pretty well I think but probably can't get them either. The feds stick their noses into everything, it seems. By the way how can I get some of that 'global warming' they keep talking about? SOMEbody is making a pile of money on that deal and we're paying for it! [b:d1b62453a6]B.S.![/b:d1b62453a6]

The ones i installed when they first came out burned out in no time.
I think they are a PITA, no light to speak of ,long time to start up and apparently when they happen to break you need to evacuate the house and have the guys in the white suits come to clean the place up
SOOOOO much safer for the environment...right? :roll:

Keep your sales receipt and the packaging that describes the warranty. Or the store may very well not honor it. BTDT...grrr!

I think that the LED bulbs are still too expensive as compared with the CF bulbs. I would only use an LED bulb in locations where the light is on almost all the time and it is difficult to change the bulb. But that"s just me. Good luck!

Big brother phased out 100 watt incandescent bulbs a few years ago. 40 & 60 watts can no longer be made in or imported to the US.

I have not had good luck with the CFL bulbs. The worst ones I've had only lasted a few days. The best ones about a year and a half. Some were slow to come on, all cast an ugly color, and some make noise.
We're supposed to use the CFL's to conserve energy. The energy savings is supposed to offset the higher cost of the CFL's. The problem with that theory is closet lights and other seldom used lights will never get used enough to pay for themselves in energy savings. One of the reasons for using CFL's is they don't give off heat like incandescent bulbs. If you think about it, lights are used more during the winter so the heat from the incandescent bulbs can actually be a cheaper form of heat than running a furnace.
Another problem with CFL's is the UV light....which causes fading. When the ban on incandescent bulbs was announced museums started stocking up on incandescent bulbs because they don't want to subject items to the UV light from the CFL's.
Some people can't handle fluorescent light. It causes them health problems. Oh, let's not forget the mercury in the CFL's. Not long after CFL's were introduced it was reported that a woman in CA broke one. She had read the warnings on the packaging so she knew about the mercury. She called some government agency and when it was all over she had something likea $7000 bill from the HAZMAT team.

I collect gas pump globes. I have a lot of them. No way, no how will I put CFL's in them because of the fading and because they make the globes look awful. I recently stocked up on 40W incandescents. I probably didn't get enough though.

Specialty incandescent bulbs are still available, but they are now quite expensive.

I don't have a problem with CFL's being on the market or people wanting to use them. I do have a big problem with government telling me what kind of light bulb I have to use.

I put CFL's in my garage door openers cause it is such a PIA to replace those when the car or tractor or whatever is parked underneath. The light is fine, but I notice these bulbs are melting the plastic covers on the units and that never happened with regular incandescent bulbs. So they must be running HOTTER than the old bulbs did.

(quoted from post at 15:47:53 01/31/14) I think there's a way around that whole thing. Can't you still buy incandecents as a "rough service" bulb?

Click to expand...

Yep, but the 100 watt rough service bulb will be $2+ to replace a regular 100 watt bulb that used to cost $.25 or less. Rough service bulbs usually don't put out the same amount of light as a regular incandescent because of some kind of protective coating, and last roughly the same amount of hours.

What a deal!

AG