# New Light Bulbs Question



## white eagle (Feb 8, 2007)

Are any of you folks using them new looking light bulbs that suppose to be cheaper on your electric bill plus not as hot as a regular light bulb?

If so do they really save on your electric bill?

Thanks


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## Kevingr (Mar 10, 2006)

If you're refering to compact fluorescent bulbs the answer is yes. I had some of the bulbs in my fixtures then in one month replaced almost everyone in the house. There was a noticeable drop in my electric bill that month, not a scientific study but it was lower, and the only thing that I noticed that changed was the bulbs.


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## crafty2002 (Aug 23, 2006)

If you are talking about the CF bulbs, I have them thru out my house and love them. I have three 13 watt bulbs in my living room fixture and can see as good to read as I could with three 100 watt incandlence (Spelling??) in there. That is 261 watts I am saving right there and they stay on a good 20 hours a day, so that is something like 5 KWH's I save right there. @ $ .11 which is what we are paying right now that is 55 cents a day I save. Doesn't sound like much but it adds up in a months or years time. 
I also have a construction string of lights run around my basement with 12 - 15 watt bulbs in it. That is 180 watts. They replaced 12 - 100 watt bulbs that I was always having to buy because they burned out so fast or I knocked them out. Low ceiling, LOL. 
That's 1,200 watts compared to 180 watts or a savings of 1,020 watts when I am in the shop working. 
Sometimes I will come up for a break thinking I am going back and don't. Then the lights stay on all night.  If they are on even 6 hours while I am working that is a savings of over 6 KWhrs., or 66 cents. 
To be truthful with you, I think they pay for themselves just because they don't burn out as fast. I have had to replace two of them in the last two years and I broke both of them, after hitting them several times hard enough that a regular bulb would have been replace each time.
I have been adding them in the house, package by package when they are on sale or have a rebate until the only regular bulb we have now is on the back porch. I just counted and have a total of 24 of them in the house.
I have two 15 watters in the bath room that replaced 3 - 60 watts regular bulbs. And I can see to shave a lot better. We decided we didn't even need the third one in there when a regular bulb blew somewhere else and I robbed one of the 3 that I had put in there. 
IMHO they are worth the extra cost by a long shot.
Dennis


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## WisJim (Jan 14, 2004)

If you mean CFLs, we've been using them for almost 18 years, and have noticed a substantial reduction in electricity used as we replaced most of the lights in the house with them. There have been a few "duds" over the years, but not many. We are also trying some LCD bulbs, but they are still kind of expensive (adjusting for inflation, probably about as expensive as CFLs were 15 years ago).


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## pixelphotograph (Apr 8, 2007)

uses less energy not a heat producer and i dont have to replace them as often whats not to like about cfl's


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## white eagle (Feb 8, 2007)

The bulbs I'm talking about are CFL. I didn't know if they would help on electric bill or not but with our bill running as high as 200 bucks a month it time for a major change. Darn electric bill is high as all get out.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

white eagle said:


> Are any of you folks using them new looking light bulbs that suppose to be cheaper on your electric bill plus not as hot as a regular light bulb?
> 
> If so do they really save on your electric bill?
> 
> Thanks


Yes we have them and yes they would save us money on our electric bill if we had one.


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## damoc (Jul 14, 2007)

yes most of the bulbs in the house are now cfl i dont think i like them although they are cheaper than regular bulbs to run good for alternate energy homes trying to make the most of every kw they are more expensive
to buy complicated i had one batch of 10 with 2 faulty ones right at the get
go.they also contain mercury and are difficult and expensive to recycle.


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## WisJim (Jan 14, 2004)

Of course, all light bulbs should be recycled as incandescents have lead in the bases. The mercury in CFLs is minor, and recycling them is easy and cheap most places. Even if you have to pay to recycle them, they are still cheaper to operate in the long run. An electrician friend says that many of the problems with short life on CFLs that he has found is due to the bulbs becoming a bit loose in the socket.


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## WayneR (Mar 26, 2007)

Helped replace many used in "can" spotlight fixtures at a museum. They were operated upside down in these enclosed fixtures. Many of them were actually cooked by the generated heat!


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## Kevingr (Mar 10, 2006)

Unless they are made specifically for an enclosed fixture (I'm not sure any are) they are not made to be enclosed. I have them in my enclosed ceiling fixtures but I have the globe 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from the base and that seems to work pretty good, I've only burned out one of those bulbs in those fixtures in 4 years.


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## WisJim (Jan 14, 2004)

We use hundreds of them in many kinds of fixtures, including recessed cans in ceilings, where I work, with much longer life than the incandescents that we used to use. I am not sure if the CFLs that we use are specifically specified for enclosures or not.


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## pixelphotograph (Apr 8, 2007)

WayneR said:


> Helped replace many used in "can" spotlight fixtures at a museum. They were operated upside down in these enclosed fixtures. Many of them were actually cooked by the generated heat!


Weird I have several can lights and recessed lights thru our home and have had no issues with heat. The bulbs are very cool to the touch compared to regular lightbulbs which can burn your skin when trying to remove a bulb thats on.

CFls shouldnt be getting that hot as to burn out. That could be a different issue all together.
Our house is going on 5 years with them and no problems. I buy mine at Lowes and Home Depot so Im not buying special bulbs just whatevers on sale on the shelf at the big box stores.


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## Runners (Nov 6, 2003)

We've been using the CF lights for 7 years. 100% of them have been replaced at least once.

Whoever says they run cool hasn't touched the base/ballast, which gets quite hot! Here's what we've learned...

1. Vibration kills them faster than anything else. Every lamp in our basement bounces as we walk across the upstairs floor, we're fortunate if we get 2 years out of those.

2. the globe types / ones rated for damp environments (bathrooms), die quickest with the least amount of actual usage. So mounting them horizontal made no difference at all.

3. Power fluxuations, thanks to living on the end-of-the-line hurts us the most. If we *HAD* off grid power with a *real* inverter, we'd have super clean power and they'd probably last a whole lot longer. When the voltage starts jumping up and down like a Jack Russel Terrier.... we can 'see it in the lights' - and know we'll be replacing more of them sooner than later.

The bottom line - it's at best a "wash" for us. * What we're saving in electricity, we're losing by replacing light bulbs. * We did have really good luck with HID (70 watt type) in the house, but it takes a couple of minutes for them to warm up.

Those yellow flourscent "bug lights" were a REAL JOKE! Didn't even last a month! But, they're also next to a door the kids slam, and enclosed in a glass globe (trapping heat) and ballast side "up"... 

Alas.. we saved all that power, but wasted resources in $$$ and environmental waste... just can't win!


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

By all means compact fluorescents can save energy translating to a lower electric bill. Mine in now down below $18.50 for the last two months. 

My most dramatic drop came after replacing the incandescent bulb in my dusk to dawn yard light. 

I have now had compact fluorescent bulbs for at least five years to the best of my recollection and have only replaced two, one of which was in the outdoor yard light.

As to the heat the put off I really am not away of much if any. However I use many of the ones I have for task lighting such as a swing arm desk lamp so I can use those of smaller wattage than most I even see being sold on a regular basis. I have 9 watt, 10 watt, and 11 watt bulbs with none larger. 

I have bulb upside down, right side up, and several on their sides. None have had problems because of that. 

I suspect the ones burned out from supposedly being upside down were due to them being of larger wattage and could very well have put off enough heat to shorten their lives. 

As to a $200 energy bill it may or may not be high. It just depends upon what all you have in use. two refrigerators, two freezers, water heaters, pumping water for livestock and gardens, etc.


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## Sandra Nelson (Oct 12, 2002)

We have two freezers, one refrigerator, desk computer, television, 12 CF bulbs on average of 6 hours each a day per bulb, yardlight (standard on pole variety) and plug in at least one vehicle. We also have two ceiling fans and in summer run 4 fans for air circulation in summer and the ceiling fans only in the winter. Our light bill runs a low of a bout 27 dollars in spring and fall and high of about 57 dollars in mid summer and mid winter. Without the CF bulbs it used to run closer to 80 dollars a month in the low months and about 127 dollars a month in the high months.


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## white eagle (Feb 8, 2007)

Since we have changed over to some of the CFL light bulbs now our electric is a little more cheaper. We haven't changed all the way over with the new light bulbs yet. For the first try we got 4 bulbs. Place one in our childs room, one in living room, one in master room and one in master bath. We wanted to see how our electric bill would change an it did. Our bill usually runs close to 200 a month an this month it was 170.00 so that is a big change in the bill. So now we will add more of these bulbs through out our home. :dance:


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## Jennifer Brewer (Aug 3, 2005)

We use CFL's, and find that while they are more expensive to replace, they last much longer. We use them almost exclusively, except a ceiling fan we can't reach (its 20 feet up!). Our bill is about $65 for a 1500 sq ft house with an electric stove. We have gas furnace and water heater, but that bill is only about $50 in the winter, and $30 in the summer.


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## robin f (Nov 26, 2007)

we have 2 freezers, 1 fridge, 1 washer, 1 dryer, 1 dishwasher, 1 stove (rarely used in winter due to the fact we cook on the wood stove a lot ), 2 tv's, 2 pc's, one is on 24/7, water heater, water pump, vacum cleaner, 4 bedroom house heated with woodstove, with kitchen, study, lounge, sitting room, CFL lights in everything, 2 adults, anywhere from 2 to six teenages lol, and a barn with two heater cords on water pipes, i also installed 15 CFL's in the barn, at the same time, i leave them on 24/7 during winter because its just to cold up here in the great white north for CFL's to start. 
Our power bill is around $130 per month in the winter and around $70. in the summer, 5 years ago, all at once i changed all the incan bulbs with CFL, (i got a great deal on them) apart for two, one in the front entrance to the house and one at the start of the walkway to the house and our power bill dropped on average $40.00 per month.


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