Jeff, all of ours are over a year old, and most more than two, some older than that.
We found the CFL's not to last long either, maybe 6 months. We had a bad transformer that was replaced recently that had caused us problems with other electronics. I suspect if you do not have steady "clean" power, flickering and unsteady current causes the CFL's to burn out prematurely. Now that we have the transformer problem resolved, I might try a few again. I also find them to not put out as much light as I would like.
I find the old fashioned 4' long tubes to work the best. Last forever and put out a lot of light.
Who runs 45 lights 10 hours a day. We have a large house, 7 children at home, home school, run a business out of our home.... we don't have nothing like 45 lights running 10 hours a day. Want to save electricity....cut of some of those lights. Free then. It is morning here now and we have 2 lights on. Kitchen and Bathroom.
> Well, with the LEDs, I don't think $10.00 is that expensive for something that is supposed to last 30 years. I can easily afford 33 cents/year/bulb, on average, but I understand that everyone's financial situation is different. Plus, at least in Florida, there is an offset of heat production vs. cooling costs with the CFLs and LEDs. And, of course, that chart I posted is in today's dollars, at today's energy rates. I'd expect energy prices will outpace regular inflation for many, many years to come. And, of course, the fire safety problems with incandescent are reduced with CFLs and LEDs
Problem is they last 1/5 to 1/10 that amount of time. So someone is lying to us.
Because flourescent bulbs strobe for me, and give me headaches. Drive me nuts sometimes...
Your power supply affects everything in your house.
The power fluctuations and the constant on/off repetition some days have made many things fail at my house.
I've had to add power backup to my important items like computers and entertainment center that can go down due to low power phases.
I wish I could afford to implement whole house protection.
It would be nice to send the Electric Coop, Telephone provider and area water supplier a bill for what their lack of protection and construction have cost me thru the years. Items from 5ton AC unit, fridge, freezer, to a dozen florescent ballast units at once.
Joining in with the entire neighborhood to complain in person and groups to the Coop each week for months did get them out to upgrade and add transformers and pots to our service area.
Most of my CFLs have lasted a very long time, never made a chart on them.
The ones that did fail frequently were due to a failing fixture.
A few of my newer designer fixtures come with some odd replacement florescent bulb. Those do last. In over 5yrs none of them has needed replacing.
> Who runs 45 lights 10 hours a day.
Sam, if you are referring to my post above, it says 45 lights 2 hours a day, on average, per the government report I cited. Still sounds like a lot, but Probably because many light fixtures (like bathrooms and ceiling fans, closet lights, garage openers, etc.) have multiple bulbs in them. My old bathroom "vanity" light fixture had 9 bulbs in it, until we did away with it and replaced it with a nicer 4 light fixture.
And you are correct, flickering power will absolutely shorten the life of CFLs.
Let's make it simple
If you use Five 100 watt incandescent light bulbs an average of 5 hours per day; @ $0.18 per KWH you will use $14 per month. Switching to CF's will reduce this by a $10 bill each month.
And they last much longer.
I have tried CFLs and they do NOT last much longer ...
I purchased some LEDs for my front porch lights - they supposedly burn only 2 watts a piece, so I left them on day and night. Out of 4, one burnt out in 3 months; the other three are still burning.
Methinks many of the claims are baloney.
Let's make it simple
18 cents per KWH!
Wow!
It's between 3 and 6 cents here!
Let's make it simple
The free market system has worked very well for years and it has done a very good job of picking winners and losers because it is driven by profit and performance. When those who wish to dictate to the masses, be they greenies or government, they get it wrong every time and are un American in their methods and the justification is usually a package of untruths. If there is a better solution to the incandescent bulb then they will take over because of merit not hype expanded beyond reality claims. I think all lighting needs to go green and done away with as we now use it and start using a renewable energy source, that is whale oil, whale oil lamps are cheap to build, they don't take energy from those dirty old coal plants and is a tried and proven technology. It is renewable and will put many seamen back to work at sea and provide many jobs rendering the raw product and the distribution of the oil, a win-win all around.
jud
Let's make it simple
[sarcasm]Let us not forget that using whale oil lamps could require more firefighters for all those open flames, and more surveyors to rebuild when cities burn to the ground.....[/sarcasm]
Look at the circuit board in a broken CFL. Looks to me like a mircoprocessor and about 20 other components. How could it be that complicated?
I have tried CFLs and they do NOT last much longer ...
> I purchased some LEDs for my front porch lights - they supposedly burn only 2 watts a piece, so I left them on day and night. Out of 4, one burnt out in 3 months; the other three are still burning.
>
> Methinks many of the claims are baloney.
Yes, the LED light manufacturers play some games with the Lumens and they are not what they are cracked up to be. I don't think the LED technology has matured sufficiently.
Wow!
> 18 cents per KWH!
>
> Wow!
>
> It's between 3 and 6 cents here!
Are you sure that includes all the taxes and fees?
I got 18 cents per KWH by taking several bills and dividing the total bill by the total KWH's used and they all came out between 17 and 19 cents. (Our monthly bill averages around $80 and we have electric hot water, stove and dryer.)
I have tried CFLs and they do NOT last much longer ...
The waterproof LED lights for car and trailer lamps is the best thing invented in that area in the last many years.
They are not bright enough for headlights.
😉
Wow!
No, I'm not looking at access fees or taxes. But you would pay those anyway.
Here's one rate:
RESIDENTIAL ELECTRIC SERVICE Rate 10
Page 1 of 2
Issued: August 15, 2011 By:
AVAILABILITY:
In all communities served for single-phase residential electric service for domestic purposes only.
RATE:
Basic Service Charge: $0.18 per day
Energy Charge:
October – May 4.816¢ per Kwh
June – September 6.813¢ per Kwh
Base Fuel and Purchased Power: 2.084¢ per Kwh
And then the rate if you let them control your usage:
RATE:
Basic Service Charge: $0.28 per day
Off-Peak Energy Charge:
For all energy used during the designated hours of 10:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. local time.
October – May 2.316¢ per Kwh
On-Peak Energy Charge:
For all energy not covered by
the Off-Peak rating period:
October – May 4.816¢ per Kwh
June – September 6.813¢ per Kwh
Base Fuel and Purchased Power: 2.084¢ per Kwh
I guess it goes from 2.3c to 6.8c.
