You see this? This is a burnt out light bulb. Our house was completed in March, 2007. It is full of these compact fluorescent (cf) bulbs. "Great." I remember thinking, "I won't have to buy light bulbs for years." Which is wonderful, because the damn things cost a lot of money. Supposedly, cf light bulbs not only use less energy, they also last, and I'm quoting from a package here, "13 times longer than standard bulb."But you know what my experience with cf bulbs has been? They burn out just as fast as the normal bulbs. In the apartment, I blamed it on some freaky electrical current. We had to change light bulbs more there then the rest of my life put together. I started writing the date on them in sharpie when I installed them. But in the new place, after 10 months, two of our cf bulbs have burned out. Which means that if I had used regular bulbs, I would have changed them 13 times. Or that perhaps something isn't what it's cracked up to be.....
Hmmm...I have not experienced such things with my bulbs like that. We have one that is going on year 3 (in a lamp). Maybe that makes the difference. I wonder if lamps take a different about of wattage than a lighting fixture. I do like putting a bit of a test date on the bulb just to see if the claim is accurate. -S
ReplyDeleteI've found that it makes a difference if you use a good brand like Sylvania or Philips. I put some in our outside light; they have candelabra bases, the smaller ones. The "generics" were not as bright as the incandescents they replaced and lasted less than a year, burning all night. Then I found some by Philips; they're brighter and they have already lasted a year.
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