Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

We received countless responses to our post on Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs last night. Lockergnomie Pete Wroblewski (an Electrical Engineer) offered a few tips when shopping for compact fluorescent lamps there are a few things to remember:

1. The lamp life listed on the package is the half life or average life of all the lamps. in other words, if you bought 100 bulbs, 50 percent would be burned out at rated lamp life and 50 percent would still be burning.
2. Compact fluorescent lamps come in three color temperatures (27K incandescent color - yellowish tint, 35K old warm white color - pinkish tint, and 41K old cool white color - blueish tint. So watch the packaging so you don't have different colors in the same room. This is probably why Dan has experienced color differences.
3. Compact fluorescent lamps have a color shift in the first 100 hours of lamp life. I designed a facility where the night lighting (on 24 hours) were pinkish in color and the switched lighting (on 12 hours) were blueish in color which sure worried the client. But, after about 200 hours the colors almost matched. We don't see as much of this color shift now as we used to, but it still happens. This is why it is best to relamp all the fixtures in a room at one time.
4. Buy only from the major three manufacturers. (Philips, Sylvania, and GE) Most the other manufacturers trade off quality and longer life for a lower price.
5. Depending on the light fixture, changing from incandescent to compact fluorescent lamps can reduce the light distribution in the space. Especially in downlights because the lamp placement is lower in the reflectors than the fixture was designed for. We all remember how ugly the first compact fluorescent lamps that replaced incandescent lamps were. This is why it is best to buy a downlight for the lamp your using, not for every lamp possible. Also, increasing the wattage of compact fluorescent lamps can also reduce light distribution in downlights because the lamp is longer.

And there were plenty more “enlightened” compact fluorescent bulb users in the crowd:
Bo #1: “The first thing I did when buying my home 16 years ago was replace all my incandescent lights with compact fluorescent bulbs supposedly equivalent to 100 watt bulbs. (except odd size bulbs in bathroom and hallway fixtures) In 16 years I have replaced nil, none, nada, zip (even 4 outside bulbs). I think it cost me $C400+. I like to think the change has paid for itself. I am also satisfied with the amount of light given off by these bulbs.”
Bo #2: “Re: Your article on 'Energy Saving Bulbs', I've been using them for approx 2 years now (in the UK) and, up to now, well pleased with them - apart from not being able to use a 'dimmer' switch. There's a few strange 'quirks' that they have, after a month or so, walk into a room, switch the light on and take another step or two before the light comes on, nothing 'dangerous' though, even with full hands etc. It's only a second or under, but it seems strange not to have 'Instant' light as before. Another quirk, also after a 'settling in' period of a month or 2, the light comes on fairly bright (approx 3/4 power) and then slowly increases to full light over a minute(ish). The 1st few times, I wondered what was happening to my eyes but when Mrs. WereBo commented about the same thing, I realized what it was and all OK then. As I say, I've been using them for about 2 years (same bulbs) and I'm well happy with them and the bill savings, too.”
Chris: “I use them at home where it's appropriate: in a cold room I built in the basement - where I don't want extra heat, even thought the light's only ON when needed; in a bathroom fitting, I use two compact fluorescents on either side of a centre 40 watt incandescent; and beside a PC. Why not use them elsewhere? Two reasons: (1) Some people (like my wife) get headaches from using only fluorescent lighting - either because the emitted spectrum is missing something, or because the 60Hz flicker is more bothersome to the subconscious mind, since there is no heated wire to store light between AC waveform peaks; and (2) Compact fluorescents seem to interfere with infrared TV remotes (at least, in my experience).”