Rant: CFL’s are a crock of shit
Yes, I’m talking about compact flourescent light bulbs. The little spirally things everyone is trying to sell you on because they will save you so much money due to their reduced power consumption and extended life span.
I’ll admit, our house has power issues and fluctuations, but CFL’s are supposed to last about ten years, right? Wrong! Two bulbs on the same circuit, one is a CFL, the other is an incandescent. The CFL blew out in less than a year. The incandescent is still going. I’d rather pay $1 for a four pack of incandescents than $2 for one CFL. And at least when the incandescent blows out I can throw it in the trash as opposed to having to go to Home Depot to recyle it. Hell, I just might throw the CFL in the trash anyways, just to spite the regulators. The trash people can deal with the mercury, and then OSHA can get involved.
And at least, incandescents are dimmable.
They don’t check if you put ‘em in the trash.
Being able to dim light is a biiiiig part of it, too. If you’ve lived the X-10 lifestyle for 10 yrs, you don’t want to go back to a life with non-remote-dimming. It’s frickin’ bright. They *do* have dimmable ones, but they don’t sell ‘em at home depot, so you can tack on shipping costs as well.
How does one cash in on their “Warranties” anyway… THey owe me some bulbs!
I have somewhat of an opposite effect — we replace incandescents more often than CFLs, but it’s hard to make a fair assessment because we don’t use an equal number of them.
We do have a light on in the utility room 24/7 because the built-in light died, there’s no switch, and having to go across the room everytime you use it would suck. I think a CFL there was a good choice… close enough to the breaker box that it seems to not get surged [i have no idea of proximity really matters!], and since it’s on 24/7, there’s no stress from turning it off/no. I don’t think it’s been replaced yet, and it’s been a long time.
Also, since they don’t run as hot, they can be hit by more direct rain, for outside lights with cracked/missing globes. I have one that I have NOT been able to replace the globe on. As in, they don’t sell them at Home Depot, can’t special order them, and I haven’t been able to find ‘em online… Short of buying a whole new outdoor light, the CFLs helped there… the incandescents would burn out almost every rainstorm from the thermal shock
They need to hurry up with affordable LEDs that are actually BRIGHT.
I know they make dimmable ones, but I’m not paying $8+ for a fucking light bulb.
And I’m not going keep my receipt for every light bulb I buy to claim the warranty.
The utility room analogy is actually pretty irrelevant, since every single light bulb burning out(and there have been many), has happened when turning on the power switch.
Yes, If a light is on 24/7 a CFL makes sense. Otherwise, no.