OT: sorta. Light bulbs in shop

Richard G. · Jul 27, 2012

Over the past couple of years, been replacing incandescent bulbs with the CFL's. Thought they were supposed to last longer. They burn out as fast as the old ones. They do use less less power, so I will keep using them. Same problem in my house.
Any one else had this problem?
Richard

JDseller · Jul 27, 2012

I think they are all junk. I hate them. The light they give off is not as bright and I can't see with them. If you want good light and long life switch to fluorescents fixtures. Cost way less for the amount of light and last well.

Wile E · Jul 27, 2012

I hear that man.
Those CFLs are crap.
I had bought 3 of them for a bathroom a few years ago and they burned up quick.
Regular bulbs with the filament is what works for me. Been around for over 100 years, they cant find a way to make it better.....Yet.

FBH44 · Jul 27, 2012

I agree. the twisty bulbs last about as long as regular, give a dim light, are lots more expensive. Maybe these are the boot-leg Chinese ones.....

JRSutton · Jul 27, 2012

hope your shop remains heated -

when it's cold those things take a while to come up to full brightness.

it's pretty annoying.

But, at least they're full of mercury. Can always use a little more mercury in our environment.

jackinok · Jul 27, 2012

just fyi,if you can find 130 volt bulbs instead of 120 volt ones they last a whole lot longer. i buy mine at a electrical supply place.

dlplost · Jul 27, 2012

I have the 8" fluorescents out in my garage, all but 2 bulbs have been there for 25 years.(you can"t hit them with a 2x4, they"ll break)
I hate the CFL"s, they"re junk..

GordoSD · Jul 27, 2012

I have 8 foot fixtures, dual bulb that are high output cold weather models "Instant on" regardless of temperature.

mkirsch · Jul 27, 2012

You have two problems:

1. You are buying poor quality bulbs.

2. You are buying bulbs "rated" for the same Watts as your old incandescent bulbs.

Try a 40W CFL (rated as a 150W incandescent equivalent). You will have MORE light and still use less than 1/2 the electricity. The 40W bulbs are much higher quality too, and will last longer.

If you're burning out bulbs frequently, you probably have something wrong with your electric supply. Back on the farm for many years, hardly a day would go by that one of the 12 bulbs up the middle of the barn didn't blow. The cows would kick the milkers off incessantly. You could see all the cows in the barn would suddenly get agitated, and start swishing their tails in the dead of winter, then it would suddenly stop. There was definitely something wrong. We tried to complain to the power company, even hired a firm to come in and prove that there was something wrong, but they just shrugged their shoulders and said, "Oh well, sucks to be you." Then all of a sudden one day it stopped.

old · Jul 27, 2012

I have a lot of those all over the farm and some are on 24/7 and some are 3 plus years old that have been on 24/7. Sounds like you either have problems with voltage spikes or some other odd problem because as I said I have many that are going on 4 years old if not close to 10

bison · Jul 27, 2012

CFL's are junk,no light either. :roll:
Get yourself some 4' long 6 tubes T5 fluorescent fixtures,they're brighter than daylight.
I hung 6 of them in my 70 x46 shop,i use only 2 most of the time.

Ray · Jul 27, 2012

I've had the new bulbs for 3 years in my house.Some don't last a week,none have lasted as long as the old bulbs.I've seen them shoot a flame out the bottom and get hot and wilt off to
the side in a light fixture.

Gary from Muleshoe · Jul 27, 2012

I use them all the time at work, and I have found out that the ones you buy at the big box store for the cheaper price are just that cheap and burn out quick. Find a reputable electric supply store and buy a good quality bulb and it will burn for years.

rustyfarmall · Jul 27, 2012

(quoted from post at 08:08:06 07/27/12) Over the past couple of years, been replacing incandescent bulbs with the CFL's. Thought they were supposed to last longer. They burn out as fast as the old ones. They do use less less power, so I will keep using them. Same problem in my house.
Any one else had this problem?
Richard

I did the same thing. Both in the shop and in the house. Bought all of them at reputable retail outlets. Less than a year had gone by and I was replacing the twisty bulbs with incandescents. Some of those CFLs did not last as long as a week. I'll never buy another one. And for what it's worth, those CFLs did not lower my electric bill by as much one dime.

farmer boy · Jul 27, 2012

I bought some of those spiral bulbs and they didn't last at all. Got a year out of the best one, month out of the worst one. I bought some Philips real cheap(.08+tax)from TSC and have a few in the house and about 15 in the barn. None have died yet even starting a few times a day at 10F
Philips

Tony Vidlak · Jul 27, 2012

Ive had good look with the new style light bulbs.
The first ones I installed are over my kitchen sink,installed Nov.17,2007 I wrote it down to see how long they really last 3 13 watt bulbs that are as bright as 3 60 watt incandesant.The two on my back patio are 2 years old now.

Anonymous-0 · Jul 27, 2012

Replaced every screw in bulb in the house 5 or so years ago with CFL's from IKEA (read cheap)..... replaced 2 that got broke...

In the kitchen and bathroom, replaced 4 ea 50 watt halogen bulbs with 4 ea 3 watt LED's that we got 10 for 20 bucks shipped thru ebay. Almost as bright (better light) than the halogens and watts compared to the 400 before....

Anonymous-0 · Jul 27, 2012

(quoted from post at 08:10:43 07/27/12) I think they are all junk. I hate them. The light they give off is not as bright and I can't see with them. If you want good light and long life switch to fluorescents fixtures. Cost way less for the amount of light and last well.

You got the wrong ones Babes..... You gotta go and by the ones with bambi on the box and pay about 4x as much for em...... They still won't last any longer but you'll have the satisfaction of supportin your namesake and gloatin to the rest of us :roll:

Have a good day :lol:

RayP(MI) · Jul 27, 2012

My experience was the CFLs weren't any more dependable than incandescent. Many premature failures - far shorter life than advertised. What's worse, they didn't provide the quality or quantity of light. Those in outbuildings are very puny in colder conditions. Might save me a littel $, but if I could just get folks to just shut 'em off when they leave the room.... CFLs like florescents (and that's what they are,) also create radio electrical interference. We had CFLs on a radio tower for less than 20 minutes. They destroyed the receiver's hearing.

I'm not a CFL fan.

Dave Sherburne NY · Jul 27, 2012

I had 16 incandescent bulbs in my shop The meter was right outside the door where I saw it spinning every time the lights were on and I walked in the shop. Nothing else in the house or shop was using much electricity. I decided to put all curly bulbs in the shop, didn't want florescence because they interfered with radio reception. After the change over, the meter would be barely turning. The radio reception was acceptable. The bulbs don't last as long as the Government would like us to believe, but better name brand bulbs do last longer. Actually I have replaced more bulbs that were hit by something and broken. The shop was always heated in the winter so I can't tell you about cold starting.
I moved out of that place a few years ago and still use them in my new/old heated shop but I have to use a computer as a radio because the car dealer next door has something going all the time he is open which creates static.
Bottom line is if your gonna use them get good ones not from the big box store.

Scott 730 · Jul 28, 2012

You guys do know there are different "colors" of CFL's available?

I've seen them from 2700k up tp 5000k. Read the labels on the box.

2700k is a very soft almost yellow light. Higher numbers like 5000k get into the white and blue light range.

I have 5000k in my garage and love them.

Anonymous-0 · Jul 28, 2012

In my 40 x 60 shop I use 8 halogen fixtures each one has it's own switch so I can light only the area that I am working in.For my drop lights I use CFL in summer and incandecent in the winter. The CFL bulbs are slow getting up to briteness in cold weather. I replaced all the bulb in our house with cfl's. They do cut your electric bill and you have to wait a few seconds for them to totally light up. The life of the bulb has a lot to do with how many times you turn it off and on. Turning light off and on shortens the life of a bulb.

OT: sorta. Light bulbs in shop

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