The Best Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs: Popular Mechanics Lab Test

Nice article. Has anyone replaced their ceiling fan bulds with cfl's yet? They sell some of them at Sam's Club, I think.

 

We've had CFs in our ceiling fans (3 of them) for a few months now. Works really good.
I caution you to use only good, brandname CFs, however. We got a pack of HomeDepot "75 Watt" equivalents, and they all burnt out within 5 mins of each other, in the first week.

Get 60 W, or 100 W, don't get the 75 W, and don't use a dimmer with them (we put in a regular switch).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(inventor00 @ May 24 2007, 04:31 PM) [snapback]449369[/snapback]</div>

We replaced all of our incandescent bulbs with CFL's 7 years ago when they where still $10 to $15 each. We just bought one or two bulbs per week and skipped a lunch out. Those bulbs went with us from our rental to our house in 2002. The original bulbs were GE's and all of them are still going. When we bought the house we bought some Lights of America bulbs at Sam's for $15 per pack of 6. A big savings but about 20% of them burned out within a couple of hours. Those that didn't fail immediately are still going. All in all the CFL's saved us about 10% per month on our utility bill.

 

The only problem is that you absolutely cannot use a dimmer on a standard CFL. I believe that there are some CFL's that cost about $50 each or more that can use a dimmer. (it has to do with the ballast).

Also, an incandescent used in a dimmer is nearly as efficient as a CFL, because most dimmers are not run at 100% illumination, or don't need to be.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Devil's Advocate @ Jun 15 2007, 03:34 PM) [snapback]462627[/snapback]</div>

While someone boutique lighting store on Park Avenue may try to sell you a dimmable CLF for $50 or more, the cost in your average store is much, much less.
There are many dimmable CFLs to chose from:
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/page.c...chingBulbCount=

An incandescent on a dimmer is NOT (!!!!!) even close to the efficiency of a CFL.
Shure, you can dial back the wattage, but you are NOT going to get nearly as much light per watt. <_<
Efficiency is how much light you can get per watt of power, not how little energy a bulb will use.
If that were the case, we should all exchange our CFLs for individual 1.5 watt Christmas lights placed in all of our sockets. I'm sure the technology to do so is available.

 

I am switching to CFLs one at a time... but I do find the quality of the light is different. It's not as "warm." It's also not as bright - the CFL equivalent of the 150W is not even close to what I get from a real 150W.