More free bloody light bulbs

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The Mirror is giving away free CFLs (energy saving light bulbs) with this weekends edition. Retailers already have the lamps to dish out. The Sun did this last year, and we had about 20 packs left over in our shop, we let staff take them (they had zero value to the store and there were no returns procedures).

I did a count of the CFLs in my cupboard earlier and I have enough to last me about 60 years.

Four were free from British Gas (with whom we aint a customer), three were on special offer at morrisons, and one is a dimmable one i bought just to try it out. We only have two fittings that can take these CFLs, they are all Bayonet caps. Most of our fittings are SES (small screw) or ES (screw) fittings, with golf ball lamps or candle lamps.

So please, newspapers and energy companies, we dont need any more BC CFLs, we want decorative ones in ES and SES fitting!

This must create an awful lot of surplus lamps. Think of my stock that will take me 60 years to get through if I dont fit any more BC fittings (hard to come by)

At least let us choose what type lamps we desire! I mean, BG posted us our four free lamps. Would it have been so expensive to pay for two letters to ask us what type of lamps we want, compared to the cost of sending the lamps in the parcel in the first place???

I guess the theory behind BG sending four lamps is that we replace four lamps for these energy savers. But all TWO of our BC fittings have CFLs already! I dont see the point.
 
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welcome to the British gas world.

i have yet to see anyone who has opened the box of BG lamps
 
I've got about 2 dozen of these freebies. What I find very surprising is that although the cartons state an 8 or ten year life span, I have replaced four of them in as many months after a very short period of use. Does anyone else find this problem?
 
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welcome to the British gas world.

i have yet to see anyone who has opened the box of BG lamps

use them all the time. far more sturdy for use in the garage where the lead lamp gets dropped and welding snots all over it, normal bulbs dont last long. the slightly poorer light is acceptable for a bulb that doesnt break all the time.
 
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I've got about 2 dozen of these freebies. What I find very surprising is that although the cartons state an 8 or ten year life span, I have replaced four of them in as many months after a very short period of use. Does anyone else find this problem?

all the bulbs in my house except the attic are low energy bulbs
some are over 10 years old the average is probably nearer 4 years

in rooms where the brightness is important i change the bulbs after 6 months as they seem to loose around 15 or 20 percent of there brilliance

they also seem to over estimate there brilliance in the first place
i go for 4 times the bulbs rating as being nearer the output as in 11w = 44w 20w = 80w
 
We went to interbuild last autumn - Screwfix were there giving out 'goodie bags' which had their catalogue in, together with some other leaflets and an energy saving bulb. This is an 18W bulb designed to replace a 90W normal bulbs but its HUGE!! And i mean at least 6" long and about 2" dia. I've never seen an energy saving bulb as big as this and i can't imagine anyone actually put these in a light fitting in their home. It's still sat on my desk where it has been since last October and will probably remain until i get sick of seeing it and throw it away.
 
all the bulbs in my house except the attic are low energy bulbs some are over 10 years old the average is probably nearer 4 years........................i go for 4 times the bulbs rating as being nearer the output as in 11w = 44w 20w = 80w

We have only recently gone over to low energy, thats how I know how long they are lasting. I suppose that like many people, our kitchen uses up more energy for lighting (600w) than all of the other rooms put together. Will remember your advice on the 4x factor.
 
I opened the BG box, as we had run out of normal lamps, and the one at the top of the stairs had gone.

I've got some normal lamps again now so I've thrown away the CFL :D

Horrible things :evil:
 
Better still the "Daily Mail" is giving away real light bulbs.

Yet another case of where the EU has not thought it through. I did a life cycle study and unless these low energy bulbs (discharge type) are left on for at least 7.86hrs a day the cost over the life cycle is higher and the cost to the environment greater, also the light output decays at a strange rate which is not consistent even with bulbs from the same batch.

The latest con trick is to fit new properties with B3C sockets so nothing fits except for their own bulbs which are expensive so first time it blows replace socket.

PS Halogen bulbs are not so bad and they dim when you want them to not when they decide.
 
Better still the "Daily Mail" is giving away real light bulbs.

Yet another case of where the EU has not thought it through. I did a life cycle study and unless these low energy bulbs (discharge type) are left on for at least 7.86hrs a day the cost over the life cycle is higher and the cost to the environment greater, also the light output decays at a strange rate which is not consistent even with bulbs from the same batch.

would agree about "fading" at different rates

are you saying you think it takes 7.86 hrs on capital outlay or running costs or both!!!
 
In the many houses go into each week, I am very surprised at just how many people have not got the message and are still using traditional bulbs .... and it's not for any other reason than they either did not know about CFL, or just could not be bothered.

One guy was moaning about his electricity bill, and we worked it out that he was using over 2kw an hour just for all his lights on at night - this was a 2-bed flat. After swapping to CFL and changing use patterns he is now using less than 20% power for the lights
 
The latest con trick is to fit new properties with B3C sockets so nothing fits except for their own bulbs which are expensive so first time it blows replace socket.
Then fit them with PL sockets instead. Building regs say you must fit at least one fitting that can only take energy saving lamps.

PL sockets mean the ballast is in the fitting, and all you need to buy is the lamps (tubes). This makes the lamps cheaper, and they are becoming more common everywhere now. :D
 
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