Ikea vs Energy saving light bulbs

M

Mickymoody

I saw a light fitting in an Ikea catalogue I really liked the look of, but was far to dear. So several months later, it was advertised as half price, and I went for it.

It's a 5 candle bulb chandelier type mount, so I'm up the ladder, installing it, as I have high ceilings, plug everything in OK, (before the new laws came in), tested, works OK, steps down from the ladder, and the fitting is nearly touching the floor oops!, so remove the links, get it to a decent height, job done.

But ever since install, it has blown bulbs on a bi-weekly rate, maybe a month, before a bulb blows. 40W candle style, small screw in type bulbs, as recommended.

So when the next bulb blew, there were no replacement bulbs available, but an alternative candle shaped energy saving bulb, with the right fitment.

So a couple of those were bought, and on installation, just flickered on and off, like a faulty flo tube would, so took back to shop. Replaced, one worked, faulty one taken back to shop, now two work...then another traditional bulb goes, another energy saving candle style bulb installed.

Then the other two traditional type 40W bulbs blow, don't bother to replace them.

Now the origional energy saving bulb, flickers and dies.

So technology uninvented.

When I walk in a room in darkness, I generally turn the light on, to see where I need to go...but with energy saving bulbs, best to leave them on all the time, as they take so long to get light?

I'm told that energy saving bulbs last longer than traditional bulbs, but I've had 3 that have failed, 2 from installation, and one within 12 months...yeah great!

The bulbs operate at a frequency that hurt my eyes, and have reduced light output, not great.

The bulbs if they are smashed, apparently, you have to vent the room, and collect the waste into a bag, and dispose of at the tip under 'special waste'...

So Ikea light fittings, blowing bulbs, and energy saving bulbs? Is a no no.
 
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This is an example of EEC telling us what is best, for us, the removal of so many things, is not the way forward, they have removed freedom of choice.
Why on earth were 100 watt lamps discontinued? they say it's to save energy, the replacements cfl's run cool so the heating that incandescent lamps provided, has to be made up, how?
Turn the central heating up....net gain...... nothing, just inferior lighting.

Wotan
 
This is an example of EEC telling us what is best, for us, the removal of so many things, is not the way forward, they have removed freedom of choice.
Why on earth were 100 watt lamps discontinued? they say it's to save energy, the replacements cfl's run cool so the heating that incandescent lamps provided, has to be made up, how?
Turn the central heating up....net gain...... nothing, just inferior lighting.

Wotan

Genious! As opposed to the other thread...people are mind set.
 
...But ever since install, it has blown bulbs on a bi-weekly rate, maybe a month, before a bulb blows...


...I'm told that energy saving bulbs last longer than traditional bulbs, but I've had 3 that have failed, 2 from installation, and one within 12 months...yeah great!
I can see you have an irrational hatred of CFLs

But the information you provided says that they have lasted better than filament bulbs

Anyway, the problem you are having suggests a poor connection in the light fitting giving intermittent supply, probably at a lampholder if it is always the same one; or where you connected to the ceiling rose, if all of them.
 
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...But ever since install, it has blown bulbs on a bi-weekly rate, maybe a month, before a bulb blows...


...I'm told that energy saving bulbs last longer than traditional bulbs, but I've had 3 that have failed, 2 from installation, and one within 12 months...yeah great!
I can see you have an irrational hatred of CFLs

But the information you provided says that they have lasted better than filament bulbs

Anyway, the problem you are having suggests a poor connection in the light fitting giving intermittent supply, probably at a lampholder if it is always the same one; or where you connected to the ceiling rose, if all of them.

I suggest that my energy supplier has a poor connection at the local transformer? As I've had 2 power cuts this week, and a spike midweek, that didn't loose power to the clocks, but set off the house alarm...

Also the landing light has had an intermittant bulb, that eventually failed, and a good bulb was swapped into the dead position, and it didn't work. Then the second bulb in the landing light started to flicker, then failed.

But new bulbs cured that, so that blows your theory out of the water. Two seperate fittings. Two lots of energy saving bulbs.

I'm not an idiot on wiring. Just have an issue with energy saving bulbs, in existing sockets, dying.
 
...that blows your theory out of the water. Two seperate fittings.
You're suggesting that your house can't have two fittings, each with a poor connection, which might be at the fitting, or the circuit?

If you put forward more evidence, I'm willing to accept that the fault might be upstream of the lighting circuit, but I was reading what you wrote yourself. "...But ever since install, it has blown bulbs on a bi-weekly rate, maybe a month, before a bulb blows..."

So not a CFL-specific problem
 
When I walk in a room in darkness, I generally turn the light on, to see where I need to go...but with energy saving bulbs, best to leave them on all the time, as they take so long to get light?



You get the benefit out of these bulbs, so i'm lead to believe, by leaving them on?
The main cost is on fire up.
 
Oddly enough our lights were fitted with three candle shaped bulbs of the convential filament type rated at 40W . However, these light fittings show a taste for these bulbs too and they don't last long at all . As they blow they are being replaced with the low energy type , but the regular " ugly" tube type and apart from the usual dimness on start up we've had no problem.
I fully agree with your comments about the low energy bulbs having to be classed as hazardous waste though, hardly in my option an improvement in technogolgy! :evil:
 
I fully agree with your comments about the low energy bulbs having to be classed as hazardous waste though,
are you sure? Where did you hear that?

(p.s. I asked my local council)
 
To be honest it came from a site agent I worked with a while ago, he said energy saving bulbs and flourescent tubes were all classed as basically the same and should be seperated from other waste. I just took him at his word and haven't actually checked although have heard the same from other people.
 
The Health Protection Agency said:
...The mercury cannot escape from an intact lamp and, even if the lamp should be broken, the very small amount of mercury contained in a single, modern CFL is most unlikely to cause any harm.

But it makes sense to avoid unnecessary contact with mercury; and a broken light bulb will also produce sharp pieces of glass. So it's best to deal with breakages sensibly, as described below....

http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1207293983993?p=1158313435037
 
Thanks for that John. Nice to see something in black and white rather than just heresay.
 
When I walk in a room in darkness, I generally turn the light on, to see where I need to go...but with energy saving bulbs, best to leave them on all the time, as they take so long to get light?



You get the benefit out of these bulbs, so i'm lead to believe, by leaving them on?
The main cost is on fire up.

The fire up period with CFLs is so short that the extra energy they consume during that period is negligible. Mythbusters did a test on a whole load of different lights and proved that it makes much more sense to turn all of them off as soon as you leave the room.

As for the warm up period, well yes, the cheaper CFLs do have some warm up period but let's face it you can still see adequately even if they haven't warmed up.
 
I quote from the box that the CFL candle shaped bulb came from; within 90 seconds the light will produce 40% of it's output.

In my experience, in the cold far worse than that, so after a minute and a half, you get less than 50% light, than expected? So what is the point?

The mercury cannot escape from an intact lamp and, even if the lamp should be broken, the very small amount of mercury contained in a single, modern CFL is most unlikely to cause any harm

But the official advice is to vent the room, contain the breakage, place in a bag, and take to an official toxins site. They have mercury in them. It kills people.

'most unlikely' ? you mean it will kill people.
 
i have been buying low energy bulbs since they cost nearing £20 and looked like a large tube with a domed end
my only concession to style is the bulbs that look like oversized "normal " bulbs lol

any way over the years the bulbs last longer i have several off 15 to 20 years old the new ones light up to 80% almost instantly and 100% in less than 60 seconds

i dont go for "small "bulbs as the reduced size will mean greater heat and bulb failure
in general i say go for 4x the bulb rating or divide by 4 so a 13w bulb = 52 watts or a 60w normal bulb = 15w then you wont be dissapointed
 

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