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[Nickbat]

In the light of today's ban on the sale of certain incandescent light bulbs, I thought this site may be of interest to our more technically-inclined readers. I think it is possibly unique in the depth of information provided. Worryingly, it also contains information that the average consumer would not know. For example, "Never use a CFL as an all-night light for small children. Lamp failure could result in toxic fumes and possible serious injury."

A fascinating, but long, read. 

http://www.sound.westhost.com/articles/incandescent.htm

[bertiecbx550]

When i read CFL i thought great a feature on the lesser mentioned Canadian Football League.......Disapointed 

[Nickbat]

When i read CFL i thought great a feature on the lesser mentioned Canadian Football League.......Disapointed 

You can't please all the people all of the time...

[Marks DTM Calib]

This has been very poorly reported on by the press.....and the number of old gits moaning about modern bulbs when they clearly have not got a clue what they are talking about is quite shocking!

A classic example is some old dear saying she wont be able to buy candle bulbs for her wall lights.....now I cant ever remember seeing 100W candle bulbs so not sure that she will see a difference!

As for the dimming, Halogen bulbs have been around for some time and work well (and are considered low(er) energy as they are more efficicent) but, be warned, dimmable CFL's are a bit hit and miss......the ones I tried had a life span of around 1 hour!

The toxic buisness is just a bit of scaremongering, there are similar polutants all around us and the actual levels of mercury etc are VERy small......plus, CFL's rarely fail by fracturing!

[Jimbob]

but they have got rid of all pearl bulbs though havent they?

so afaik... she can still buy her candle bulbs....but in clear not pearl


edit :

Any bulb with frosted, opal, pearl or other translucent finish - unless category A energy savers - will be banned from 1 September 2009
All clear bulbs must be energy rating category E or better from 1 September 2009
100W bulbs and above must be at least category C from 1 September 2009
75W bulbs and above must be category C or better from 1 September 2010
60W bulbs and above must be at least category C from 1 September 2011
All clear bulbs must be at least category C from 1 September 2012

[Tonka.]

I read yesterday that the Government has banned the import and sale of incandescent bulbs for household use.

Bulbs made for industrial use, clearly marked "Not For Household Use", will still be available.

They are the same bulbs 

Do correct me if I am wrong

[Marks DTM Calib]

Indeed, frosted coat is not allowed.......but these old dears will no doubt have a lamp shade with the funny old tassles hanging off them.

Reality is that CFL's are here and have a lot of merits, the light output from them is on the whole, better than an incandescent so its best to get on with using them!

I have little choice as a certain family member in our house seems unable to turn lights off
 

[Lazydocker]

Indeed, frosted coat is not allowed.......but these old dears will no doubt have a lamp shade with the funny old tassles hanging off them.

Reality is that CFL's are here and have a lot of merits, the light output from them is on the whole, better than an incandescent so its best to get on with using them!

I have little choice as a certain family member in our house seems unable to turn lights off
 

When we moved into our place 4 1/2 years ago we replaced all the incandescent bulbs with CFL's and keep buying them when on offer... We've probably got a lifetime supply

Anyway... There are about 3 or 4 lams which cannot have CFL's but every one that can, has. No complaints from us! In fact, I recently replaced the 240V Halogens in the kitchen with LED equivalents... The pure white light takes a little getting used to but is superb

Personally I don't see what all the fuss is about! :-/ :-/

[Brick Tamland]

Indeed, frosted coat is not allowed.......but these old dears will no doubt have a lamp shade with the funny old tassles hanging off them.

Reality is that CFL's are here and have a lot of merits, the light output from them is on the whole, better than an incandescent so its best to get on with using them!

I have little choice as a certain family member in our house seems unable to turn lights off
 

When we moved into our place 4 1/2 years ago we replaced all the incandescent bulbs with CFL's and keep buying them when on offer... We've probably got a lifetime supply

Anyway... There are about 3 or 4 lams which cannot have CFL's but every one that can, has. No complaints from us! In fact, I recently replaced the 240V Halogens in the kitchen with LED equivalents... The pure white light takes a little getting used to but is superb

Personally I don't see what all the fuss is about! :-/ :-/

IMO, its got nothing to do with bulbs, a lot of people including myself dont like being told what to do (dont drive a big car, dont go on planes, dont by old bulbs etc.  )

[Lazydocker]

Indeed, frosted coat is not allowed.......but these old dears will no doubt have a lamp shade with the funny old tassles hanging off them.

Reality is that CFL's are here and have a lot of merits, the light output from them is on the whole, better than an incandescent so its best to get on with using them!

I have little choice as a certain family member in our house seems unable to turn lights off
 

When we moved into our place 4 1/2 years ago we replaced all the incandescent bulbs with CFL's and keep buying them when on offer... We've probably got a lifetime supply

Anyway... There are about 3 or 4 lams which cannot have CFL's but every one that can, has. No complaints from us! In fact, I recently replaced the 240V Halogens in the kitchen with LED equivalents... The pure white light takes a little getting used to but is superb

Personally I don't see what all the fuss is about! :-/ :-/

IMO, its got nothing to do with bulbs, a lot of people including myself dont like being told what to do (dont drive a big car, dont go on planes, dont by old bulbs etc.  )

But they aren't telling you what to do... Perfectly legal for you to go and buy them. Only banned the import of them. I know of a certain hardware store local to me which has bought all of his suppliers stock... He'll be selling them for about 15 years and making a killing towards the end

[Brick Tamland]

Indeed, frosted coat is not allowed.......but these old dears will no doubt have a lamp shade with the funny old tassles hanging off them.

Reality is that CFL's are here and have a lot of merits, the light output from them is on the whole, better than an incandescent so its best to get on with using them!

I have little choice as a certain family member in our house seems unable to turn lights off
 

When we moved into our place 4 1/2 years ago we replaced all the incandescent bulbs with CFL's and keep buying them when on offer... We've probably got a lifetime supply

Anyway... There are about 3 or 4 lams which cannot have CFL's but every one that can, has. No complaints from us! In fact, I recently replaced the 240V Halogens in the kitchen with LED equivalents... The pure white light takes a little getting used to but is superb

Personally I don't see what all the fuss is about! :-/ :-/

IMO, its got nothing to do with bulbs, a lot of people including myself dont like being told what to do (dont drive a big car, dont go on planes, dont by old bulbs etc.  )

But they aren't telling you what to do... Perfectly legal for you to go and buy them. Only banned the import of them. I know of a certain hardware store local to me which has bought all of his suppliers stock... He'll be selling them for about 15 years and making a killing towards the end

Ebay

[jereboam]

We live in a really old house - built in 1997.  Some of our light fittings are almost 12 years old.

We can't find energy saving bulbs to fit some of them.  On one occasion I replaced an incandescent bulb with the smallest CFL I could find in a bathroom light fitting.  As I screwed the glass bowl back into place, I heard an unpleasant crunching noise as the tube fractured against the bowl.  OK, I didn't know then that you shouldn't put CFLs in unventilated fittings.  And I didn't know about the mercury.  So I won't be trying that again.

Our living room has two ceiling lights which each take 3 60w candle or globe bulbs.  I try to discourage anyone from turning them on.  I've put in (cheap) dimmers (rated at 400w), but they've always blown, as do the individual bulbs at frequent intervals.  The big problem is that they have a SBC cap.  Now, you can get small 11/12w CFLs with an SBC, but they seem to be very expensive - £2.50 a time is the cheapest I've seen.  I'm very reluctant to switch over.

[Jimbob]

Ive got cfl's where I want them, I have 6 rooms on energy saving bulbs...Kitchen, Porch, Conservatory, Garage, Landing, Bathroom & Loft

the rest, i currently dont want to change.

we have a lot of globe, dimmable & touch lamps none of which work very well.....at the moment.  I have a large supply of bulbs for these, mainly clear ones.

I will happily switch over when there is a cfl that works well for my application.


I guess with phaseout now well underway, development of other solutions should be too.

[Marks DTM Calib]

We live in a really old house - built in 1997.  Some of our light fittings are almost 12 years old.

We can't find energy saving bulbs to fit some of them.  On one occasion I replaced an incandescent bulb with the smallest CFL I could find in a bathroom light fitting.  As I screwed the glass bowl back into place, I heard an unpleasant crunching noise as the tube fractured against the bowl.  OK, I didn't know then that you shouldn't put CFLs in unventilated fittings.  And I didn't know about the mercury.  So I won't be trying that again.

Our living room has two ceiling lights which each take 3 60w candle or globe bulbs.  I try to discourage anyone from turning them on.  I've put in (cheap) dimmers (rated at 400w), but they've always blown, as do the individual bulbs at frequent intervals.  The big problem is that they have a SBC cap.  Now, you can get small 11/12w CFLs with an SBC, but they seem to be very expensive - £2.50 a time is the cheapest I've seen.  I'm very reluctant to switch over.

You can get them......

e.g.

http://www.megamanuk.com/products/product.php?sid=3

and

http://www.megamanuk.com/products/product.php?sid=4