Energy saving light bulbs...?

[Chris_F]

[quote]Never used one of these bulbs myself, however, my late grandma had them in her flat, and in my opinoin they give of a dullish light as apposed to normal bulbs.

[TacitBlue]

My Dad (an electrician) once said that computers don't use "that much" power. He didn't go into detail, he may have meant when compared to other appliances. They certainly use less than the average freezer. I would bet that the PC it's self doesn't use much but the monitor, especially a CRT would have to use as much as a TV set.

Also, you guys have Aldi there? We have them here, and they are the super-cheap store. The people who work there don't even bother to stock the shelves, they just get the stuff off of the truck, open the box and walk away. It looks like a really messy warehouse inside. Personally, I prefer the slightly better "Save-A-Lot" store.

[dcunning30]

Never been to Aldi.  I go to WalMart.  I can go grocery shopping, pick up a new DVD writer, and buy an R/C car all in one trip!

[ATI_7500]

Aldi is scaring me. It has spread from Germany all over the world!  :o

[expat]

Aldi is scaring me. It has spread from Germany all over the world!  :o

Big "H" could only ever dream of that. 8-)

Matt

[ATI_7500]

Big "H" could only ever dream of that. 8-)

[JBaymore]

[quote]I've always thought those camouflaged towers were uglier than plain ones. It's an affront to both trees and cell towers.

[H]

Can't use them in spaces that get really cold in winter, or outdoors though.

Thus far, the last one I put in the outside fixture has made it through most of the winter (well, it's supposed to be spring but somebody hasn't told mother nature -- maybe that early daylight savings thing confused her).

8-)

[Chris_F]

[quote][quote]I've always thought those camouflaged towers were uglier than plain ones. It's an affront to both trees and cell towers.

[JBaymore]

Can't use them in spaces that get really cold in winter, or outdoors though.

Thus far, the last one I put in the outside fixture has made it through most of the winter (well, it's supposed to be spring but somebody hasn't told mother nature -- maybe that early daylight savings thing confused her).

8-)

Hum.  I have found that outdoors here in NH when it gets cold (like +10F to -20F) that they barely give off any light.  And takes a LONG time for them to even put THAT little bit out.

best,

...................john

[Chris_F]

Can't use them in spaces that get really cold in winter, or outdoors though.

Thus far, the last one I put in the outside fixture has made it through most of the winter (well, it's supposed to be spring but somebody hasn't told mother nature -- maybe that early daylight savings thing confused her).

8-)

Hum.

[H]

[quote]Hum.

[RitterKreuz]

candles work fine. and they are pretty cheap.  ;D

fire hazard though.

we use energy saving light bulbs in areas of our home where we spend the most time with the lights on.

other than that regular bulbs.

they seem to work just fine i think. We have had the one on our back porch burning every night for a couple of months now.

[Hagar]

[quote][quote]Hum.

[Chris_F]

Well there you go then. Following the advice in this thread I went out & purchased myself some of these energy-saving bulbs, at great personal expense I might add. It clearly states on the packaging that they are NOT to be used with dimmer switches, timers or photo-cell circuits.

PS. The blasted things are too long for my lamp shades which means the extra expense of buying new ones. This money-saving racket is going to cost me a fortune at this rate. I'm beginning to wish I hadn't bothered.

The dimmer switch thing is because they use an electronic ballast (the ballast is the thing which allows the light bulb to light and stay lit, unlike an incandescent the compact fourescent needs carefully regulated voltage to operate).  Running the lamps at a lower voltage can stress (and potentially overheat) the ballast.  Not sure why they advise against timers.  Photo-cells however could ignite and extinguish the lamp very rapidly and repeatedly.  They don't like that (turning on and off a light switch over and over like a little kid would do would have the same effect).

I have one lamp that doesn't fit the bulb as well.  I'm going to move that upstairs (where it will see little use) and get a cheap lamp to replace it.