[quote=flu]1. Despite what folks say about CFL, they don’t nearly last as long as folks advertise them say they do. I’ve been getting maybe 1 to 1.5 year out of them before they break (usually the ballast stops working)…[/quote]That is strange. I have been getting a lot more life with them. I do try to stay away from off-brand though. I think in something like 8 years, only two CFLs had had to be replaced. One was in my ‘trouble light'(portable light) that suffered an impact, the other was a high power (200 watt equivalent) CFL that was over 8 years old. Most of the lights in the house are CFL, with incandescents in critical areas (where full light is needed immediately – like one lamp out of several in hallway, one lamp in middle of kitchen overhead, one lamp near specific door access.). I pulled the other incandescents out and stored them as replacements for these. I didn’t worry about getting the ‘fast warmup’ versions of CFLs. I was concerned that it might stress the electronics (push higher voltage for a longer time to implement the fast warmup).
[quote=flu]2. While you can find CFL’s with the e26 bulb screw for traditional lamps relatively cheap at $1 each or sometimes even cheaper than that….A CFL with the GU24 base costs anywhere from $4 each to $8!!!! What a big scam….[/quote]Didn’t even know about the GU24 base. I don’t understand the reason unless it is to force people to use CFLs (don’t know of any incandescents using that base). All mine are E26s.
[quote=flu]3. Even ignoring the big scam price difference for CFL with a GU24 base….Disposing CFL’s is a PITA because they have mercury in them and should be properly recycled. Replacing them every 1.5 years to 2 to me doesn’t seem very green to me…..so…..[/quote]I have a box where I ‘store’ the bad ones (only 2 so far), but the hours for hazard recycling are a problem.
