CFL Last ONE YEAR?!!

[heydude]

okay what!

my CFL bulb, that i bought one year ago, just burnt out.

i had the traditional bulb in that fixture for four years prior and it was not burnt when I replaced it for the "money saving long lasting CFL!"

if it weren't broke, dont' fix it! i should have left the old one in there.

but i changed it because of all the hype about it will last for 10 years and it will save you on bills! (my bill never went down btw)

it was in my bathroom. the first of three in my light fixture. maybe it just can't handle being turned on and off all the time.

[Tammy]

Same for me. We replaced so many that burned out, often before a year. Just gave up and use whatever bulb is cheapest to buy. And now they almost never burn out.

[Blackdog Lin]

Thank goodness we've had the opposite experience. In the bathrooms we burn out maybe one a year, out of 4, but that means that on average they're lasting 4 years each. And the bathrooms are the rooms in our house that get the brunt of the daily "on off on off on off".

The rest of the house: they practically never burn out (though you know, one doesn't really keep track of them). I do know that our electric outdoor "gas lamp" that goes on automatically every night used to go through 2 incandescents a year; we only have to replace the CFL about every 2 years now.

The main thing we liked was that once we got the house 3/4 switched over to CFLs (all that we could), our electric bill went down $10.00/month.

[SteveinMN]

My experience is that I get the CFL I pay for. The ones from the big-box home-improvement or discount stores never seem to last as long as the ones from lighting stores. I have a Sylvania CFL that was not at all cheap when I bought it, but it's been in use for several hours a week for several years. I also try to stick to putting CFLs in fixtures which do not get switched on and off very often. My understanding is that this is very hard on fluorescent bulbs.

Then again, power here in St. Paul is amazingly steady. Not that it doesn't go out, but I've lived places where on a good day you could watch bulbs brighten and dim....

[awakenedsoul]

That's weird. I've had mine for years. I also have a few LED bulbs that I bought with a coupon at Costco. My last electric bill was $20.00.

[ToomuchStuff]

I still prefer the old style bulbs, due to several factors. Color temp being one, and having almost all the lights on dimmer switches, being the other main reason (more of these don't work with them and I can adjust the light as needed). I wish more dimmer ready bulbs, were out there, available, locally.

[Tradd]

I've had a CFL from Ikea (2/pk for $8?) for 4+ years. It's on 3-4 hours a day. Still going strong. The bulb in my bedroom ceiling fixture is a CFL, as well. It's been in the fixture since before I moved in, 4+ years ago, no problems.

[Zoebird]

My ikea CFLs are still going strong -- and they are over 5 years old (my sister now has those lamps). And I have two CFLs here, and I've had them for two years -- no issues with them at all.

[rosarugosa]

Steve: I have tubular Sylvania CFLs in my ceiling fixtures that have lasted an average of 9 years each, and they weren't really cheap ones. Those are in lights made specifically for those type of bulbs that we installed in the early nineties.
Dude: I've had the worst luck with CFLs in totally enclosed, old fixtures. In fact my kitchen light eats bulbs, so we use incandescent since they are cheapest. I'm assuming that will improve when we replace the light fixture some day. The CFLs in my bathroom don't last anywhere near 9 years, so perhaps it is the constant on/off effect.

[MaryHu]

Save the paperwork from the packaging. Most have a guarantee that they will last a certain # of years. I have had good luck by writing with a sharpee on the base of the bulb the date placed in service and calling the manufacturer for free replacements on those that don't hold up as long as they should.

[Weston]

I had an expensive CFL floodlight that I bought from Home Depot several years ago. It only lasted a few months. Home Depot told me to contact the manufacturer. The manufacturer (don't remember the name) refused to refund or replace because I hadn't saved the original packaging. As if I was going to save the packaging from a light bulb. Very frustrating.

[Alan]

I've been disappointed in our CFL's because they won't burn out. We're about 4 years into our first batch of CFL bulbs which were placed in the kitchen. My problem with them is that they take sooooo long to fully light the room. Very frustrating to wait a minute or more to be able to read something.
On the flip side, the incandescent bulbs in our front porch and outside garage fixtures are original to the house. Seventeen years and still going strong.

[heydude]

Alan, there are "instant" CFLs that turn on instantly. They are more expensive though. And, apparently, don't last long. hehe

[Rogar]

I think a lot of the cheaper CFLs don't have good quality control. I've had a couple that didn't last long, but most of them do pretty good. I picked a an LED light on sale and put it in my main reading lamp. It is instant on and has a more pleasant light for reading. Something like 7 watts of energy use. It's nice. If I catch another sale I think I will buy more.

[ToomuchStuff]

So no one else has the dimmer switch issue throughout the house?

[SteveinMN]

So no one else has the dimmer switch issue throughout the house?
There are only three lights with dimmers in this house; two of them are unused enough to not justify the expense of CFLs, the other is, but it requires PAR-format bulbs which -- if any PAR-format CFLs are dimmable -- are very expensive considering their total usage, as well. So we've just said 'no'.

[Weston]

Here's one experts opinion

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Shining-light-on-bulbs-appeal-4048753.php?t=6d1be9fff3