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What will you do about compact fluorescent lights?
Im interested in people's experiences in lighting their historic homes with compact fluorescent lighting and how it has worked for them.
These are the most godawful lights I have ever seen (even the warm tone, expensive ones). All the colors in the rooms look ugly with them.
Other stories welcome.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bill Hendrickson on -
Good question. Except for domed or otherwise glass enclosed/covered bulbs, these things will not look right with conventional or anttigue lighting fixtures. Can you imagine what a faux candle light would look like with one of those curly things sticking out of it.
Don't get me wrong here, I am all for efficient electrical anything.
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Permalink Reply by Marlin Schorr on -
I agree with Bill; I have only two CFs so far, one in the newel light on my stairs, the other in an opaque shade in the kitchen--my other lights are open so I use clear edison-style bulbs in them. My parlor and dining room fixtures have a central pan light which could conceal a CF, but I almost never use them, so why bother? The light from them all is awful, and I prefer regular bulbs, until the leds come out in a cheaper version.
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Permalink Reply by KenK on -
90% of the home is lit with fluorescent. That 90% is hidden by some type of lamp shade, cover etc. The fixtures which are bare bulb are incandescent. In ornate fixtures I am using some of the retro Edison-Mazda 'type' lamps. Cool, but really poor lighting. With the repro's a 40 watt looks like a 15, or 10 watt.
I've also started using halogen filament lights. They're not bad, just the color is a tad too yellow/orange. They're outside vs inside and have a weird glass exterior. However, 40 watts = 60 watts....this is what it said on the cover of the packaging. :)
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Permalink Reply by Jim Finley on -
I hate the glow of these things as well - but it's getting hard to even find incandescent bulbs anymore! I'm like Ken - about 90% of the home is cf but only under shades and globes. My sconces or any clear glass shade lights have incandescent. Attic basement, garage and utility are all cf. Apart from the energy savings, I like that they last for years and years.
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Permalink Reply by Phil on -
I have mostly gone CF, especially since PA electrical rates spiked 2 years ago. I use them in all my converted gas fixtures, which is the majority of my lighting and all of which has upward pointing bulbs with glass shades that obscure the bulbs. In exposed bulbs, I use the cfl bulbs with a plastic dome over them to make them look like a regular bulb. I have a few very primitive lights in my bathrooms and 3rd floor that are exposed bulbs. Since my kids leave those lights on ALL THE TIME, I use the covered cfls there too. Mounted upside down they take much longer to warm up to full brightness. Chandeliers with candle bulbs and my dining room chandelier with a dimmer are not cfl. I only use the"soft white" style of cfl, and I frankly I don't mind the quality of the light, as long as I don't have to see the twisty shape of those things.
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Permalink Reply by Lair Tienter on -
I have them all over my house, and not happy about it. I community drive a few years ago brought around several boxes of the new cf bulbs. I put them in all the fixtures during the daylight and when it was dark outside I wished I hadn't. I have replaced all of them in lamps or where light bulbs are exposed. I know they save money but I never saw any savings on my bill. If I had paid out money for them I would be very disappointed. I do use them in the outside light and the basement because they last a longer time. I still have the Edison style in all my lamps and am pleased to report my bill did not go up and I like the light much better than the CF bulbs.
PS I have been stocking up on the old style every time I see them on sale. Just in case the stop making them before I kick off. Lair
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Permalink Reply by McCall Emerald on -
My biggest problem is that I am allergic to Flourescent light, also Sunlight which sucks. I have tried the new LED lights and I like them a lot more then I expected too but at $28 a bulb, well I have a lot of lights in my house. I need to stock up on incandescent while I can still get them.
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Permalink Reply by Bill Hendrickson on
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I have not seen the LED stuff yet. But, they will almost last for ever.
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Permalink Reply by PStewart on -
There are certain bulbs that are exempted from the efficiency standards (for now). Its an odd listt: rough service bulbs, "novelty" lights, 3-way bulbs (!!!!), and a number of others.
I have read the bill, however. If sales of these exempted bulbs start to increase as more general service incandescants disappear (read: if people start flocking to them), then they have a provision to bring those under the standards as well.
I dont want to go on and on in one post. Suffice to say the story behind how we got to the cfl law is one of teh uglier stories Ive learned about in american politics and how the green movement was co-opted by large corporations banning bulbs with little profit margins in favor of ones with significant profit margins.
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Permalink Reply by PStewart on
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all -
I have done a considerable amount of research on cfls. I also found the best and most complete explanation from a physicist regarding why they have an unpleasant light and distort color. It turns out they only put out limited color bands in the entire spectrum. thus the colors we see in our rooms are not reflected back to our eyes with true fidelity. In fact, entire regions of the color spectrum are minimized or lost altogether. see this link below.
http://q-re-s.com/cfl.html
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Permalink Reply by Andy Streenz on -
About 90% of my house has been converted to CFL...replacing them as the incandescents burn out. I find no difference in the quality of light, as long as I buy the warmer colored ones. Also, the new CFLs don't take as long to warm up like the old ones did. LED is the answer, but they are way too expensive as yet. Anywhere bulbs are seen, I use enclosed CFLs or incencescents, as the case may be. Don't bother buying the "dimmable" CFLs for your dimmer...they are a waste of money and don't work well. Stick with incandescents for dimmers.
Don't forget...a lot of our houses were built without the luxury of electric light. If we are "purists" we should all strive for light that looks most like candle or gas. Most of us don't do this because, well, let's face it, it sucked. Flame light was under powered and left much to be desired. Don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna light my parlors with banks of 5 foot flourescent tubes, but at the same time, I'm not gonna get too concerned if I have a few CFLs thrown in that make good enough quality light, and lots of it...especially if they are hidden by shades.
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Permalink Reply by PStewart on
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Incandescants are much closer to the kind of light that candles, gas and the sun produce than cfls. This is because they are all called "black body radiators" that emit light because they get extremely hot. The light that black body radiators emit is a full natural spectrum of light that is exactly what the sun produces. CFLs are not black body radiators and have multiple missing components of the spectrum. They "simulate" natural light to the extent that saccharine and artificial sweeteners simulate sugar.
When looking at CFLs dead on they look identical to incandescants because they mix the minimum amount of RGB just right to produce a white color upon direct vieweing. However, the light wavelengths they produce reflect the colors of OBJECTS very differently.....and not with nearly teh fidelity of incandescants. The article I cite above explains it so well I'd rather not retype the whole thing. If you have a room without extensive use of color, then CFLS may be acceptable. We havea lot of subtle shades of color in our house and teh CFLs throw them off so badly Im afraid Im going to have to be one of those wierd "incandescant horders" that people read about.
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