Do you use floresent lighting?

I'm on the OTHER end! I can't understand all the GOOD things that are said about Floro and ESPECIALLY the compact Floro! I hate them the worst!
My wife bought a bunch of the CFL bulbs about 2 years ago. We put them in every fixture in the house. After about a month of torture, we replaced them with real bulbs. Shadows, dull, green glow....Must just be our eyes.....
Everyone has their own experiences, but in our experience, the LED/CF/CFLs just aren't worth it. If I want real light I gotta go with a real bulb. We had 3 packs of 5 bulbs (CFLs) we ended up throwing away because they were gathering dust in the cabinet.

Im surprized no one has mentioned that Flouresants will give some people terrable headackes. Its the Flicker. Even when the speed of the flicker is to high for me to see Ill get the headacke anyway.
Nasty horrable things iot should be illeagle to use them in places of public incarceration like schools and city hall.

I've never had a CF flicker in the 5 years we've used them. That must be just the old type of fluorescents which I won't have anywhere...even the barn.

The smallest drop of mercury is used in them.

I have been in houses and buildings with REAL floresent lighting and hubby and I just love them! CFs are, in my opinion not as bright as real floresents or regular lightbulbs!
We have found some nice floresent light fixtures at Lowes (this one in particular- http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...2RC&lpage=none) that are big enough for the rooms in our house. The newer floresents don't take a long time to turn on, thus, they will also be used in places such as bedrooms, closets, bathrooms, etc... Also thinking about adding a junction box (is that the right name?) beside the floresents and installing this particular energy effecient fan: http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...B5P&lpage=none

How can that be done? Cheryl

In many states you CAN NOT put incendecent lights in closets as was suggested by someone to do. They are a fire hazard as they get so hot. This is on new construction, on an old house you can do as you like, but why take the chance? Go flourescent throu out, check out the bulbs yourself, I like daylight, some like cool white, you have to find out for yourself.

I learn something new every day. I've never heard of an incandescent light bulb starting a fire unless they were sized terribly too large for the application. They have been used for over a hundred years you know.

I stand behind what I stated that fluorescents are not what should be used in closets or other applications where they will only be on a short while. If incandescents shouldn't be used what are the other options other than LEDs?

This keeps being mentioned, and for us, even the smallest amount is too much. Thanks all for keep pointing that out.

I did say that if people choose to use them to do so wisely and know how to handle unforeseen situations (like a broken bulb, esp. a hot one) and how to recycle them properly. A little bit adds up fast when people don't properly handle them.

Reese

Well as I mentioned there are halogen bulbs that screw into regular light fixture. They actually work quite nice and still last couple years, but no different than incandescent as far as heat. Incandescent makes most sense for closet. If there is fire danger from somebody forgetting to turn off the light, then perhaps a deadman switch like on a refrigerator door where when closet door is closed, then light automatically is off. That would make most sense but then burocrats that come up with all the myriad regulations have never been accused of having any common sense.

I have very little experience with modern compact florescents, but the one I bought at Aldis for little over $2 puts out good light and has survived in the swingout lamp over head of my bed since May and I use it alot. Incandecents got so they would last like 2 weeks to 3 months. Incandecents used to last several years so I assume the short life was designed into the present incandecents to increase sales or to force people to use cfs. Back in 70s you could buy these little buttons that you put into lamp socket before screwing in light bulb. Reduced voltage so dimmer light but longer life for the bulb. I tried looking around for such but they have disappeared totally, not even on ebay. Now only way to achieve same is to wire a dimmer switch into lamp circuit. I was going to wire a dimmer switch where I could plug it into outlet and then lamp into it, but penpal convinced me to try the modern cf bulbs. Took some convincing as I had tried one of early cfs and they were total junk. I am ok with the modern one so far. Good light output and only thing I had to get used to is when its first turned on, its bit dim, but quickly brightens after that.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

I have four ceiling fans in my house and all have CFLs in them with no problems. Maybe you need to balance your ceiling fans so they don't vibrate so much.

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I'm running so far behind I thought I was first!

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I just switched Every light in the house and some in the barn to CFL, I now use the Daylight Ones much brighter, not a yellow light but a White light, COOL.
I will Switch when LEDs come WAY down in price as they use WAY less energy then do the CFLs~! Way Way Less then convention bulbs.

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Nope they flicker you just cant see it its so fast (60 times a second) it doesnt bother some people but for a lot of us its a torture you wouldnt belive. I wish I could use them as they seem so much cheeper to run and longer lasting pluss it seems like you can tailor the light color to suit your tastes but for me its like ice picks in the head after a few minutes.

So you would rather have the mercury in the air, instead of in the bulb? The CFLs use so much less power that there is less mercury put in to the atmosphere by the coal fired plants. That, to me, is part of the reason to use CFLs--most of the mercury is in the bulb, not in the air. Much less total mercury over the lifetime of the bulbs when using CFLs instead of incandescents. And, as I previously mentioned, the incandescents have lead in the solder in the base, so they should also be recycled.

http://www.groovygreen.com/groove/?p=1200

http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partner...et_Mercury.pdf

We had terrible problems with ICs in our ceiling fans - 2 fans, 8 bulbs and we would replace at least 1 bulb a week. We swapped them out for CFLs almost 2 years ago and have yet to have one of these bulbs go out. I think we have had to change 1 or 2 in the entire house in 2 years. That alone pays for the CFLs. Bright enough to see well as soon as they are turned on -they hit full brightness in seconds. It took a day to adjust to the difference between CFLs and ICs, but I would never consider going back.

We also have the bigger outdoor spotlights in CFL. Never had a problem with them in the cold.

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Ultra Lord is not afraid of chickens!

Windy, I believe it is NEC code 410.8 that doesn't allow incedecent in closets. Only covered flor lites. I think this is done for fires as light material and other combustables, but also in a closet that is small it is easy to bust a bulb, thus shocking things can happen. For many years incedecent was the only light source, but times have changed and we now have many sources to choose from. Granted NEC takes one incedent and makes a national code out of it, some thought thru some not, I was just giving my thoughts from wiring houses for 30 years. How many 100 watt bulbs are in fixtures that say 60 watt max?

Unless it has radically changed, 410.8 allows incandescents but they must be covered, no open or hanging globes.

We changed all of our bulbs to CFLs a few years back. We did see a savings on the light bill.
I use them in the shop along with standard 4 foot fixtures.
I do not care for waiting for the CFLs to come up to full light. I don't think they put out as much light as they are said to, My train room was much brighter with 3 60 watt incandescants vs 3 13W CFLs. The ones in our remote control ceiling fan flicker. (Not balance cuz they will flicker even when the fan is off) Regular bulbs didn't flicker.
But for the savings on the bill, the wife says the CFLs are here to stay.

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Deja Moo; The feeling I've heard this bull before.

Out of curiosity I checked this out on various websites and they all say that the early CFLs flickered but not the new ones...

"Some people complain about the 60 cycle flicker of fluorescent bulbs. This flicker was present in most older standard size fluorescent bulbs, but not in CFLs. CFLs had to go to electronic ballasts to reduce the size to approximately that of incandescent bulbs. These electronic ballasts switch the electric current in the CFL at a many, many times higher frequency than the 60 Hz power line frequency, and much higher than what your eyes or even the phosphor coatings inside the fluorescent tubes can respond to. So this 60 cycle flicker is not present in CFLs."

You now can get ALL different watts in CFLs you can also get them Covered~! They look almost like a regualr bulb and have a Cover on them, so that 410.8 Now Will allow CFLs in closets etc.

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I have replaced several rooms with compact florescents. The bathroom (the light stays on all night), hallways, bedrooms. When the bulbs go out in the kitchen, I'll replace those.

On the ceiling fan - I tried the CF, but hated them in the ceiling fan. They look really crummy and since we rarely use the lights in the fan decided it wasn't worth it. Just went to a low wattage energy efficient bulb.

I wondered about the on/off thing. And, have told the kids not to flip those lights off and on - better to leave them on until ready to shut off correct?

Our biggest users of electricity are the dryer which is not running well now. And the freezer that needs defrosted (on my "to-do" list).

Where do you find these "covered" CF???? I'd reconsider for my ceiling fan if they were covered