Incandescent Light Bulb Ban...

[IggiMom]

Well, I guess we should all be glad we have chickens, then!

I have had good luck with the CLF bulbs that we use here, but I don't want to HAVE to use them!

I guess I will stockpile some of the bulb I need for my brooders.

Catherine

 

[EweSheep]

We used all kinds of bulbs here.

I had ONE scary incident with the spiral lightbulb last year, the smell was horrible and I could not figure out where the smell was coming from until I ran a nose test in the living room, sniffing out every electrical recepticle and lamps. Zeroed on the old floor lamp, the bulb was smoldering, toxic fumes....there was a black hole in the connection part between the two spirals and it was HOT to touch. It amazes me how it kept the light on. Made me ill afterwards and aired out the house. No one suffered any ill effects afterwards but it makes me more cautious. That bulb was made by Homer Distribution Company. I had to go for the highest wattage to get the best effects of the 100W for reading, writing, computer work and cross stitching. I have a lower wattage regular bulb that is 25W to watch TV or times I need lower lights to snooze or TV time.

I love my floor lamps, made sometime in the 30's I am guessing. Some have light floor foots and other just marble or steel circular bases. I would not give them up that is for sure! Need one for DD's bedroom.

I use 100W and 75W for brooding chicks and occassionally if so cold, I would use the heat bulb. I do not see them going out of the wayside because there are poultry, swine, bovine and dog owners that need that type of heat for their animals.

 

[pascopol]

Well, if your floor lamps were made in the 30's it is the time to check/replace sockets.

Faulty socket with cause all kind of problems. I used perhaps a 100+ CLF bulbs in the past 14 years, some of them burned out prematurely, but never have safety or hazard problems with them.

CLF is nothing else than miniaturized fluorescent light with starter/ballast built in into the base of the bulb.

Fluorescent lights had been used for the past 80 or so years.

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
Ok, I think you were talking about wattage "equivalence" rather than actual wattage. I can see where you're going with that part. The lumens/watt ratio is much better with the cfl's that it is with the incandescents.

As for the Chinese built stuff...it's killing this country. I live in a rural area that had three industries years ago...farming, logging, and textile (sewing factories). In my small town there are two basically empty buildings that at one time employeed 500-600 people...in a county of 10,000 people that is a substantial amount. Farming is down to a handful of farmers and logging is very spotty. I agree that finding something that is not made in China is almost impossible, but for this country to survive we have got to start back manufacturing the things that we consume...we can't all be brain surgeons or senators. At least with the incandescent bulbs there was a choice between USA and China.

Ed

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
pascopol, I've dealt with 6' and then 8' flourescent fixtures in my business for the last 40+ years and am famliar with them. When a ballast "goes out" there is a chance of a short and a fire. We've had one to short and flame/smoke out on us at our business...that was a close call in a 100+ year old building (and yes, the wiring was much newer than 100 years old).

About 15 years ago our security system at the house woke us up early one morning. The house was filling up with smoke. After getting everyone outside I found the fire under an aquarium where the inline ballast for the light in the aquarium hood had shorted out and had caught the cabinet and floor on fire. I managed to put the fire out with a fire extinguisher and was very thankful that we had the security system and that it woke us up...it could've been bad.

So for me, I've had at least three encounters (counting the one that took the skin off of my fingertips) with flourescent lights/fixtures that could have ended up very bad. I'm glad you've had no problems and hope that you never have any, but trust me...there are safety issues with them.

It is the ballast that is the danger (if we ignore the mercury pollution). But rather than having one or two ballasts scattered around the house in desklamps or the porch light (or aquarium light) we will end up having a ballast in every screw-in receptacle in our houses.

Ed

 

[McSpin]

Quote:
I find that amazing! I've used hundreds of them (I have a business where we use a lot of them). I've never had even one last it's stated lifespan. You seem to be saying that all but some have. What brand are you using?

 

[EweSheep]

Yep those floor lamps have been re wired from top to bottom. I can not believe those old wirings still there after all those years until Mom gave them to us and asked us to re wire them for safety's sake and the bulbs are different than the old ones.

So each one we get from auctions or garage sales, we will re wire them. No sense of having shorts in the wire or an overload.

 

[speckledhen]

I prefer incandescents. I think the spiral bulbs are, well, just ugly in a fixture where they are exposed. The guy who built my house put in lots of fluorescent bulbs and I hate them! Half the time, I cant get them to come on. You could do surgery on my kitchen island, they're so dang bright, and it's awful. I want to replace them with something else, but what? I don't like being bullied and made to use something I think is actually dangerous. C'mon, hazardous waste is what they are! You know most folks just throw them in the trash anyway.

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
It was not the socket that got smoked out it was the bulb itself....if you look at the bulb, the loops (the long ones, not the rounded ones shaped like a light bulb) in three places there is a connection between two rods as if they weld that spot together but there is wiring inside that to make a continuous line for electricity to go thru. That welded spot (closely resembled to glass creating figures that you see in malls, those crystal ornaments and if you see those "connection dots" to hold pieces together, that is what it looks like).....that spot was the one that got a hole in it, smoking that kind of grey smoke which it burns your nose, like someone is burning wire and rubber smell or burning up chemicals in your high school lab LOL. I can not believe there was a weak spot for it to overheat and smolder like that while the light is still going. The sockets are new and never gave us any problems since then. Not even hot to the touch on those sockets.

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
I don't like the buzz they make either, annoying as they can be. Even sitting in businesses or offices with those hum buzzes just drives me batty!