anybody have any luck with these, trying to lowering my bill energy star.gov has some intersting facts if everyody used these bulbs got A four pack to start with was about 8-9 bucks with A 7 year guarantee. not bad prices keeping coming down

We have a few of them, mostly in the ceiling light fixtures.
Never had one burn out yet. Just takes a bit of getting used to, there is a delay before they turn on, like a flourescent light fixture. After they turn on they are fine.

Gilly

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Click here to see the items I have up for auction at EBay

Click here to see a photo album of my '62 Sprite Project Moneypit (Now Sold)

We've been using them all over the place in our yurt for several years now. They perform pretty much as advertised but 7-8 years life expectancy is fantasy.

I use them in three fixtures that sometimes stay on 24/7. The first one I bought lasted approximately 28 months.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

We've had them installed all over the house for a couple of years now and the savings speaks for itself. I've done the math and I've figured that we save approximately $340-370 a year with them!!! These work especially well for the recessed lights which we have installed in our ceiling. The only thing is that they do not in areas where you have dimmer switches and they do take a short time to be fully lit, which is no big deal.

Every light in my house uses compact flourescents, exept the kitchen appliances and my halogen lamp. I've noticed a nice drop in my power bill, and haven't had to replace one yet. They've already recouped the initial investment of their installation.

You can buy CF's that are compliant with dimmer switches. I have them in my master bedroom, and they work fine above the "1/2" way point on the dimmer. They are of course, more expensive than the regular CF's.

I've had trouble with them in two places -- a light fixture in the kitchen I keep threatening to replace that also eats standard filament bulbs and the ceiling fixtures in the basement that hold the bulb upside down.

Some bulbs seem to fail faster in those two places. Otherwise, with decent cooling, they seem to last much, much longer.

Can't tell you about the energy savings, I don't pay the bills. Probalby save more if I could persuade my mother to switch the basement lights off once in a while.....

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

Thanks to energy deregulation, we in Alberta now have the highest electricity rates in the nation. However, we haven't been too bad off as back when we bought the house we bought all new energy efficient appliances (fridge is most homes largest consumer of power) and replaced all the lights with compact floros.

It has not been a big money saver for us, but big saver of kilowatt-hours. The reason it's not saved much in money is that the power company charges are mostly fixed. Last month my bill was about $125. $40 of that was for the kilowatt hours. The remaining $85 was in fixed delivery charges and riders. If I'd turned off the main breaker, my bill wouls still have been $85.

It makes energy efficiency programs a waste of money as the payback periods are 15-20 years.

When I was in the utiity biz we had hoped to eventually eliminate consumption charges and go with 90% fixed costs. You'd have to have a meter to catch people that ran up their consumption, but fix costs are great for revenue stabilization. See, Alberta is a heating load. We use lots in the winter, and residential customers use almost nothing all summer. We don't use much residential air conditioning. Electrical utilities see a revnue drop in the summer from the residential side. By jacking delivery charges and billing fees through the roof, it offsets that.

Oh, and dereg has been great for competition. There is none. We now have a deregulated monopoly. Don't like it? Turn off your power...

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Our house is powered by photovoltaic solar panels. Previously we used Thin Lite RV fluorescents. Now we use 10 watt spiral CFs (through our inverter) and the energy savings are significant.

The spiral AC lamps are great in every respect.

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1977 Mercedes 240D. 4-speed transmission. Windows, A/C, and sunroof: all manual. Medium Red. 204K miles.
1988 Subaru GL wagon. Dual range 5-speed 4X4. Daily driver w/ twin parts car.
1994 Subaru Loyale wagon. 5-speed 4x4
1966 International 3/4 ton 4X4 truck. Ooh yeah!
1952 Ferguson TO-35 farm tractor.
1984 Snapper rear engine riding mower. Just like Forest Gump.
1988 Nimble 20 sail boat
--Older stuff is built better--

The first time I also bought from HD. Recently, I bought some at Costco at ridiculously low prices. I think for a pack of 8 for only $15. less than $2 each. HD sells several times that much!!!

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Flash Gordon

2003 E500 BlackOpal/Charcoal

2004 Infiniti G35X