Technobabble

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs – Lifespan

Posted by on Mar 7, 2007 | 17 Comments

How long do compact fluorescent light bulbs last? It all depends who you ask. After having been on the compact fluorescent bandwagon for years, it’s clear that some compact fluorescent light bulbs last far longer than others. The fantastic energy cost savings (roughly 75%) are offset by the bulbs’ higher cost. This in turn, is supposed to be eclipsed by the longer lifespan. That’s not always the case, unfortunately.

Sylvania Soft White mini 60 compact fluorescent bulbs have become a mainstay here at Ranchero Indebto, largely due to their ever presence at the local big box home improvement store. The packaging boasts that “This 3 bulb package provides 21 years of light,” and that each bulb “Lasts 7 Years.” Alas, experience has shown their longevity to have been overstated in some cases.

There’s a hallway here at Ranchero Indebto with a pair of recessed lights that are controlled via a single lightswitch. Identical Sylvania Soft White mini 60 compact fluorescent bulbs were simultaneously installed in both fixtures. The bulbs ran flawlessly for months on end, but one bulb burned out far before the other. Both bulbs came form the same package – one that boasted a life of 8000 hours – alas, we were nowhere near 8000 hours.

A while back, Gnomie Stan offered the sage advice to write the date of installation on the base of the bulb (before installation, of course). Apparently the big brands back up their marketing claims and will make good … it pays to keep the paperwork and the packaging.

[tags]Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs[/tags]

  • alex wieder

    To say that the lifespan of cfl’s is overstated in the packaging is an understatement.

    I have 6 recessed lights in my office, all fitted with cfl’s that are rated for 7000 hours or something in that vicinity. 3 of them failed within a tenth of that time.

    Granted, the manufacturer sent me replacements when I asked for them, and I am sure I’m saving on my electric bill by using them, but it’s still quite a hassle to have to contact the manufacturer each time one of them fails to meet its specs.

    Maybe the devil’s in the details, and the 7000 hours they promise are 7000 of continuous use (no off/on cycles), but I’m not willing to test that theory – after all, I bought the cfl’s o SAVE energy (not so much because the electric bill might be a few dollars higher, but rather because I am a firm believer in cutting waste and helping curb global warming as I’m an avid skier).

    ALex

  • http://personal.terabites.com/ccathode.html Gordon E. Peterson II

    First, compact fluorescent lamps are largely obsolete, at least technologically. The way to go is “cold cathode” lighting instead. (Cold cathode is the lighting technology used behind most flat screen computer and television displays).

    Cold cathode lighting is available in 2700K color temperature, so they look very much like incandescent.

    They light instantly… you can flash them, you can even strobe them.

    They work with dimmers (with a very few exceptions).

    Cold cathode lamps work outdoors, even on cold winter days.

    Cold cathode bulbs typically last 25,000 hours… 2.5 to 4 times longer than old-fashioned compact fluorescent. And they contain less mercury, so combined with the longer life greatly reduces the toxic waste disposal problem. Dimming them does not hurt their life.

    If you use the X10 home control system (with the “Decora”-type local dimming wall switches) you can choose either of X10 remote control, or what I’ve come to call “nightlight mode”. X10 mode allows you to use infrared motion sensors to turn lights on and off automatically (solving the “basement problem”) or you can use “nightlight mode” (which I find ideal for bathroom lights, since you can get up at night to use the bathroom without turning on lights at all).

    Selecting X10 or Nightlight mode is determined by using one residual (usually, small) incandescent bulb (or not) in the controlled circuit.

    Cold cathode lighting efficiency is comparable to compact fluorescent… but cold cathode bulbs generate less heat, so less A/C loading.

    Cold cathode bulbs do tend to be “twitchy”, particularly depending on the dimmers (if any) you hook them up to. I find that one simply gets used to this, but it might bother others more. Not using dimmer circuits reduces or eliminates that problem. (Again, choices…!)

    Cold cathode lamps are less powerful… the most powerful ones currently available are 8 watts (about like a 40-50 watt incandescent bulb). So you (presently) need to use more of them if you need more light than that.

    I only have 16 incandescent bulbs still installed in my home (and about 7 of those are irreducible minimum, due to mechanical/space or temperature constraints…. oven lights, refrigerator/freezer/icemaker lights, microwave oven light). I’m down to just 22 CFLs left, and have 42 Cold cathode bulbs (CCFL) so far.

    See my Web site for more about my experiences so far with cold cathode lighting here in my home…: http://personal.terabites.com/ccathode.html

    P.S. During March 2007, TWENTY EIGHT COUNTRIES have passed laws banning the sale of incandescent light bulbs… Australia, followed by the 27 countries of the European Union. Here in the USA, the amount of energy we _waste_ in incandescent light bulbs is equivalent to SEVENTY PERCENT of all the energy we use in the nation’s automobiles and light trucks…!!!! This is the biggest single change we can make the most easily towards addressing the greenhouse gases issue. A bill has already been introduced in the California legislature that would ban incandescent light bulbs there, too. And the Houston Chronicle, in an editorial on Feb. 26, 2007, called for Texas to be the first state to do the same thing.

    (And while most such discussion is talking about CFLs, CCFLs are IMHO a FAR better choice, since CCFLs work with dimmers, can be made to work with X10 and other remote control technologies, light instantly, provide incandescent-color light (if you prefer that), work outdoors even in the wintertime, reduce A/C loading, reduce the toxic waste disposal/recycling problem, and have FAR longer lifespan than old-fashioned CFLs.

    Those of us who are promoting leading-edge technologies owe it to our friends and followers to help tell people about CCFL lamps…!!!

  • http://www.bigpinkcookie.com Christine

    The low power light bulbs that I bought at Ikea over a year ago were priced well and have been going strong with heavy use for almost a year now. The color of the light is a nice, pleasant tone. I wonder if they are cold cathode though? As they highest watt available was pretty low.

    Next month, I plan to replace all of the other bulbs in the house. It may cost more, but I am ok with that in exchange for lowering waste.

  • Soup

    Hmmm….

    Banning incandescents?

    What baloney! What about temperature extremes! What am I supposed to use in my appliances?

  • http://www.2bluethmubs.com ChrisD

    Yup! Canada just Banned “inefficient bulbs” . I stumbled here in my search for alternatives for lighting in my basement recessed lighting. mainly because CFL’s are not tolerant of extreme heat which is why they fail in recessed cans.

    http://2bluethumbs.com/?p=12 is my post asking for alternatives which might work in this situation because it’s a matter of time before i will no longer be able to buy incandescent bulbs.

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  • Beamer Smith

    OK, Let’s stop the madness…
    Canada has not banned inkys yet. Ontario in looking at it. They are but a Very small fraction of the power consumption. If you want to save energy do something bold – trade out your electric water heaters for Demand Water heaters. Stop heating water you aren’t even using.
    If there’s anything wrong with your power supply (brown outs, dips motors inline etc) then the CFLs don’t last anywhere near their stated time and by the time you send them back… by mail who use trucks and planes, well there’s just no point in them yet.
    If the Ontario government want’s to save energy thy should stop issuing building permits (they haven’t made any “new” energy since the 70′s yet they have no problem adding thousands of new houses)

    but I’m not bitter…

  • Sean

    CFL life definitely is definitely way shorter than what’s stated on the package. In open socket (well ventilated) configurations here, maximim life is 2 years with average being 1 year. They stink when the ballast burns out and I have bought them in the price range from as high as 12.00 to as little as 3.00 each, so don’t tell me it’s manufacturer quality.

    I pretty much realize now that you must be in the big city with stable power and leave them on mostly all the time for that promised seven years. Since I believe that saving energy means only using the lamps when I’m in the room, I’m being punished for saving power by having to pay more for the lamp and since there is absolutely no recycle program here where I live, 20 lamps worth of mercury go into the dump a year now. From what I’ve learned, I would be better off rewiring for T-8 fixtures as I know that their electronic ballasts have lasted and the tubes actually get the expected lifespan.

    If you are running recessed lighting, pretty much don’t bother converting. The electronic ballasts in CFL just cannot take the heat buildup. If you really want to convert from incandescent in this situation, rewire. There are recessed fluorescent fixtures available and their separate ballast will last through several tube changes.

  • http://lumenergi.com William Alling

    Good Morning: Regarding the life of CFL (and other fluorescent lamps) the life rating is that point where half the lamps fail under standard test conditions i.e. temperature, 3 hours on 20 minutes off, etc. per IES and/or ANSI standards. You really need a couple of hundred lamps for this test. The fact that one of that lamps you specified out of two didn’t make it that long is bad luck but could well be within the standard margin.

  • Larry Robinson

    Fluorescent lamps should not be rated in hours, but number of starts. A fluorescent lamp is usually good for about 6500 starts. But you have to count power line sags as starts.

  • Jean-Francois Reat

    Many of the compact fluorescent bulbs I have bought have burned out way early- a year or less. I keep buying them, but have started writing the date of installation with a sharpie on the base. They definitely don’t like enclosed fixtures, as stated previously. I had one higher-wattage (42W) Commercial Electric (Home Depot brand) die with buzzing, sparking, and smoke in a ceiling can fixture in which I had it partially sticking out to get more diffuse light.

    Interestingly, the CF floods, which are evidently designed to live in a can or eyeball fixture, seem to hold up better. My house was designed with a plethora of recessed fixtures, so have bought quite a few of these. Perhaps they are made to a different standard?

    A previous post referred to T8 fluorescent fixtures. I agree that these do seem to last as advertised- I have a set (two 48″ fixtures) in my kitchen that have been in for five years with nary a bulb change, and they are on at least 12 hours a day. I just bought two more of these fixtures for other rooms.

  • Dasher

    My experience is that CFL’s don’t last any longer than incandescent’ lamps do. This is especially true if the CFL’s are operated inverted, that is with there bases up. I think the heat from the lamps shorten the life of the electronic ballasts. I think CFL’s still have a ways to go to improve reliability and color rendition.

  • bruce

    ort their use – haven’t seen the old cathode aavailavle in BC stores yet. I have had a couple of burnouts and two broke shortly after installation. My difficulty is that they do not work well in cold weather below 5 degreesC and I will often use an incandescent bulb for a heater in a small space like the water room in my barn which can get to – 20 C in the winter – It is the cheapest heater alternative to having the water run at a heavy trickle 24 hours. In Ottawa I used a 100 watt bulb in my Fiat 850 engine compartment as a block heater with just a blanket over the engine compartment and it kept the engine dry and warm enough to start with no trouble down to – 40 C – ?You cannot do it with a CFL since even with the heat of the ballast it does not approach 100 watts. I also use them in my barn in cold weather since it is impossible to see to feed the animals after 4 PM in December and I am afraid I just cannot wait 20 – 30 minutes for the light to warm enough to start at temperatures below freezing. There is also the fact that it only takes 10 – 20 minutes to feed and the incandescent is only on for 20 minutes a day so I can check on the animals ( a flashlight just does not cut it for veterinary type inspections of overall health of a horse or for counting a flock of chickens). I think there is a place for incandescents used in a judicious way. Incandescents in an electrically heated house actually have minimal impact environmentally any time the electrical heating would normally be on since almost all the wattage would displace need for wattage running though the heaters.

  • Scott

    I don’t know how this is going to work. Maybe some people will be called outlaws for having the old bulbs but where I live, the temperatures get down to -20F to -30F often. The CFB may as well be garbage as they don’t work. I have never had a CFB last more than 1.75 years and the closest recycling center for these is easily 500+ miles. Everyone I know in my town just throws them in the trash so they are not being recycled.

    Sending them to the factory for replacement is not worth as the cost of shipping makes it prohibitive.

    I have followed every recommendation I can find to baby these bulbs into a longer life but it just doesn’t work. I think they are a waste.

  • Dale

    I tried one in September 2007. I was skeptical of the lifespan claim so recorded the installation date on the base. It was installed in a lamp, right side up. Cost around 10 bucks if I recall.

    It just died – April 3, 2008. Just a bit shy of 8000 hours ;-] Not feeling like I saw any savings here.

    I think I’ll look into cold cathode next.

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  • Craig

    I’ve have 6 globe bulbs in my bathroom vanity fixture, that are well over 4 years old, and run for about 2 hours per day – still working fine. But that’s where my succes with CFLs end.

    I write the installation date on the base, All other places where I’ve tried them, they last from 8 – 12 months, with a couple hours use per day. Needless to say, not worth it, I’ve switched back to incandesents.

    There are also a few fixtures in my house where I would not use CFLs anyway, due to the light quality. While I find CFLs fine for worklight, utility light etc, there’s no way I’m using them for “putting my feet up and relaxing” light. – watching TV, reading etc, where I like to dim them, and appreciate the warmer light. CFLs just dont cut it here.

    I’ve been buying a pack or two per week of incandescents while grocery shopping for the last year or so, I figure I now have enough incandescent bulbs hoarded to see me into the 2020s’, assuming they last while on the shelf. I may buy more to see me into the 2030′s, not sure. I’m hoping technology would improve by then. Hmmm….I hoping I’ll still be around by then!!!

    One other seldom mentioned point: Residential lighting is mostly in off peak hours when the grid is under utilized anyways.

    In the summertime during the afternoon when industry and air conditioners are humming along, – which is when grid is strained, and that is when the dirtiest powerstations are cranked up to maximum. There arent too many incandesent lightbulbs running.