Switch to CFL's

Binger · 09-17-08, 09:33 PM

When my wife and I got married and moved into our first apartment I went through and switched all the bulbs to CFL (except for the ones over the bathroom mirror) Cost about $65
The apartment company supplied all the lights with 100w bulbs. I used 60W equivilent CFL's

On the utility bills that OPPD sends out there is a graph that shows how that months energy useage compares to that month of the previous year.

Our first bill showed that we used only about 1/5th of the energy of the previous tennant.

I don't know what they had for electronics and what their usage habits were but our bills were consistently 1/5th from the previous. We had a really bad winter so we had the heat up abit but we still were about half of what it was the year before.

I definatly attribute this to the CFL's

Anyone else have any success stories to tell about CFL's?

About a month after we moved in they changed the meters in the laundry room from the analog dials to digital meeters.
I would check them every time we did laundry and over the 12 months we lived there it showed that we only used 1,025KWH.
The girls above us had CFLs and theirs read about 1,200
3 others were in the 2,000's and the lady down stairs read over 3,700 when we moved out.
I don't know if she left everything on when she was gone...but I often wondered if the washer and dryer and the mercury vapor light on the front of the building were on her meter or if they were averaged amongst the 6 units in our building.

Daox · 09-17-08, 10:35 PM

My current plan is to keep everything as is in the house for the first month. This is a mixture of mostly incandescent lights and a few CFLs. Next month I'll be swapping out every possible light to CFL (and maybe even some LEDs in there if I can get my hands on a few). Of course I'll be posting the results.

Daox · 10-29-08, 10:37 AM

Here is my success story with CFLs:

ER Project House: CFLs Installed - Energy Usage Down 40% | EcoRenovator.org

Doofus McFancypants · 10-29-08, 12:45 PM

I have been batteling my wife on the "Looks" of the CFE's
we have sevweal fixtures where she does not like the looks of them.

This kind of concrete examples should swing here to the "Un-incandesent side.

: )

Daox · 10-29-08, 01:14 PM

They do make CFLs with plastic covers so they look like a "normal" bulb. I've heard the complaint from a few people that they look ugly. Why do they look ugly? Why are you staring at a light bulb? Silly people.

Sandcruiser · 07-28-09, 04:22 PM

I suspect that the complaint is made regarding the light quality, not the bulb itself. Some CFLs are much whiter/blue than incandescents

gasstingy · 04-06-10, 08:40 AM

Dredging up an old thread here, but I wanted to add to it.....

My wife didn't like the looks of the curly-que CFL's I put in our house when we built it, so we put decorator style (big globe) 60w incandescents in both bathroom vanity fixtures. That's 6 60w bulbs per fixture. After about a year, I changed them out for all curly-que CFL's. She said she didn't like the looks of them. I said they looked like they were saving money to me. Out with 360x, in with 78w. She grew to not mind the looks of the CFL's and hasn't complained about them since.

When we built this house, in late 2002, we paid almost $9 per bulb for CFL's. We put them in every room except the bathrooms. We even have light fixtures in our (non walk-in) closets. To date, we have only replaced CFL's in our living room ceiling fan. We replaced one tube style bulb in our kitchen fixture about three years ago. I think they are a great bargain :-)

NeilBlanchard · 04-08-10, 08:23 AM

They do make globe covered CFL bulbs. They look very much like frosted incandescents.

cmroseberry · 05-21-10, 03:10 PM

I replaced eight incandesent spotlights with outdoor CFL floodlights. I did not like the shadowy look of the rooms with the spotlights. These spotlights were recessed into cans in the ceiling and had black indented rings around the bulbs. The CFL floodlights are larger in diameter than the spotlight bulbs, so the black rings are covered by the globes of the floodlights. The CFL's put out more lumens that the spotlights and also distribute the light over a much larger angle. I did have to adjust the socket position inside of the cans to be closer to the opening for the bulb.
I will send pictures when I get the privilege to do so.

cmroseberry · 05-28-10, 11:46 AM

Here are the before and after pictures for the little job I described above.

09-17-08, 09:33 PM	#1
Binger Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 34 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Switch to CFL's When my wife and I got married and moved into our first apartment I went through and switched all the bulbs to CFL (except for the ones over the bathroom mirror) Cost about $65 The apartment company supplied all the lights with 100w bulbs. I used 60W equivilent CFL's On the utility bills that OPPD sends out there is a graph that shows how that months energy useage compares to that month of the previous year. Our first bill showed that we used only about 1/5th of the energy of the previous tennant. I don't know what they had for electronics and what their usage habits were but our bills were consistently 1/5th from the previous. We had a really bad winter so we had the heat up abit but we still were about half of what it was the year before. I definatly attribute this to the CFL's Anyone else have any success stories to tell about CFL's? About a month after we moved in they changed the meters in the laundry room from the analog dials to digital meeters. I would check them every time we did laundry and over the 12 months we lived there it showed that we only used 1,025KWH. The girls above us had CFLs and theirs read about 1,200 3 others were in the 2,000's and the lady down stairs read over 3,700 when we moved out. I don't know if she left everything on when she was gone...but I often wondered if the washer and dryer and the mercury vapor light on the front of the building were on her meter or if they were averaged amongst the 6 units in our building.

09-17-08, 10:35 PM	#2
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	My current plan is to keep everything as is in the house for the first month. This is a mixture of mostly incandescent lights and a few CFLs. Next month I'll be swapping out every possible light to CFL (and maybe even some LEDs in there if I can get my hands on a few). Of course I'll be posting the results. __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

10-29-08, 10:37 AM	#3
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Here is my success story with CFLs: ER Project House: CFLs Installed - Energy Usage Down 40% \| EcoRenovator.org __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

10-29-08, 12:45 PM	#4
Doofus McFancypants Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Atlanta Posts: 30 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I have been batteling my wife on the "Looks" of the CFE's we have sevweal fixtures where she does not like the looks of them. This kind of concrete examples should swing here to the "Un-incandesent side. : ) __________________ Steve AKA Doofus

10-29-08, 01:14 PM	#5
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	They do make CFLs with plastic covers so they look like a "normal" bulb. I've heard the complaint from a few people that they look ugly. Why do they look ugly? Why are you staring at a light bulb? Silly people. __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

07-28-09, 04:22 PM	#6
Sandcruiser Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 33 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I suspect that the complaint is made regarding the light quality, not the bulb itself. Some CFLs are much whiter/blue than incandescents

04-06-10, 08:40 AM	#7
gasstingy Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Arab, AL Posts: 491 Thanks: 109 Thanked 49 Times in 43 Posts	Dredging up an old thread here, but I wanted to add to it..... My wife didn't like the looks of the curly-que CFL's I put in our house when we built it, so we put decorator style (big globe) 60w incandescents in both bathroom vanity fixtures. That's 6 60w bulbs per fixture. After about a year, I changed them out for all curly-que CFL's. She said she didn't like the looks of them. I said they looked like they were saving money to me. Out with 360x, in with 78w. She grew to not mind the looks of the CFL's and hasn't complained about them since. When we built this house, in late 2002, we paid almost $9 per bulb for CFL's. We put them in every room except the bathrooms. We even have light fixtures in our (non walk-in) closets. To date, we have only replaced CFL's in our living room ceiling fan. We replaced one tube style bulb in our kitchen fixture about three years ago. I think they are a great bargain :-)

04-08-10, 08:23 AM	#8
NeilBlanchard Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Maynard, MA Eaarth Posts: 383 Thanks: 78 Thanked 39 Times in 32 Posts	They do make globe covered CFL bulbs. They look very much like frosted incandescents.

05-21-10, 03:10 PM	#9
cmroseberry Lurking Renovator Join Date: May 2010 Location: Garland, Texas Posts: 13 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I replaced eight incandesent spotlights with outdoor CFL floodlights. I did not like the shadowy look of the rooms with the spotlights. These spotlights were recessed into cans in the ceiling and had black indented rings around the bulbs. The CFL floodlights are larger in diameter than the spotlight bulbs, so the black rings are covered by the globes of the floodlights. The CFL's put out more lumens that the spotlights and also distribute the light over a much larger angle. I did have to adjust the socket position inside of the cans to be closer to the opening for the bulb. I will send pictures when I get the privilege to do so.

05-28-10, 11:46 AM	#10
cmroseberry Lurking Renovator Join Date: May 2010 Location: Garland, Texas Posts: 13 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Here are the before and after pictures for the little job I described above.