Anyone still using the (not) government mandated CFL bulbs that have to warm up and won't dim?

I’m not sure what I’ve got in my bathroom… they say CFL and mercury disposal on them, and they do take a little while to get bright, starting out fairly dim even though I have four of them that go on at once, but they don’t seem to take all that long to get bright. They have a corkscrew element inside a glass ball.

I’d think they were fine, except I do dislike that they make a humming sound.

Oh, this question is dear to my heart. I HATE, absolutely loathe the CFL, LED and Halogen and other, newer, mandated, energy saving light bulbs. They have the ambience of an autopsy room. As a long time, former interior design asst. and home stager and someone that loves mood lighting which enhances everything in ones environment the new lighting technology sucks in terms of ambience. I use yellow bug lights in many of my lamps for the nice, amber colored light.

I also buy stained glass bulbs and scour thrift stores and yard sales and other out of the way places to find as many old fashioned light bulbs as I can. I have glass orb lights in my little living room now with the 60 watt bug lights in them and the effect is charming after dark. A warm, radiant, golden glow to everything. Fuck the government taking away my cool light bulbs!

Some of mine have yet to burn out. I don’t mind them as long as they’re filtered through a shade or some glass fixture.

The unflattering light from these bulbs will eventually lower the birth rate.

I bought LED that took a couple of seconds to turn off, and I actually liked the few seconds of light to walk from the switch to the next room. The negative about those particular LED’s were they blinked when turned too low on a dimmer. They were fine at half dim to full bright though. I loved the color and brightness of them, which is why I bought those particular ones.

I wouldn’t mind a slow to light bulb in some rooms, like my bathroom. I’d probably worry there was something dangerous about them. In fact the reviews I read about my bulb was that there had been a recall for fire problems years before.

@Coloma You can get LED’s that cast the same color as the old bulbs.

A few months ago I replaced every bulb in my 2-story house with 60 watt-equivalent LED bulbs that stay cool the touch and actually produce better light than the CFLs. I use the sun-bright LEDs for certain places like in the kitchen and the soft white ones for others like in my bedroom.

Together with my NEST thermostat and other common sense measures, I’ve actually cut my electricity bill this hot, hot summer.

…I love my CFL lights. I have them all covered by some sort of colored glass shade though. However, I have a hanging stained glass light in the corner of the living room. It takes 3 bulbs but I quickly unscrewed two of them because they’re too bright.
LED lights are incredibly useful in many situations.

That sounds like what I have, @Zaku, but mine don’t hum.

That may be because you’re in California, @Coloma. The old incandescent bulbs are readily available around here, and cheaper than ever. The CFL’s I just bought (at the thrift store) are rather warm. @Coloma, @SecondHandStoke

They shouldn’t be burned out, @stanleybmanly. They were supposed to last, like, 15 years.

I think all the original CFLs were slow to start, @JLeslie. I remember when they started putting “Instant on!” on the packaging. I’m not worried about hazard – I bet you’d like my new, slow-start bulbs in the bathroom, too. I have an overhead if I need instant on.

I tend to go larger than 60 watt equal, @Pachy. My eyes are getting old and I like a lot of light.

I needed flood lights for an enclosed showcase, @Dutchess_III, and I was able to find CFLs that were insanely big. Like 220w for under 40w usage. They can certainly be handy!

We have them throughout most of the house. I’m fine with them.

My daughter put a string of LED lights in a recess on top of her kitchen cabinets. It’s a nice, ambient kind of light.

The slow start kind? @anniereborn. They would make me crazy in the kitchen.

Yeah, you can add those LEDs almost anywhere, @Dutchess_III.

These were still a novelty when I left the US. I remember buying a couple for my desk and work area. They were good for work area lighting, but not general lighting—and I liked the green aspect. I had no idea they were mandated. I would go with LED rather than CFL. Fluorescent lights make me uneasy.

@ibstubro that 15 year life is straight up hype. When the things were introduced locally there was a well publicized promotion of CFLs here, and you could buy them as cheaply as a buck a pop. I snatched up 72 of the bulbs distributed in packets of 18 per flat. We replaced all the bulbs in the house in every fixture in which they would fit and that was shaded. I wound up with a bushel basket of the old incandescents which we saved for the fixtures in which the CFLs remain inappropriate. I suspect that the 15 year life might work out if you leave the things burning continuously, but it seems to me that the things burn out with about the seem frequency as the old incandescent bulbs in the kitchen overhead fixture which requires 4 bulbs. We’ve gotten used to the quirks of the bulbs, like the initial dimness during the warmup time.

They were supposed to be mandated, @Espiritus_Corvus. Then, just before the law was to take effect, they canceled it. So, basically, the government coerced millions of people into trying an emerging technology without actually doing a thing.

You bought ‘emerging technology’ bulbs, @stanleybmanly. The new bulbs bear little resemblance.
I know for a fact that CFLs can’t take vibration.

Light bulb burning since 1901

I had long heard that light bulbs only lasted as long as the manufacturer wanted.
Now that was something the government could address!

I think that’s true for most things, @ibstubro.

I don’t know.
It’s amazing that something could remain hot for that long and not use up the energy source.

I know. It bears more looking into. I’m sure there is an complicated explanation somewhere. (However, as of today it’s no hotter than a night light.)

Mankind is just very sort-term.
It’s not things that wear out very quickly. It’s man-made things.

According to the Wiki link from @Dutchess_III, “The bulb’s long life has been attributed to its low power, nearly continuous operation, and dedicated power supply”.

The reason the continuous operation contributes to its longevity is that current spikes (usually generated when a light is turned on) are what cause filament stress and wear, not constant current flow.

What I’ve noticed is that an incandescent filament usually breaks when I turn a light on, and not when it’s already on.

Perhaps a good analogical example would the placement of a metal dumbbell on a glass table top. If a 10-pound dumbbell is resting on a glass table, the table should be able to support the weight for quite awhile. However, if the dumbbell was dropped on the table from a height of about 2 or more feet….

Well, some natural things wear out pretty quickly @ibstubro, like Mayflies. ” The imago stage does not survive for long, rarely for more than 24 hours. In some species, it may last for just a few minutes”

@ibstubro It would be a fairly simple thing today to build a bulb that would shine forever, given the proper power supply. Simple, but far from cheap. Think about the solution to generating ample light from household current that the incandescent bulb represents. The filament must be very fine, yet go from room temperature to 4600 degrees to emit useful light. So each flick of the switch works on degrading the filament, like bending a spoon back and forth.

But, @Dutchess_III, it seems to be the curse of the human race that we try to make everything, ”newer, faster”.
Like when the Earth kills humans off, our history will deteriorate at an almost equal rate. The Pyramids and plastic.

So, @stanleybmanly, why aren’t there burning bulbs with responsive covers?

I don’t understand. Burning bulbs with responsive covers? There will be evidence of plastic on the earth til the sun balloons and swallows the planet.