CFL benefits or lack thereof....

Yohinan

I'm a new member and as such thought I would create this post regarding CFL's. CFL's are supposed to be one of the many methods one can use to achieve less waste by lasting longer than the typical incandescent bulbs, among a list of other benefits.

My biggest issue with these CFL's (which contain the ballasts) is their service life, or lack thereof. Out of all of the bulbs I have switched this benefit is not long lasted as for some reason it seems these bulbs last anywhere from 4-8 months prior to burning out. This is drastically different from the manufacturer's touted benefits of a service life between 10,000 to 20,000 hours. Now maybe it's something I am doing wrong but I am not sure how exactly that could be. I have used various brands with no change in how quickly they burn out. Do I save on the wasted heat of an incandescent, absolutely! But at what cost when I am replacing them so often? Must I leave my CFL's on permanently in order to reach that coveted service life as if that's the case it would seem any savings is negated.

Another issue I have is that all of the bulbs originate in China. This is not a knock on the production of Chinese products (yes I do have issue with purchasing anything that is made in China) as I do believe a quality product CAN be produced there but its more of an issue for me in regards to the labor standards which are common practice in China.

Additionally I pondered the notion of some type of correlation between the CFL's death and the age of wiring within a structure. Maybe it's the house I live in and the wiring being a little older than say a house that was built within the past 10 years but I have had this same experience with four different houses with no change in service life.

Are there other options out there? Sure, of course there are LED's which are only becoming the new rage for savings in both heat and energy consumption but retrofitting an entire house with LED's is not exactly cost effective, for me at least.

So with all of that being said I am wondering if anyone has found a particular CFL Make/Model that seems to last closer to the service life as claimed by the manufacturers? If not is there anything one has found that indeed helps to extend the life of these bulbs beyond the mere miniscule with which I am experiencing?