Energy saving Light Bulbs

Chrisoldinho

I'm looking to replenish my entire house with energy saving light bulbs and would like to know where the best place to order them from is.

I need to check tonight what fitment they use as I haven't replaced any in our house yet since moving in but i'm keen to save money in the long term.

One thing I definately want is those smaller ones though because I don't like the big ones that stick out of the light shade.

Anywhere reputable and cheap to get say a pack of 20 of them?

loz

TLC are always a good bet.
Here's an index of all the different types of energy saving bulbs
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Lighting_Menu_Index/Lamps_and_Tubes_Index/Energy_Saving_Lamps_Index/index.html

johntheexpat

I would suggest having just a couple at first, to make sure you are OK with the quality of light they give off.  If one thing has been made very clear in this Forum it's that some people really can't live with energy efficient lights, and oh boy do they let us know!

zmoosa1

Agree entirely.  We only use the enery efficient bulbs in the hallway, bathroom and bedrooms where the we're under the light for too long!  Living room, kitchen/ diner are all standard bulbs.

Phil57

............in English, please!!

robh2002

...can't help with a translation of the above, but I would recommend you buy Philips bulbs (John Lewis - often has great prices on these). I have been through many bulbs manufacturers (Ikea, Morrisons, GE ones from B&Q) and without doubt the Philips ones are the best I have seen.They come on instantly and achieve good brightness to start. GE ones seem to have a short delay and seem very dim to start with.

I have tried a Philips halogen replacement, but I wasn't particularly impressed with that - and went for Luxeon LED based GU10s instead.

Hope that's of some help...

loz

Also, remember that most energy saving bulbs do not dim. You need to buy special dimmable bulbs.

andykn

And they don't dim as well as incandescent bulbs. The ones I have only go to about half intensity with my standard dimmer switch. I believe that more modern dimmer switchaes have an internal adjustment that may give a better range.

Bruce_

I have yet to see a "replacement" CFL that works well enough to be called dimmable. There are some that claim to be dimmable, but the performance is terrible.

If you need dimmable, then don't use replacement lamps. Not let anyway. Perhaps in another year or two, there might be something.

With these replacement lamps, they don't need to be dimmed as the light output is so poor anyway. For most of them.

And be careful with them. The mercury issue still scares the hell out of people. Just don't ever break one inside your house (I must ring and ask my insurance company one day, and see what they will cover if that ever happened)

Bruce_

Just been to Homebase. They are selling Philips 11W Genie CFL for 49p each. All the other varieties of lamps were several quid, so presumably 49p is a loss-leader. Seems to be very good value.

As expected, the light output of the 11W isn't great. Supposed to be 60W-replacement, but I'm sure they're not even as good as a 40W. But it's good enough for general use.