Energy Saving Lightbulbs

[mick2me 3,033]

Some time ago these were being given away free by the power companies.

I dont see this being done at the moment?

Anyone know of free or cheap ES light bulbs anywhere at the moment?

[plantfit 7,569]

Mick, energy saving bulbs are OK but, they do come with a serious warning which is not printed on the box or wrapping, they come under the special waste regs and need to be disposed of as such, if you are unlucky enough to have one break in the home you must vacate the place after opening all the doors and windows to allow the gasses to escape because if the gas contents enter the lungs they can eat them away from the insides, if for some reason you happen to cut yourself on some of the broken glass hospital treatment is required as quick as possible, failure to do this could result in the glass contents ie powder/gas eating away at the flesh, This info complete with graphic photo's was issued to us at work as part of a Safety Alert so is not a windup or joke, in saying all that I have changed all my light bulbs to the new energy saving ones but I do take extera care when handling/disposing of

Rog

[Cliff Ton 10,452]

Mick, when they were being handed out free by various companies, I was in the middle of a house move so I acquired a double helping of them. I've got about 6 - unused - which you can have.

If you're appearing at the next meet-up, I'll bring them.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

We are giving LED "lightbulbs" a try out, at the moment I have one in a bedside lamp. I have yet to give a larger wattage LED out, we do have a couple, so far they appear OK, not as much light output as CFL's though.

As time goes on and technology improves I see the LED lights as the major source of lighting in the home. I've seen "fluorescent" tube replacements, but they are too expensive at the moment.

Not heard of "flesh eating" gasses in the CFL bulbs, but they do contain some mercury which is highly toxic, but ALL fluorescent lamps have mercury in them, always have had.

[Limey 242]

...but ALL fluorescent lamps have mercury in them, always have had.

And a lot less mercury now than they used to have!

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Used to be quiet a lot in tubes at one time, God only knows how much was released in land fills.

[Limey 242]

I remember that you could actually break a tube and let the mercury roll out - probably one drop about 1/8" diameter! Enough to poison a LOT of land! But I also remember rolling mercury around in my hand in a school physics lab! Sometimes I am amazed that I lived to tell the tale!

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Know what you mean, I doubt you'd have come across mercury arc rectifiers with a couple of gallons of mercury in them.

All the old DC prepaid electric meters had a mercury "bath" in them...

Then as you said, we played with loose mercury in the school labs....

The flouro tubes of the 50's and 60's were also coated on the inside with a toxic powder too!!

I often wonder how come I'm still around after ingesting all that lead from solder, mercury from tubes I smashed and all the mercury in my teeth...

No wonder I can't remember any old plumbers in the 70's, they all passed on from lead poisoning from "wiping" all those lead pipe joints...LOL

[Limey 242]

There were several mercury "wetted" switches too! Very common in mechanical thermostats and much sought after as they make excellent "inclination" switches. We also had mercury wetted slip-rings for electrical connections to rotating equipment. They were great because you didn't get the "noise" common with brush-type slip rings!

Of course, the "Mad Hatter" in Alice in Wonderland was mad because he inhaled mercury fumes - they used mercury "steam" to shape felt hats!

[littlebro 234]

All electrical items (bulbs included) are now deemed unfit for domestic refuse and need correct disposal at recycling centres..

On a morbid note, crematoria in the UK have now had to fit mercury recovery equipment to eliminate the mercury in tooth fillings reaching the atmosphere. Perhaps this is the same in other countries??

[Fynger 841]

wouldnt want mercury getting into the atmosphere would we.....its allright to have it in your mouth as a filling tho......hmmmm.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Took me years to come up with a reason North Wilford power station had a very high wire fence around their fly ash tip...Fly ash is loaded with mercury, cadmium, uranium, lead and to some extent gold and silver among some other nasty metals like arsenic.

Power Stations pump thousands of tons of mercury into the air annually, that's one of the reasons mercury levels have risen in the oceans.

One city in Arizona, Kath might know which one it is, banned dentists who continue using amalgam fillings, as the city's waste water plant was fined for high levels of mercury, traced back to dentists surgeries.

[mick2me 3,033]

Thanks for the warning Rog.

I have seen a broken one in a box of bulbs.

Clif Ton I will be in touch, possibly before the meet, I am out your way a couple of days, I could pick them up from you,

to save taking them to Eris meet up. Thanks for the kind offer.

[Trevor S 2,003]

Our State has been giving out free energy saving globes (max 6) and power saving switches and power boards (max 2) per household for a few months now.

You have to ring and organise suitable time for visit and along comes a Clean Energy rep who gives you these items but he has no idea about the product (dark features and language problems did not help). Will not give you any globes unless he can take your old ones away with him. Since I already had es globes throughout, the only thing I was given was 1 power switch for the TV/DVD etc and 1 power board for the computer and accessories.

The benefit of the power switch? Don't have to walk over to the TV and switch it off at the power point at bed time - turn it off at the remote and that is it....Trust it????........NO. Turn a table lamp on in the same room and it will activate the power switch and turn the TV on to standby!

The power board shuts down everything when the computer is put to bed via the mouse/shut down.

Talking of playing with mercury and off topic but...................remember the toy in the 50/60s which was a 3-4 inch square plastic case, 1/4 inch thick that had clear plastic on one side and inside were raised plastic edges ilke a maze. Aim of the game was to get the ball of mercury from the outer edge to the centre by tilting (slowly and gently) the case in the direction you wanted the mercury to go?

[loppylugs 8,427]

I have had several of those lousy Chinese made CFLs burnout with a bad smell of burning. Glad I was home at the time. Supposed to save money, what a joke!!! Takes 'em five minutes to come up to decent level of brightness.

I will not buy any more and have stocked up on regular bulbs. They might last 'til I croak and then I will not care.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Here's a good article by a fire department on the hazards of CFL's.

http://www.livoniafirefighters.com/Salisbury_Fire_Dept_Training_Newsletter_-_April_2012.pdf

[Limey 242]

That's a great article John - thanks for the "heads up"! I actually like the CFLs - they run cooler and last a LOT longer than incandescent lights, but I guess they have their drawbacks! Actually, the best use I have made of them is in the outside lights next to my garage - the vibration from the door operating would destroy incandescent lamps - they would only last a couple of weeks. I replaced them with CFLs about 3 years ago and have not had to replace one since.

I do keep pretty good records of my electricity bills - but cannot determine any significant decrease in cost since we converted to CFLs, but my guess is that next to the hot-tub and air-conditioning, the electricity consumed by lighting is pretty small no matter what the bulb type. My biggest "issue" with CFLs is that they cannot be used on a circuit with a "dimmer"!

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

When we first arrived stateside, our electric bill's were high, I tried my best to locate where we were using so much, I even had the meter checked by the utility.

I was sitting reading the paper after breakfast one morning and leaned back in my chair and caught sight of the light fixture over the dining room table and it "hit me like a brick" No not the fixture...LOL 5 by 100 watt incandescent lamps, and on for about ten hours a day!! 5Kwhrs per day!!

I got the wife to pick up a fluorescent light fixture, and wham the bills dropped dramatically!!

Since then I have been a huge fan of fluoro's , but not of the CFL...It's only a matter of time now before we have a much larger LED lamp output marketed.

They are the future of lights, already Autos are using them for headlamps, rear lights and turn indicators, even mining cap lamps are now LED!!

[mick2me 3,033]

OMG Mr.Meducks.

What have I started here?

Those image of that guys foot made me wince, and Ive seen a few things in my time as you know..

I will be extra careful with those suckers!

[plantfit 7,569]

Those pics are the same ones that was circulated at work via a safety alert,thanks for posting John, I did'nt want to condemn or cause trouble with what I posted just wanted to point out the hazards/dangers of this type of bulb, as long as everyone is careful when handling and disposing of these bulbs there should be no problem, I just think there should be some form of warning on the packaging

Rog

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Try a couple of the LED lightbulbs Mick.. They are very low energy, only just get warm and have nothing, at least that I'm aware of, thats toxic inside them.

They are a lot more expensive than CFL's but have a lot longer life and don't dim as they age, unlike Fluoro's..

[mick2me 3,033]

I was driving down a dark A road tonight.

Traffic was approaching me, when I saw a strange group of very bright lights in front of them.

Some of the lights were quite High. It was like a scene from close encounters?

As they passed me I saw it was a group of cyclists. Each had a bright light on the front and one on their helmet.

They were brighter than the car headlights! LEDs?

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Good possibility, like I stated, a few car manufacturers are using LED headlamps, there are some pretty bright LED's out there now, I have a "Maglite" that is LED, it has a deeper and steeper "wall" angle reflector and can throw a beam of pure white light a fair distance.

[mick2me 3,033]

Cliff Ton

If you PM me your Mobile Number, I will make arrangements to meet and collect.

John, there are some LEDs on ebay

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

We bought ours through mail order companies Mick, I rarely if ever deal with anyone on Ebay over here.

There are some large companies with web sites that market LED lamps and replacement LED "flouro" tubes, although the tube replacement is pretty expensive..