Author Topic: Throw Out All Incandescent Bulbs NOW  (Read 2188 times)

SnackDog

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1260
  • Location: Latin America
Throw Out All Incandescent Bulbs NOW
« on: May 02, 2018, 12:55:15 PM »
The price of LED bulbs has really come down the last few years; faster than I realized.  It is now to the point that you are better off removing existing incandescent bulbs and spares and replacing them all with LEDs.  Don't wait for them to burn out as it is just costing you money. 

The math -
In my case, I pay a whopping $0.21/kwh.   

A 60w bulb used one hour per day costs me $.378/month.
An 8.5w LED bulb would be about $.0535/month

Swapping a 60w A19 bulb for an 8.5w LED will cost me about $1.80.   The capex plus opex for six months would be $2.12 while the opex for the old bulb for six months is $2.27.

If I use the light ONE HOUR PER DAY it will pay for itself in less than six months.  Everything after that is gravy since the LED should last many years.  If LED prices come down further, that's great but I will already be saving vs incandescent.  If they drop enough, I can swap again to save.   Sort of like a friend of mine who drove the Alaska highway and bought fuel at every gas station along the way, even if it he only needed a gallon or two, because the pump price increased the whole way.

My house has a preposterous 76 light bulbs (including all lamps and fixtures indoor and out) and some are on more than one hour per day.  I was going to swap over to LEDs as bulbs burned out, but that will actually end up cost me more than just swapping them now.

talltexan

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5344
Re: Throw Out All Incandescent Bulbs NOW
« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2018, 08:36:03 AM »
There must be some kind of gradient for the amount of time bulbs in your house are turned on. Identify the top 10 bulbs to change immediately, then try to rearrange your life toward those areas when you need light. (save the old incandescents somewhere in case power prices go down).

Another Reader

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5327
Re: Throw Out All Incandescent Bulbs NOW
« Reply #2 on: May 04, 2018, 08:53:16 AM »
Just as the compact fluorescent bulbs did not live up to their lifetime expectations, the LEDs are now starting to fail early.  I still have a lot of the compact fluorescent bulbs that I will use before paying for LED bulbs.

And save those incandescent bulbs.  They produce heat and are therefore useful in some applications.  I have several packages of 60 and 100 watt incandescent bulbs that will probably get used to keep things from freezing in a cold snap.

TVRodriguez

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 773
Re: Throw Out All Incandescent Bulbs NOW
« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2018, 08:55:32 AM »
Just as the compact fluorescent bulbs did not live up to their lifetime expectations, the LEDs are now starting to fail early.  I still have a lot of the compact fluorescent bulbs that I will use before paying for LED bulbs.

And save those incandescent bulbs.  They produce heat and are therefore useful in some applications.  I have several packages of 60 and 100 watt incandescent bulbs that will probably get used to keep things from freezing in a cold snap.

This is our experience, too--the LEDs are failing quite regularly.  I'd appreciate any recommendations for particular brands that actually last.

TheWifeHalf

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 506
Re: Throw Out All Incandescent Bulbs NOW
« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2018, 12:49:09 PM »
Just as the compact fluorescent bulbs did not live up to their lifetime expectations, the LEDs are now starting to fail early.  I still have a lot of the compact fluorescent bulbs that I will use before paying for LED bulbs.

And save those incandescent bulbs.  They produce heat and are therefore useful in some applications.  I have several packages of 60 and 100 watt incandescent bulbs that will probably get used to keep things from freezing in a cold snap.

We don't have cold snaps, we have winters, and the incandescents just work better outside in that season. We bought a bunch of them to use outside, probably 6 yeas worth.

MaikoTsumi

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 97
Re: Throw Out All Incandescent Bulbs NOW
« Reply #5 on: May 04, 2018, 12:59:35 PM »
Just as the compact fluorescent bulbs did not live up to their lifetime expectations, the LEDs are now starting to fail early.  I still have a lot of the compact fluorescent bulbs that I will use before paying for LED bulbs.

And save those incandescent bulbs.  They produce heat and are therefore useful in some applications.  I have several packages of 60 and 100 watt incandescent bulbs that will probably get used to keep things from freezing in a cold snap.
It's not necessarily the LED that is failing, but the circuitry used by the manufacturer. The only LED's I've had fail so far, were the more expensive ones I've bought.  The Feit bulbs from Costco are outperforming them.

Bateaux

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2318
  • Location: Port Vincent
Re: Throw Out All Incandescent Bulbs NOW
« Reply #6 on: May 05, 2018, 12:44:58 AM »
I must say that the failure rate of LED household bulbs is a major disappointment for me.  I've used DC powered LEDs for two decades and they still work great.

Anon in Alaska

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 144
Re: Throw Out All Incandescent Bulbs NOW
« Reply #7 on: May 05, 2018, 03:35:54 AM »
My dining room chandelier has four bulbs. Three are LED's that use 4.8 watts each (and came in a pack of three). One is incandescent and it uses 40 watts. The LED bulbs are noticeably dimmer than the incandescent bulb, so I would like to replace it with a brighter 6 watt LED.

Therefore replacing it with an LED will save me 34 watts/hour. I use this light for about 5 hours a week, or about 8.84 kw hours a year. I pay about 19.11 cents kw/hour, so I will save about $1.69/year. A four pack of the 6 watt LED's costs $15.99. Since LED bulb prices continue to drop it seems to be that the correct question is if I can save more than $1.69 a year on bulb costs by waiting to replace them.

sokoloff

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1191
Re: Throw Out All Incandescent Bulbs NOW
« Reply #8 on: May 05, 2018, 05:24:18 AM »
The only A19 incandescents I still use are in a piece of lab safety equipment which uses them as a large resistor for large currents and a small resistor for small currents.

Everything for lighting is LED (90%) or CFLs that haven’t died yet.

I’ve had a few bulb failures, all of which were power supply failures (esp on the CREE “75W replacement” bulbs). When they were $5-$10/bulb, I cared. At <$1.50/bulb, I get no more frustrated than when an incandescent used to burn out. Throw it out and move on. Life’s too short...

The only downside I’ve found from LEDs is that they don’t smoothly dim below about 10%. We used incandescents on trial (traditional) dimmers as night lighting for the kids’ rooms and the LEDs don’t work well there at 3-8% type illumination levels. They either flicker or cut out entirely. No big deal in grand scheme of things.

Gone Fishing

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2916
  • So Close went fishing on April 1, 2016
    • Journal
Re: Throw Out All Incandescent Bulbs NOW
« Reply #9 on: May 05, 2018, 07:02:22 AM »
My LEDs flicker.  It's not perceptible unless something is moving quickly.  I notice it when someone waves their hand around, and strangely enough, when I am pouring cereal into a bowl. Not the end of the world. But it catches my eye fairly often.  I did find some with a nice warm incandescent color that I like.

Well Respected Man

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 237
  • Location: About Town
Re: Throw Out All Incandescent Bulbs NOW
« Reply #10 on: May 06, 2018, 08:16:13 AM »
In my state, the electric utility has a program that gives away LED bulbs for free when you allow them to perform an energy audit on your home. The audit is usually done by a representative of an insulation or replacement window company, so that they have an opportunity to give you a proposal.

Anyway, I had the guy come in, and he replaced all of the incandescents with LEDs for free. The catch is, he would not replace CFLs, because they are already efficient enough, so I wasted an opportunity to get a few more free bulbs. If you save the incandescents that they replace, then you can share them with your neighbor to get more free LEDs, and so on.