Author Topic: Replace CFLs with LEDs?  (Read 6222 times)

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

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Replace CFLs with LEDs?
« on: March 24, 2015, 10:11:11 AM »
Pretty much just what I said--is it better to wait until your CFLs burn out, or go ahead and replace them with LEDs? Our Lowe's has them on sale for as little as $5/bulb.

JLee

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Re: Replace CFLs with LEDs?
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2015, 10:49:26 AM »
I think the last time I bought CFL's, it was under $1 for 5.  I do have LEDs in some lights, but for the multi-light fixtures I generally run CFL (60 cents vs $15-30). Both use a lot less electricity than halogens.

LED technology is continuing to improve, so it may be worth waiting. Also note that not all LEDs are the same: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_CRI_LED_Lighting

AlwaysBeenASaver

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Re: Replace CFLs with LEDs?
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2015, 10:54:30 AM »
We're compromising. For the lights where the CFLs are just so annoying due to the time it takes for them to come up to full brightness, we've replaced them with LEDs that were on sale. For the rest of the CFLs, we're replacing them as they burn out.

Sid Hoffman

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Re: Replace CFLs with LEDs?
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2015, 12:25:54 PM »
Sounds like I'm in the majority too: I still have probably 75% CFL and the other 25% LED.  The lights that are used the most (outdoor patio, inside hallway) I have replaced with LED, since you get the greatest energy savings for those since I leave them on all night long.  At only 4W each, they're hardly using any power now, especially compared to the 12W CFLs that came out.  For the rest of the house, the lights aren't used much so I'm just going to replace with LED as the CFLs burn out.

Nothlit

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Re: Replace CFLs with LEDs?
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2015, 12:33:19 PM »
I didn't wait for my CFLs to completely burn out -- since who knows how many years that would take -- but I did replace them all recently with ~$4 LEDs, mostly because I was annoyed by the slow warmup time of the CFLs and could tell that they weren't getting as bright as I thought they should even after warming up. That's the thing about fluorescent bulbs: over time their brightness can wane, long before they completely go kaput. Mine were all about 5 or 6 years old. I'm happy to be rid of them.

I'm a red panda

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Re: Replace CFLs with LEDs?
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2015, 12:41:14 PM »
I caught a really good sale on LEDs so I replaced all the lights in the common areas of the house with them.  I saved the CFLs for the bedrooms, when those lights need to be replaced. 


I like the LED light a lot better.

MsPeacock

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Re: Replace CFLs with LEDs?
« Reply #6 on: March 24, 2015, 05:03:53 PM »
I have been slowly replacing my bulbs 2 or 3 at a time when I get paid. I hate the slow warm up and the color from the CFLs. Many of the CFLs didn't seem to last long and I had a run where 3 or 4 would burn out at once. Nothing makes you feel like an adult more than dropping $50 on lightbulbs... possibly the least exciting purchase ever.

Syonyk

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Re: Replace CFLs with LEDs?
« Reply #7 on: March 24, 2015, 07:44:28 PM »
I've put a few LED bulbs in (places I either couldn't fit CFLs, or hated waiting for them to warm up), but in general, I'm sticking with CFLs.  They're cheap enough, and most places I don't care about the warmup speed.  Plus, I've got a lot of them laying around my bulb cabinet...

RWD

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Re: Replace CFLs with LEDs?
« Reply #8 on: March 24, 2015, 08:07:50 PM »
I have a light fixture that was eating through CFLs in a matter of months. Eventually I started replacing them with LEDs as they burned out. Not a single LED has died on me yet (it's been a few years now).

I have other light fixtures with CFLs that have lasted 5+ years, so I think the problem was with this particular fixture.

JLee

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Re: Replace CFLs with LEDs?
« Reply #9 on: April 27, 2015, 05:00:05 PM »
I've replaced almost every light in my house.  Home Depot has LED bulbs on sale at 2/$5 right now.

rmendpara

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Re: Replace CFLs with LEDs?
« Reply #10 on: April 27, 2015, 09:21:16 PM »
Few ideas:

1) Wait until they come on sale, and buy a ton. Within a year or so, you could probably replace most of the bulbs in your home at a more reasonable price than if you just walked in today and got everything.

2) Go the intermediate route. Pick the fewest number of high-use bulbs. Likely places such as, kitchen table, living room, maybe a desk lamp you work on a lot, etc. Replacing these, even at a slightly higher cost, will give you the biggest savings in the shortest period of time since they are used the most.

Do #2 immediately, and #1 as you find reasonable deals. The reason I don't think it makes sense to go all LED on anything but a new house that you are building is that the cost of LEDs will likely come down faster than you will realize savings by buying a bunch of bulbs today for lights that you don't use very often.

Today, LEDs are more on the side of a "luxury" than a true investment, because the payoff is not that significant compared to CFLs... again, highly dependent on how heavily you use certain lighting.


Syonyk

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Re: Replace CFLs with LEDs?
« Reply #11 on: April 27, 2015, 09:24:56 PM »
And then, on the opposite end of the spectrum, are things like Edison-style bulbs. :)

Dreadfully inefficient heat generators that produce small quantities of very warm light.  Useful for, say, not blasting bright blue light from LEDs or CFLs into a baby's eyes while nursing at night.

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

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Re: Replace CFLs with LEDs?
« Reply #12 on: April 28, 2015, 07:54:11 AM »
So far we are replacing the incandescents with low-cost LEDs (but $5--not two for $5), mostly for the environmental benefit and cosmetic issues over CFLs (we like the light quality better, and we also got $10 LED flood lights that are dimmable so the basement doesn't like midday all night). Existing CFLs we are leaving in place.

Ah, nursing at night... I remember that. Negotiating with my husband how bright a light I needed to change a diaper vs. what would wake him up. Glad that's behind us...