[ArmAndHammer]

The way I see it...I replace in my kitchen on average...$2 worth of light bulbs per month (4 bulbs out of 8 @ $2 per 4 pack). That is $24 a year. To replace all the lights with CF it will cost me $40. As long as I can get 2 years out of them...and so far with the others I have, I don't see it being a problem, I'll be the same or even ahead of the game since the energy consumption is less. Maybe only slightly but pennies do add up. Of course...if my new CF's run a string of luck like everyone else seems to have...I'll have wasted $40 on my little venture in going green.

 

[wuwhere]

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They don't have a ballast.

oh...we need a toilet-fi thread to enlighten others because frankly i never knew this

I missed those big and heavy ballast

. I replaced four incandescents with the curlies in my kitchen almost 4 years ago and I haven't change a single one. The same in my bathrooms. So this thing about turning them on and off is, to me, doesn't hold a candle light.

 

[11amaberry]

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1: In sockets just not meant for the bulbs.  I mean it is some pretty false advertisement, I won't argue there, but they just aren't meant for every socket.  Ceiling fans and bathroom vanity mirrors I've seen encounter rapidly dying bulbs.
2: Bad wiring, or oddly enough and I don't know why I find it so much around where I live, light sockets tied inline with GFI's.  That isn't a big no no, I'm hardly going to argue wiring and electricity since I'm only self taught and never worked with an electrician, but I know the bulbs will die super fast if the socket is tied to a GFI.
My $0.02 and all.

 
Completely agree with that. Very picky bulbs lol. And the vibration point wily brought out was also good... I didn't think about that. 
 
Best thread on headfi in awhile imo.

 

[Cold Brains]

From my understanding, CFL's do not play well with dimmer switches, which dramatically reduce the bulbs lifespan.  That might explain the issue with your ceiling fan, since many ceiling fans have a dimmer function.  In addition (although not relevant to the OP's complaint) CFL's do not function well in colder environments, so outside or an unheated garage is another bad place to use these bulbs.  I've been using some of these bulbs for 3+ years (I've actually moved them to two different apartments) without incident.
 
ac

 

[ls20]

mid 90s... government mandate private use toilets to no more than 1.6 gallons per flush... old toilets flushed like hurricane katrinas, new ones like a gentle spring sprinkle...
for a while it was popular for people up north to import toilets from canada
 
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LOL... please enlighten us with the problems with the toilets we currently use, serious inquiry actually

 

[salannelson]

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From my understanding, CFL's do not play well with dimmer switches, which dramatically reduce the bulbs lifespan.

They do not co-operate with dimmer switches. They don't dim they just flicker and hum when the dim is activated. Kind of annoying but overall I don't mind CFLs.

 

[Uncle Erik]

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LOL... please enlighten us with the problems with the toilets we currently use, serious inquiry actually

The newer ones are better, but the first generation of the mandated low-flow toilets were horrible.  Sometimes, you'd have to flush two or three times to get... er, large matter to go down.  So you'd often end up using more water than the old ones did.
 
For awhile, people would smuggle the old-style toilets from Mexico and Canada and there was controversy over importing "illegal" toilets.
 
Believe it or not, but we've got a small collection of toilets built from around 1940-1980 in storage down in the desert.  These are ones we've taken out of our apartments (we pay the water, so it makes sense to install low flush toilets for the tenants), but we keep the old toilets for family use. 
 
You can refurbish the innards for $15-$20 and they last forever.
 
In case it wasn't terribly obvious, I like my old tech.  There's a 1940s toilet in my 1940s apartment, a bunch of vintage electric fans, and, of course, lots of vacuum tubes. 

 

[wuwhere]

Well, when I was a teen, living in the basement of my parent's house I put up this sign in the bathroom "Save toilet paper use both sides". Guess now it would be "Save toilet paper and water don't use the toilet, its not real".

 

[buffalowings]

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LOL... please enlighten us with the problems with the toilets we currently use, serious inquiry actually

The newer ones are better, but the first generation of the mandated low-flow toilets were horrible.  Sometimes, you'd have to flush two or three times to get... er, large matter to go down.  So you'd often end up using more water than the old ones did.
 
For awhile, people would smuggle the old-style toilets from Mexico and Canada and there was controversy over importing "illegal" toilets.
 
Believe it or not, but we've got a small collection of toilets built from around 1940-1980 in storage down in the desert.  These are ones we've taken out of our apartments (we pay the water, so it makes sense to install low flush toilets for the tenants), but we keep the old toilets for family use. 
 
You can refurbish the innards for $15-$20 and they last forever.
 
In case it wasn't terribly obvious, I like my old tech.  There's a 1940s toilet in my 1940s apartment, a bunch of vintage electric fans, and, of course, lots of vacuum tubes. 

ohhhh...I remember this, forgot all about low flush toilets and the stuff that came with them a few years back, thanks for bringing back nostalgia from the modern world

 

[khaos974]

Low flush toilets and CLFs, even here in China it's everywhere.

 

[IPodPJ]

CFL's are very bad for the environment and bad for you!  There have been lots of reports of people getting ill from them.  Why?
 
- They give off very high EMF
- They give off lots of UV rays
 
And they are bad for the environment because:
 
- They contain moderate amounts of mercury and must be properly disposed of.  You cannot dump them in your trash.
 
And to top it off, the light they give off sucks.  The best bulbs around (and the only ones I use) are the GE Reveal.  They provide the most natural light you can get from an incandescent.
 
In about another year or two, LEDs will give off more natural light, produce less heat, and cost less.  They are the future of lighting.  Actually, OLEDs are.

 

[MCC]

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- They contain moderate amounts of mercury and must be properly disposed of.  You cannot dump them in your trash.

Also, if one ever breaks, you are supposed to open the windows and (optionally) leave the area for at least 15 minutes. This is not something that everyone realizes.
 
Edit: As an example, we once bought a pack of 3 CFLs at a grocery store and the sacker put something heavy in the same bag. All 3 were smashed and the packaging partially opened. This was not noticed until the bulbs had sat on the kitchen table for several minutes. Not cool.

 

[ClieOS]

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CFL's are very bad for the environment and bad for you!

The Canadian government heath department seems to think other wise.

 

[Maverickmonk]

My house just might be cursed. our family room, we replaced each of our incandecent pin-spots with equally rated spiral flourescents. It is a dry room, and generally the lights are only turned on if it is going to be occupied for a long time. Our house was built new in 2002. We started blowing bulbs after 2 months, and on average lasted less than half the time that the incandecents lasted. But then again we also blow one of our halogen countertop lights in our kitchen about once a year, and they are supposed to last prettymuch forever too. The $20 flourecent tube lights we hung in the shop 5 years ago that "won't last a week" according to my dad are still going strong though. I think some houses/electrical systems just have gremlins. I'm looking forward to LED's becomming affordable though, but we got a set of LED christmas lights, and I swear they flicker. (My guess would be the internal buffers can't completely smooth out the 60hz oscilation of AC current)

 

[craiglester]

if theres any vibration in the cieling fan that might be the cause of your woes. I have almost ALL cfl in my house and aside from one bad batch.. theyve been great.. cant recall when I last changed a bulb.