Anonymous wrote:

The only thing I don't like about them so far is the ones I have in ceiling pots in the bedrooms on dimmer switches don't get as dim as the incandesents still in the room.

Flourescent lights, including CFL's, aren't designed to be dimmed. (Or, to be more accurate, dimmers are designed for incandescent, not flourescent, bulbs.) When you use a flourescent in a partial-voltage situation, you're significantly shortening the life of the bulb, and getting flickery, crappy light.

In situations where you really like having dimmers, keep using incandescents. (BTW, LED's don't dim well either.)

But to answer the original question, we have CFL's everywhere in the house we can. Never had one break. They save significant energy and significant greenhouse gas.
Only place we don't have is over the bathroom mirrors, DW's bedside table (she hates them but has generally given in elsewhere), and the one dimmer in the house.

We've been slowly switching to LED bulbs. They make dimmable ones which cost a bit more, but dim much better than the regular LED bulbs.

Tried some CFL bulbs a while back but they seemed to cause more migraines. The "natural light" LED bulbs are fantastic.

Anonymous wrote:The industry is moving past CFLs and you can, too. Embrace LEDs.

This. We have a few CFL's left, and as they burn out we are replacing with LED's.
FWIW we have dimmable LED's (replacing halogens in track fixtures) that dim JUST FINE technology is improving every day.
I just can't find LED's short enough to fit in my recessed cans in the kitchen. Every one I've tried is like 1/4 - 1/8 inch too long and the housing won't snap back in. Grrrrr!

Hate them with a passion. Ugly light, difficult to dispose of and a mess to clean up properly when broken. I of course broke one when moving a box of them I had been collecting to dispose of at a drop off site.

Here's the EPA instructions for how to properly clean up after breaking one:

http://www2.epa.gov/cfl/cleaning-broken-cfl

How these are allowed to be sold is beyond me.

The industry is moving past CFLs and you can, too. Embrace LEDs.

I've used them for many, many years. Never had one break,knock on wood. Also,they never seem to burn out. When they do, there are plenty of easy places to take them. We don't really have lamps in our house, though, mostly just recessed lighting. We have leds too. I don't see much difference, although our leds do dim. And, I think you can buy dimmer cfls.

Anonymous wrote:We had one break recently near our playroom and it was a PITA and stressful. Looking at alternatives now (LEDs?) to replace them. Maybe we should just stock up on incandescent bulbs Elaine-style...

Are you bulb-worthy?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anybody's wife hate them? I just bought a bunch and she hates them. The slow light up, weird colors and shadows....

Is there really a savings? I don't have them in long in enough for a full month.

ughh it's going to suck swapping out the 80 bulbs.

Why wouldn't you just wait until the bulbs you have burn out and replace them one by one? Isn't that what you normally do anyway? Why would you need to replace 80 bulbs at once?

Not the point, I was trying to get some savings.

I wish I hadn't started a ww3 level fight about this and then I am wrong on the savings. I thought I was going to save hundreds.

Very peculiar.

When I moved into my current house, there were a lot of CFLs. They looked horrible in the bathrooms, so I swapped those out for the more expensive long life/lower watt incandescents. I also installed LED pot lights on the main floor. There are still a few CFLs, but they're all in enclosed overhead fixtures, so potential for breaking is less. When they stop working, I'll replace them with some kind of non CFLs.

The only thing I don't like about them so far is the ones I have in ceiling pots in the bedrooms on dimmer switches don't get as dim as the incandesents still in the room.

Flourescent lights, including CFL's, aren't designed to be dimmed. (Or, to be more accurate, dimmers are designed for incandescent, not flourescent, bulbs.) When you use a flourescent in a partial-voltage situation, you're significantly shortening the life of the bulb, and getting flickery, crappy light.

In situations where you really like having dimmers, keep using incandescents. (BTW, LED's don't dim well either.)

But to answer the original question, we have CFL's everywhere in the house we can. Never had one break. They save significant energy and significant greenhouse gas.
Only place we don't have is over the bathroom mirrors, DW's bedside table (she hates them but has generally given in elsewhere), and the one dimmer in the house.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anybody's wife hate them? I just bought a bunch and she hates them. The slow light up, weird colors and shadows....

Is there really a savings? I don't have them in long in enough for a full month.

ughh it's going to suck swapping out the 80 bulbs.

Why wouldn't you just wait until the bulbs you have burn out and replace them one by one? Isn't that what you normally do anyway? Why would you need to replace 80 bulbs at once?

Not the point, I was trying to get some savings.

I wish I hadn't started a ww3 level fight about this and then I am wrong on the savings. I thought I was going to save hundreds.

Anonymous wrote:Anybody's wife hate them? I just bought a bunch and she hates them. The slow light up, weird colors and shadows....

Is there really a savings? I don't have them in long in enough for a full month.

ughh it's going to suck swapping out the 80 bulbs.

Why wouldn't you just wait until the bulbs you have burn out and replace them one by one? Isn't that what you normally do anyway? Why would you need to replace 80 bulbs at once?

according to this calculator if i swapped out all 80 it would be a savings around 70 a month.

Not sure if it is worth it. I was hoping for something more.

http://www.tcpi.com/commercial/energy_savings_calculator.aspx

I think even the soft glow which are supposed to mimic incandescent are still bad.

We use them, but I hate them. I hate the fact that we have to worry about them breaking. I hate how long they take to light up. I hate the fact our dimmers don't work. And ever since we used them, I've had trouble with getting headaches. And I swear the darn things burn out just as often. OK, maybe they last a bit longer, but they do not last for years in our house.

My husband is insistent that we save money. And I do like to do things that are good for the environmnet. I do refuse to put them in table lamps, as they just seem to easy to knock over and break.

I hate them. I did horder incandescent bulbs. We've had two CFLs break. The first was inside (lamp fell over). We cleaned up and let the room air out. The second was in the garage, so it was an easier clean up. I refuse to use them indoors anymore......at least for now.