The Framers Forum

Now that the carbon-loonies have made us start changing over from traditional lighting to "energy saver" bulbs/lamps (both flourescent types and LED) what changes, if any, will this make to prints and pictures fading timesin the average home?

We are careful to remind people about the effects of light on pictures, including artificial lighting. Now that many homes are moving rapidly away from tungsten lighting and choosing energy saving flourescent or LED lamps its obviously going to be a "different sort of light".

What little research I’ve done (trying to keep my wife from buying those ugly pretzels) suggests that for their size and illumination, Compact Florescent Lamps put out more UV rays than tubes with the same rating.

This was discussed on The Grumble a few months ago, and, while it may save you money in electricity bills, IMO that will be more than offset by having to replace of art, drapes, rugs, furniture and probably small animals which will most likely need to be replaced more often.

I cannot remember the link, but I did a Google search looking for “CFL UV” and got some interesting information.

Don’t be distracted if you get directed to some sites for The Canadian Football League, though.

hi Bill
in the UK soon we will not be able to get tungsten lamps, due to legislation which has goose-stepped in from the EU. We will, in theory, all have to use energy savers.

There has been some legislation over here, too, which mandates more “energy efficient” light sources by, I think, 2012.

Most people believe that means exclusively CFL, but, from what I understand, it keeps the door open for manufacturers to tweak incandescent bulbs as well. I sure hope so.

Some Grumblers have switched to those twisted monstrosities, but reported that art hanging within a foot or two has faded significantly in a very short time. I don’t know if they used CC glass on them or not.

From what I understand, if CFLs are installed in unheated areas such as basements or garages, the intensity drops off considerably, and, in extremely cold areas, they stop generating light altogether.

An alternative would be for LEDs, but, at this point, they are cost prohibitive for anyone other than Bill Gates.

To me it’s just another effort of the gum’mint jumping on the “green” bandwagon without any real idea of the consequences, and messing around with my life in the process.

Wht's really needed are high efficiency bulbs with a UV filter.

Picture illumination for the use of.

Reading this thread has just sent me out to the recycling bin to recover last Saturday's edition of the Daily Telegraph.

In the "Weekend" section (page w3) there was an article about the National Trust and how they had changed all of their lighting in critical areas to low energy halogen bulbs (approx 50% energy saving vs. standard incandescent bulbs). These were chosen over Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFL's) due to the high levels of UV emitted by this type of lighting.

Here is the quote from their expert:

Katy Lithgow the [National] Trust's head conservator, explains "UV radiation, beyond the blue end of the visible spectrum, is the most damaging component of light and can very quickly fade the light-sensitive dyes and organic materials in textiles, tapestries, leather and watercolours. It destroys the chemical bonds, which all light does but UV light does more rapidly"

Anyone need any more convincing that we should be offering UV protective glazing to all of our customers?

Having got the article back out of the recycling it is now going on display at the shop (suitably framed behind UV glass).

John.

Some people won't need it for a while

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7480958.stm

prospero wrote:Wht's really needed are high efficiency bulbs with a UV filter.

Picture illumination for the use of.

prospero, I wonder if you've hit on a master plan for using up tru-vue offcuts as UV filters which people can stick to lamps nice.......

kev@frames wrote:
prospero, I wonder if you've hit on a master plan for using up tru-vue offcuts as UV filters which people can stick to lamps nice.......

Hehehee. That's the same principle as sticking two pieces of carpet to your feet to save doing the whole house.

Lateral Thinking.

prospero wrote:That's the same principle as sticking two pieces of carpet to your feet to save doing the whole house.

Lateral Thinking.

You're a visionary!

… well, more like a peripheral visionary.

You see the future but it’s way off to one side.

Jonny2morsos wrote:Reading this thread has just sent me out to the recycling bin to recover last Saturday's edition of the Daily Telegraph. ....

.

Likewise, and found it full of rain
however, the article is here online. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.j ... ust121.xml

Might make a useful point of sale piece