The Framers Forum

http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&HPAwe ... 3534061375

Well, 30cm distance might be OK for humans but s sunny winter day ain't going to enhance artwork.

I have questioned the use of CFLs for some time now. Sure, it will reduce energy costs and (in the long run) save you money, but what effect is it going to have when all incandescent bulbs are mandated to be changed to CFLs?

I suspect that artwork will degrade much more quickly, wallpaper and drapes will need to be changed more often due to fading. And, don’t forget the damage to your fabric furniture and carpets.

I am willing to bet that having to replace all of those things more frequently will result in more energy consumption due to manufacturing costs than will ever be saved by the bulbs themselves.

Plus, they look like crap.

on a positive note i've been using cfl uv damage possibilities to sell more TVCC glass.
on the home front the damned things are awful.
We have spent £180 in the past year replacing failed "long lfe" GU10 CFL lamps in our house.
And no there's nothing wrong with our electrics
Me Im going back to incandescent: a) its cheaper burning more energy than replacing overpriced replacement lamps every other week at £30 for ten, and b) they are sh*t anyway.
when cfl's become mandatory i plan on stockpiling enough incandescent lamps to see me out

CFLs are a rip off, the cost of the lamps and their general failure to live up to the promised life is out of order. At 10,000 hours quoted we are getting between 1,000 and 3,000 hours from various brands of GU10 CFLs. Ok they are 10 watt, with 4 in an array, thats 40 watts. They produce no more and no better light than a single 100W tungsten lamp, and dont last any longer.
Do the maths:
tungsten lamp 50p, or less. 4xGU10s £12 or more. The energy savings dont even break even.
And, like all flourescent lights, they are not good for your eyes.
I reckon specsavers must have an interest in the "green" agenda

CFL's and normal flourescent lamps have problems starting at low temperatures, so don't bother using them for the shed, garage, or for outdoor use, as they might not work when it's a really cold day.

Also delayed starting due to the cold is likely to greatly shorten the service life of the lamp, which can also be true for the old incandescent lamps, but at least they are much cheaper to replace and are also available in "rough service" versions which as far as I know is not the case for flourescent lamps. The service life of flourescent lamps is also considerably reduced in situations where low supply voltages occur, where as the same situation can often extend the service life of normal incandescent lamps.

I'm not so sure how true this is, but it seems to me that the extra power used to run an incandescent lamp adds extra heat to your home, so if you reduce this amount of heat by using CFL's, then your thermostatically controlled heating system will simply supply more heat to compensate. Unless I have missed something here, the net result will be no discernable reduction in energy usage, if you are running a thermostatically controlled heating system at the same time. (Sometimes it's fun to stir things up a bit!)