100 Watt incandescent bulbs gone at new years, stock up now

In California the 100 watt bulb will be gone from store shelves starting new years day. This is one year earlier then the rest of the USA. You still have one year to stock up. Some incandescents will be sold until 2014. After that nothing between 40-140 watts will be incandescent in the USA.
Many of you use incandescents to keep humidty off iron machines so I thought I should mention this. The LED bulbs run around $20 and give light about like a 40 watt bulb, regardless of what they claim. Check the lumnens.
Bill D.
Modesto, CA

I prefer to save my money and use CFL's. If I need heat I use gas to do the direct conversion.

One thing people forget is the danger in changing incandescents. Climbing up on a stool and then trying to get stuck ones out. With the right CFL you change them less often and they haven't ever been stuck.

Maybe Californians have money burning a hole in their pockets.

Chris P

bcstractor said:

I prefer to save my money and use CFL's.

Chris P

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They (CFL's) have gotten better over the years, but in some instances I prefer the softness of the light given off by incandescents.

Jeff

-->With the right CFL you change them less often and they haven't ever been stuck.

I've had pretty miserable luck lately with CFL lifespan. A decade ago the local power company gave CFL's away free to acquaint consumers with them. I got 5+ years out of the three that I received.

I'm not sure I've gotten even 2-3 years life out of more recently purchased CFL's (various brands, including GE). I've switched to Phillips - we'll see how they do.

Every CFL I've purchased in the past 6 or 7 years specifies a 5 or 6-year lifespan. I rarely see that longevity.

bcstractor said:

One thing people forget is the danger in changing incandescents. Climbing up on a stool and then trying to get stuck ones out. With the right CFL you change them less often and they haven't ever been stuck.
Chris P

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I hope you're being facetious...

CFL's have come down in costs, under a buck each at Sam's club for the 100W equivalents. I have found the Lowes "Bright Effects" to be POS's and end up costing me more. They tend to burn out much quicker than the others. I've started keeping my receipts and marking on the bulb the date each bulb was bought/installed. These things do have a "limited" warranty.

The fun starts when folks accidentally use the non-dimmable CFL's in dimmer circuits.

And, in case anyone is interested, HD has their brand which is available in 3 color spectrum's. Sunlight, Daylight and Cool white IIRC.

I just wish they all would warm up faster.

Walt

bcstractor said:

I prefer to save my money and use CFL's. If I need heat I use gas to do the direct conversion.

One thing people forget is the danger in changing incandescents. Climbing up on a stool and then trying to get stuck ones out. With the right CFL you change them less often and they haven't ever been stuck.

Maybe Californians have money burning a hole in their pockets.

Chris P

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Light bulb grease - I'm not kidding. Sort of like Spark plug anti-seize.

Walt

tlfamm said:

I'm not sure I've gotten even 2-3 years life out of more recently purchased CFL's (various brands, including GE). I've switched to Phillips - we'll see how they do.

Every CFL I've purchased in the past 6 or 7 years specifies a 5 or 6-year lifespan. I rarely see that longevity.

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The environment has a lot to do with how long the bulbs last, CFLs have a low tolerance to heat, extreme cold, an extreme intolerance to vibration and frequent turning on and off will shorten the life also.

Its also important to know the advantages of LEDs is they can tolerate vibration, extreme cold and are the longest lasting light source. However LED lights are much more expensive and less efficient than CFLs.

CFL's are the biggest load of donkey dung. While you can plug an electric car, any number of electronic devices for use or recharge or just run an electric heater, you can't have a simple bulb. This is another example of the government going too far.

I've used CFL wanting to "do my part", but found they don't last any longer than regular incandescent bulbs. And nearly 100% of CFL's are produced in CHINA !!

Tom

I've found CFL's have a much much much longer life span than incandescent. Better for those hard to reach locations. Especially those sockets that seem to blow incand's all the time.

Only thing is they take awhile to warm up.

The CFLs that we've been getting the past several years have been much longer lasting than the ones that first hit the market. The failure mode of the first generation units had me scared to leave them on, unattended. They've come a long way. I've only had to replace one or two this past year.

I use CFLs; but, I think Big Brother has gone too far by outlawing incandescents. Obviously, the a_ _ hole regulators never had to keep pipes from freezing in their crawl spaces, or to keep condensation off their expensive machine tools, or to... or to... You get the gist. IMHO, incandescents are the handiest and most cost-effective low-Wattage heat sources there is. I am beyond p _ ssed that we'll be deprived of their use because Big Brother says so.

Orrin

OP needs to properly reference and document this new (ahem!) "law". Personally, I don't believe a word of it. People have been spouting this refrain for years. Each year it doesn't come true. Some DUDE on a forum doesn't make it true.

And, no. I'm not gonna waste my time googling this bahooey. YEARS, I tell ya! I've been hearing this for YEARS!! (no joke)

wb2vsj said:

Light bulb grease - I'm not kidding. Sort of like Spark plug anti-seize.

Walt

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Di Electric Grease, I use this on anything electric in a humidity type situation or as an "electric anti-seize".

As for losing the incandescent bulbs, I am stocking up a bit for my garage and cold storage room. mostly through just saving back any bulbs I have changed though. I have my doubts about the complete demise of incandescants, there are too many applications that they are necessary for. The CFL's do not power up to anything near light when below 25 degrees for moments at a time, the 75 watt equal CFL's are much like a poor quality night light when I turn them on in the garage of cold room for about 15 minutes. My wife needs pretty instant light when she comes home and parks it in the garage.

CFL's are not the end all for everything, but I run CFL in everything in my home but for these applications.

I went CFL six years back in EVERY light fixture (it was summer, the winter taught me to change back for the select six fixtures) all at once when I bought the new home, and the last three months have done an almost whole sale change out due to burn out. When they say five to six year life span, they mean it. The electric use went down almost 40% when I did the original change (can't say the bill, the service charge the bandits charge really makes saving electricity a lost cause).

Cfl

Have you read about the disposal? They contain a small amount of mercury, so it should never go to a land fill, yea right. But they last longer so it will take a longer time to get there? Go figure.

Arthur.Marks said:

OP needs to properly reference and document this new (ahem!) "law". Personally, I don't believe a word of it. People have been spouting this refrain for years. Each year it doesn't come true. Some DUDE on a forum doesn't make it true.

And, no. I'm not gonna waste my time googling this bahooey. YEARS, I tell ya! I've been hearing this for YEARS!! (no joke)

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Here ya go!

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

H.R. 6 [110th] - Summary: Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (GovTrack.us)

and just in case you don't want to waste your time following a link

Subtitle B--Lighting Energy Efficiency

SEC. 321. EFFICIENT LIGHT BULBS.
Rated Lumen Ranges Maximum Rate Wattage Minimum Rate Lifetime Effective Date

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1490-2600 72 1,000 hrs 1/1/2012

1050-1489 53 1,000 hrs 1/1/2013

750-1049 43 1,000 hrs 1/1/2014

310-749 29 1,000 hrs 1/1/2014

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I doubted it first but the sign at OSH said no more 100 watt after Dec 31. they have none left on the shelf anyway. So far this is just California but in one year it is supposed to be the entire USA.
Bill D.
Modesto, CA

Lights out for 100-watt incandescent bulbs in California | ScrippsNews

halogens are another good choice

If you still want the incandescent color and turn on time you can use halogen bulbs. They are more expensive, but sufficiently efficient that they will still be available. If you want to warm things up, they work great for that too

I still don't see a ban on incandescents. They just have to last a specified lifespan rated by lumens. So what? Old light bulbs used thicker filaments, which had a longer lifespan before burning out. As time went on, companies got cheap and made the filaments thinner---resulting in less lifespan before burning out. As for "efficiency", I can't comment. I'm not an electrical engineer. But again, not an outright ban of anything.

I'll believe it when I see it. I personally still read this as an overreaction. You'll still have yer old lightbulbs... for YEARS, I say! YEARS!! haha!

Relevant sections from link:
(3) an NAS review of advanced solid state lighting R&D and the impact upon the types of lighting available to consumers of an energy conservation standard requiring a minimum of 45 lumens per watt for general service lighting; and (4) the time frame for commercialization of lighting to replace incandescent and halogen incandescent lamp technology.
Section 322 -
Sets forth minimum energy efficiency standards for incandescent reflector lamps.
Section 323 -
Amends federal law governing congressional approval of proposed public buildings projects to require the Administrator of General Services (GSA) to: (1) transmit to Congress an estimate of the future energy performance of the building or space and a specific description of the use of energy efficient and renewable energy systems, including photovoltaic systems; and (2) include, with respect to space to be leased, the minimum performance requirements for energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Sets forth requirements for the use of energy efficient lighting fixtures and bulbs in public building construction, alteration, and acquisition.

Arthur.Marks said:

I still don't see a ban on incandescents. They just have to last a specified lifespan rated by lumens. So what? Old light bulbs used thicker filaments, which had a longer lifespan before burning out. As time went on, companies got cheap and made the filaments thinner---resulting in less lifespan before burning out. As for "efficiency", I can't comment. I'm not an electrical engineer. But again, not an outright ban of anything.

I'll believe it when I see it. I personally still read this as an overreaction. You'll still have yer old lightbulbs... for YEARS, I say! YEARS!! haha!

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That's true, it's only applies to lights around 40 watts and up and has exceptions for specialty lights like colored lights, appliance bulbs and a whole list of other types. Fortunately for us the largest least efficient organization in the world has been ineffective in limiting consumer choices.

I don't believe it, a bunch of grown, and presumably intelligent adults, saying they want to add to the proven contamination of fish planet wide with mercury because they like a 100 year old inefficient invention.

There's far too much mercury in fish. You cannot eat even just one fish of some species.

Come on guys wake up. We're running out of resources. Your helium is rationed. Some metals only have a ten year supply.

We need to fix these problems and the free market doesn't fix them.

Chris P