As I’m a sucker for just about every consumer technology that comes down the pike, I had to try Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) in my new house when they first appeared on the consumer market in 1995. I quickly discovered that the expensive (about $25 in today’s money) bulbs were not very bright, so I installed them in relatively inaccessible places like the basement crawl space, hoping that the manufacturer’s claims of long life would come true. Alas, the bulbs died young. Not recognizing the environmental hazard, I tossed the dead bulbs in the trash and forgot about them.
Fast forward ten years: I found CFLs at Costco for less than $3 per bulb. The manufacturer, Feit Electric, specifically claimed 8 times the lifetime of a 60 watt incandescent lamp. Do the math: 8 x 1,000 hours = 8,000 hours (11+ months, operating continuously). So I bought a pack and paired some of them with double-life (2,000 hour) incandescent lamps. Guess which lamps failed first: incandescents or CFLs?
Yup, another disappointment for me, the Green wannabe. Was it an industry conspiracy or was I just unlucky? Now Consumer Reports shines light on this dark enigma in its May, 2008 issue. Since 8,000 hours is a long time, CR’s tests aren’t finished. Still several brands have passed the 7,600 hour mark. But Feit Electric ESL13T bulbs “failed between 3,300 and 3,900 hours.” I would have been happy if my Feit Electric bulbs (not the same model) had lasted even that long.
Moral of the story: if you want to buy a long-lasting CFL, brand and model matters. Before plunking down hard earned cash, read Consumer Reports to find a bulb that’s likely to be reliable. So now I’ve got a pack of dead CFLs, each containing 3 to 5 milligrams of mercury, making them toxic waste. Anybody want to take these bad boys off my hands? I can’t get rid of them!