Understanding The Dangers of Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

[Soundy]

Originally Posted by SkinnyPupp

Not sure what your point is..

This:

Originally Posted by Manic!

Did you have a choice anywhere else. If you work in a office or a store you spent 8 hours under florescents 5 days a week. If you went to school same thing. I bet a lot of people spent just as much time if not more under florescents than they did under Incandescents.

...and this:

EVERY. SINGLE. DANGER. that seems to have been "recently" discovered with CFLs - the flicker, the "dirty" power, the mercury - has been around FOR ***DECADES***... yet somehow none of them seem to have become a major earth-shattering problem until the discontinuation of incandescent bulbs was announced.

People have been coming and going under fluorescent lights all this time, anytime they go out in the real world, and there was never this fuss about it, no big public outcries over the "health effects" of its use in these places, NOBODY GAVE A FUCK ABOUT FLUORESCENT before.

[MG1]

Originally Posted by CharlesInCharge

I dont know what to say to that...
SkinnyPupp Im not going to go into tangents on why I think your points are wrong, but here is a working light bulb from the 1900's, featured in that documentary.
World's Longest Running Lightbulb Goes Out In Livermore - YouTube

The toaster my dad bought the day after I was born, is still working. It even looks great. Chrome finish it is and it toasts bread to perfection. I will pass it down to my kids. Every morning without fail for close to 60 years. Now that's a fudgenardin toaster for the books, I tells ya.

You hear of these 1901 toasters still working, but they were stored away for decades. This puppy was used day in and day out.

That toaster broke my nose when I was three or four. Actually, my fault for tugging at the cord, LOL.

They don't make toasters like this anymore. On a side note, I believe my nose saved the toaster from being irreparably damaged.

So why am I posting this shit? Can't be any worse than the rest of the crappy posts in this thread, amiright?


Ah........ Sunbeam bread, toasted to perfection on a Saturday mornin' while watching "Looney Tunes". Does it get any better than that?

[radioman]

I heard that he designed a toaster so powerful that it would toast bread as soon as you thought about jam.

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by Soundy

People have been coming and going under fluorescent lights all this time, anytime they go out in the real world, and there was never this fuss about it, no big public outcries over the "health effects" of its use in these places, NOBODY GAVE A FUCK ABOUT FLUORESCENT before.

This is not true at all. People have HATED fluorescent lighting for a LONG TIME. Look at any movie or whatever that wants to portray shitty jobs.. what's the first thing they do? Make shitty fluorescent lighting make things look shitty.

Fluorescent lighting isn't used everywhere, it's only used in places where they only care about cost and nothing else. Go to any retail store where the products need to look good, and you will not see them. Even stores like Ikea that hypocritically ONLY sell fluorescent and LED lighting, they won't dare use them to show their own products. Any good employer who cares about their employees will use better lighting than fluorescent, or at least change it if their employees request it. Shitty jobs won't, nor will schools most of the time.

And there's a reason they have been refining the technology over the years to improve the colour output and flickering. Although they're not there, they have improved quite a bit. If nobody cared, then the lights would just look like they always have.

I have hated it as long as I can remember, going back to high school. I can't even walk into certain stores because it's so annoying, and going to China is excruciating. For some reason they use the grossest greenish blue colour that flickers at like 50 Hz.

[68style]

I remember at my old office, they said 1 night they were switching things out for low power using fluorescents... I volunteered to stay that night in a section doing the changeover because guests needed to be escorted... I watched as they removed the old units (not just the tubes, the holders as well) and put in the new ones which had this bizarre shade of light to them... I literally got to sit there and watch the entire office be overcome with this weird "pink" haze from the new lights as the higher consumption "yellow" ones got removed... it was horrible. I didn't say 1 word to anyone the next day just to see if anyone would notice, and all you heard when people walked in to work the next morning was "Whoa!" and "WTF?"... then began all the headache complaints... sick days... women with migraines... so, yes, they can and do suck. Hard. And this was 6-7 years ago long before any of this recent debate started in the media.

It's just like anything, you cheap out and you get what you pay for.

[MarkyMark]

Plus I think there's a difference between bitching about lighting at someone else's place and being forced to use it in your own house.
Posted via RS Mobile

[Great68]

Originally Posted by thumper

i bought a philips LED bulb from home depot last month when they had them discount promotion going on and it is awesome. however it dosen't come on immediately with a flick of the switch for me... there is maybe under a half-second delay to fire up?

Those are the ones with the silver body and yellow head right?
I got a bunch of those during the sale, and I notice the split-second delay as well. Those are philips' first gen bulbs.
The new second-generation bulbs ones with the all white body fire up instantaneously.

[Great68]

Originally Posted by Soundy

This:


People have been coming and going under fluorescent lights all this time, anytime they go out in the real world, and there was never this fuss about it, no big public outcries over the "health effects" of its use in these places, NOBODY GAVE A FUCK ABOUT FLUORESCENT before.

Lots of people give fucks about fluorescent, but it's not like they have any choice over what their employer decides to put into the workplace.

[Nightwalker]

Partially inspired by this thread and other recent light therapy experiments, I just ditched all my CFL bulbs and went back to incandescent.

WOW I feel better. Also, I can use my dimmer switch now

[SkinnyPupp]

Somewhat related, if you spend a lot of time in front of a computer you should absolutely install f.lux

[Nightwalker]

Originally Posted by SkinnyPupp

Somewhat related, if you spend a lot of time in front of a computer you should absolutely install f.lux

This is one of the things I have done recently! I can also recommend.

I also have a set of cheap blue blocking orange shades to wear before bed. Part of steps I've taken to kill insomnia.

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by MG1

The toaster my dad bought the day after I was born, is still working. It even looks great. Chrome finish it is and it toasts bread to perfection. I will pass it down to my kids. Every morning without fail for close to 60 years. Now that's a fudgenardin toaster for the books, I tells ya.

You hear of these 1901 toasters still working, but they were stored away for decades. This puppy was used day in and day out.

That toaster broke my nose when I was three or four. Actually, my fault for tugging at the cord, LOL.

They don't make toasters like this anymore. On a side note, I believe my nose saved the toaster from being irreparably damaged.

So why am I posting this shit? Can't be any worse than the rest of the crappy posts in this thread, amiright?


Ah........ Sunbeam bread, toasted to perfection on a Saturday mornin' while watching "Looney Tunes". Does it get any better than that?

Is like they don't build cars or TVs like they use to be. Backs in the 80's to 90's the stuff is build to last. Now the stuff is build to break after a few years so people can keep spending money to buy the same product again and again.

Remember back in the days of Nokia 3310 or 8890? Those phone are build to never break lol.

[meowjinboo]

I get extremely depressed when I was working under the old lightbulbs. The colour temperature was off. it sucked.

[rsx]

There's something I like about fluorescent lights. It's sterile, clean and industrial. If I ever build my concrete house, I'd use fluorescent lights. I'd look sweet in a garage/workshop or a long concrete hallway.

[Lomac]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

Is like they don't build cars or TVs like they use to be. Backs in the 80's to 90's the stuff is build to last. Now the stuff is build to break after a few years so people can keep spending money to buy the same product again and again.

Have you seen an 80's/90's American car on the road lately?

That's what I thought.

[Soundy]

Originally Posted by Lomac

Have you seen an 80's/90's American car on the road lately?

That's what I thought.

'92 represent!

[Lomac]

Technically that's not on a road, so my point still stands.

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by Nightwalker

This is one of the things I have done recently! I can also recommend.

I also have a set of cheap blue blocking orange shades to wear before bed. Part of steps I've taken to kill insomnia.

I have a pair of orange lenses too, I wear them sometimes when it's cloudy or gloomy outside. They seem to 'warm' the light that gets to my eyes, generally making it feel 'brighter' (even though technically they are letting in less light)

Never thought of using them around the house though. What time to you put them on?

[slammer111]

Originally Posted by Lomac

I'm not a fan of CFL's, but not because of that link. They take forever to reach their full brightness. I'll stick with my halogen lights.

Most new ones are instant-on. That was true in the 1990s (which is why I stuck with incandescents until 2012) but actually I was pleasantly surprised with the new ones when someone convinced me to give them a try.

From personal experience..

The ones in the mid 1990s (1994 or so? Buddy's family had them installed) took like 5 minutes to get to full brightness. Drove me nuts when I used to visit.

The ones I bought in 2007 or so took around 1-2 minutes to get to full brightness.

The ones I got in 2012? 0.1s, if not less. They behave exactly like incandescents, without the heat etc. The colour temperature is somewhere between 2700-4300K too (not too white, not too yellow ). And I bought the cheap ones too. Swapped out the entire place in a month and donated all my old bulbs to a family friend who refused to upgrade. Haven't looked back.

LEDs are still too expensive for the swap, but I'd definitely take another look when my box of CFL spares runs out.

As for everyone freaking out about mercury - how often do people break bulbs? *scratches head* Because of the construction, CFLs seem a lot more robust when being screwed/unscrewed, especially if you grip them by the ballast instead of the glass..

[Soundy]

Originally Posted by slammer111

The colour temperature is somewhere between 2700-4300K too (not too white, not too yellow ).

In fact, you have a pretty wide range of colour temperatures to choose from these days... with incandescent, you have one.

Personally, I want to find some 12,000K CFLs so my living room matches my car's douchy blinding purple HIDs

[SkinnyPupp]

Are there seriously "12,000K" lights in existence? If so.. wow... that's bluer than a pure blue sky

[Soundy]

CFLs? I dunno. HIDs? Yeah, pretty sure you can get them that blue. I saw a car once that the HIDs were actually PURPLE. CFLs typically run between 2,700K to about 6,500K. Standard industrial tubes cover about the same range.

They do make blacklight CFLs, too...

According to cflfacts.com,

Why does my CFL make me look like a cadaver?
While even the best CFLs may not make people and objects look exactly the same as they do with an incandescent lamp, some CFLs make many people look terrible and cause them to reject CFLs in their homes. In most cases, this problem is easily solved.
CFLs, like all fluorescent lamps, are sold in various colors, and some of these will render skin colors very poorly. It's hard to avoid a bit of technical jargon when discussing the color quality of light sources, so I'll need to use some jargon here. The color of a lamp is specified using the term Correlated Color Temperature, which is the temperature of a blackbody, in Kelvin, that has a color that is the best match to the color of the lamp. (The Kelvin is a unit of temperature based on absolute zero. 273.15 Kelvin is equal to 0 degrees Celsius.)

Candles have a Correlated Color Temperature of about 1700K. Typical incandescent lamps used in homes have Correlated Color Temperatures that range from about 2700K to 2900K. Those small halogen incandescent lamps used for desk lamps have Correlated Color Temperatures close to 3000K. The sun has a Correlated Color Temperature of about 5800K, while blue sky has a Correlated Color Temperature of about 6500K. So, you can see that as the Correlated Color Temperature increases, the color of the light source moves from reddish to bluish.

Now, the problem. CFLs are made with Correlated Color Temperatures ranging from 2700K (like an incandescent lamp) to 6000K, bluer than the sun; but it is hard for the average consumer to know what Correlated Color Temperature lamp they are buying. Some manufacturers use made-up names like natural white or soft white instead of the actual Correlated Color Temperature. Other manufacturers print the Correlated Color Temperature on the box or the base of the lamp in small numbers such as 3000K, but with no explanation of what these numbers mean. I don't know of any CFLs sold to the general public that list the Correlated Color Temperature in an easy to find place and explain what the number means.

The good news is that proposed ENERGY STAR® Program Requirements for CFLs, not yet issued as of January 29, 2009, will require CFLs to have the Correlated Color Temperature printed on the packaging in order to be ENERGY STAR qualified.

I urge those people who have found the color of CFLs to be totally unacceptable to check the color temperature of the lamps they bought. If your CFLs are not 2700K or 3000K, then I suggest you buy some 2700K or 3000K lamps and give them another chance.

[MG1]

I use OttLite lamp when working on my models. Natural/neutral light to give me true colour. Plus, I can see better. I don't suffer from headaches or any of that shit from flourescent lights, so it's all good.

You guys gave me good idea. Install flourescent lighting in man cave to keep the wife out, LOLOLOLOLOL.

Flourescent not good for you young, single, horny, virgin RS types.......... women hate flourescent........ prefer warm, soft, sexy lighting. Hee hee hee.

[SkinnyPupp]

I urge those people who have found the color of CFLs to be totally unacceptable to check the color temperature of the lamps they bought. If your CFLs are not 2700K or 3000K, then I suggest you buy some 2700K or 3000K lamps and give them another chance.

I've bought so many different brands of CFL, from expensive Phillips bulbs to cheap brands like Sunshine and Megaman (yup there's a brand called Megaman)... I always try to get them in the 'warm' range, but not one has been able to produce what I would call a 'pleasant' warm light.

The temperature itself may be 'correct' but it still looks gross most of the time.

[subordinate]

That's it... I'm buying a box of incandescent bulbs next time in the states.

These bulbs are sketch when they die. From flashing that bright green light to smoking that pungent smell before dying, it's sketch.

Yeah, some go out peacefully as well, but too many cons than pros IMO.

Cons:
Shitty light
Takes time to warm up
Potential to smoke/rapid flicker when dying
Mercury if I accidently drop it (which I have, and they explode like flourescent bulbs)

Pros:
energy savings?
.....