# Incandesent Light Bulbs



## mudpuppy (Dec 29, 2011)

So the phase-out of incandesent light bulbs begins on Sunday. Article here. My beef with this is, fluorescents do not work in cold weather. So what am I supposed to replace my outdoor lights with? Anyone looked into this? Any thoughts? I can't imagine no one has thought about this yet.


----------



## Ble_PE (Dec 29, 2011)

Move to where it's warmer?


----------



## Dexman PE PMP (Dec 29, 2011)

Home Depot sells LED bulbs that work in standard light sockets. We're probably going to use those to replace our bulbs as they burn out.

Only thing I'm concerned about are the non-standard sizes, especially in the smaller socket sizes (night lights, driveway lights, decorative lights, etc). I haven't seen any options for a Size B other than incandesent...


----------



## thwlruss (Dec 29, 2011)

I heard congress overturned this ban?


----------



## engineergurl (Dec 29, 2011)

I thought it was left in, but that a restriction was placed that the govt couldn't spend any money to implement it, so it kinda didn't matter...


----------



## Boomer01 PE (Dec 29, 2011)

I use CFL's on the outside of my house and have no problems even in the winter.


----------



## roadwreck (Dec 29, 2011)

I know I live in a warmer climate then you mudpuppy, but I have CFL's in my outdoor lights and they work fine even when the temps dip below freezing. At what temperature do they start having problems?


----------



## mudpuppy (Dec 29, 2011)

I haven't yet tried to use CFLs outside during the winter, but the regular fluorescents in my garage start to dim around 20 degrees and won't work at all when it's below zero.


----------



## FLBuff PE (Dec 29, 2011)

I had the same problem with the older generation CFLs, but the newer ones work better for me.


----------



## OSUguy98 (Dec 29, 2011)

we have some of the LED bulbs from HD or Lowe's in our outdoor lights, ~500 lumens. They work well, haven't gotten all that cold yet, but our old CFLs would take awhile to get bright in the winter months (anything sub 40°)... We use them in our living room as well, but we did have one of these $18 LED beasts die on us, within the first few months... weren't too happy about that...

We also have a couple LED night lights, so far no issue with them...


----------



## kevo_55 (Dec 29, 2011)

Let the incandesent light bulb hoarding begin!!


----------



## Road Guy (Dec 29, 2011)

I am just glad I dont live someplace where my garage gets down to 20 degree's!


----------



## wilheldp_PE (Dec 29, 2011)

When I was designing military housing in Alaska, we couldn't use any exterior CFLs because they will not operate at the design temperature of -40 degrees. Most of them are rated to 0 degrees.


----------



## snickerd3 (Dec 30, 2011)

i didn't think the ban applied to anything but the standard size. all the others sizes wouldn't be touched and should still be readily available.


----------



## mudpuppy (Dec 30, 2011)

According to the quoted article, pretty much all incandescents will be banned by 2015.


----------



## Capt Worley PE (Jan 3, 2012)

engineergurl said:


> I thought it was left in, but that a restriction was placed that the govt couldn't spend any money to implement it, so it kinda didn't matter...


This.



roadwreck said:


> I know I live in a warmer climate then you mudpuppy, but I have CFL's in my outdoor lights and they work fine even when the temps dip below freezing. At what temperature do they start having problems?


Mine start slow starting at 50 degrees. This morning was 28 degrees and I'd say it came on at 10% and was up to maybe 75% when I left 45 minutes later.

I bought 48 incandescents a few months ago. Hope they'll last me a good long while.


----------



## Master slacker (Jan 3, 2012)

I'll be buying a good many bulbs in the next year.


----------



## engineergurl (Jan 3, 2012)

lol, stock up like hoarders!!!


----------



## roadwreck (Jan 3, 2012)

Capt Worley PE said:


> roadwreck said:
> 
> 
> > I know I live in a warmer climate then you mudpuppy, but I have CFL's in my outdoor lights and they work fine even when the temps dip below freezing. At what temperature do they start having problems?
> ...


The CFL's I have outdoors are on timers, so I never really notice how long they take to turn on. It makes sense for me to have CFL's in these lights since they are on a lot (every day) and are generally on for hours at a time (4-5 hours a day). I've been pretty happy with their performance. For my outdoor lights which are on regular switches or motion sensors I have a combination of incandescent and halogen. The halogen's are great for light, but man do they put off some heat and go through electricity.


----------



## Capt Worley PE (Jan 3, 2012)

roadwreck said:


> Capt Worley PE said:
> 
> 
> > roadwreck said:
> ...


When the one on the front porch burns out, it'll be replaced by an incandescent.

Had a scary moment a couple years back when someone knocked on the front door. Cut the light on, it was cold, and got the 10% power because it was cold. All I could see was a black silhouette, so I asked through the door what they wanted. I got a load of gobbeldygook I couldn't understand. Told them to hold on and went to get the phone to call 911 because I thought it was some messed up dude from the section 8 places a few blocks down, but when I got back, the guy held up a note book with "I'm trying to find [neighbor's name]. I can't reach her and need to know if she's OK."

Turned out to be a deaf guy (our neighbor was deaf, too).


----------



## Jonhnny123 (Feb 1, 2012)

Capt Worley PE said:


> Mine start slow starting at 50 degrees. This morning was 28 degrees and I'd say it came on at 10% and was up to maybe 75% when I left 45 minutes later.
> 
> I bought 48 incandescents a few months ago. Hope they'll last me a good long while.


You should look into a different brand then. I have CFL for my outdoor lights and temps routinely get down to single digits. At around 0 degress the light will come on at maybe 50-60%. After less than 2 or 3 minutes it's at 100%. It's not a special CFL designed for outdoor use or anything.


----------

