You’ve seen them all over the place lately,. You might even have bought one or a few. These little guys are great. They promise all the light you’re used to but at about 1/4  of the electricity you’ve been burning. I suppose that over a year it can add up to make it worth paying extra. The best part is the new bulbs don’t take an extra few moments  to light up any more so overall the process to switch out your old school incandescent bulbs can be pretty non-invase into your life. but there is always a catch to the free lunch.

I’m not going to go on about how there is mercury in them or that the extra energy to manufacture them is taking an additional toll on the environment or carbon footprint. that’s not what my blog is about. nor me for that matter. I’m a practical guy and when I see a way to lower my overal costs for energy I’m willing to take a shot.

So don’t be like me and

ignore the notice on the box that mentions dimmer switches.

Don’t do it.

WHY?

BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ.. “do you smell something?” Buzz BUZZ  BUZZ

oh yeah I need to keep this on full power. I’ll turn it up…

POP!!!!

Now the box says that this thing should have lasted for 7-10-Years!  buuuuut now it’s a acrid smelling bulb that no longer lights up. No the glass didn’t shatter. But  some electric  component inside the base part that screws in to the fixture let g0.  So now that I destroyed one I did some research  for everyone and when you have a dimmer controlled light set up  you need to buy dimmer ready CFLS ( they do make them and they sell for a premium example: case of 6 bulbs regular- under $10 bucks in costco — the dimmer ready ones are over $10 bucks each) so you pay more but considering this thing blew up on me after about 20 minutes at a low setting you can see that it can be even more expensive to keep blowing them up.

so hope this helps you out and have a safe and happy New Years Eve

Welcome 2010

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