Saturday, May 14, 2011

CFL lifetime report

I just noticed that a second CFL failed in my torchiere conversion I did back in the winter of 2008. I use this light about 7 hours a day consistently. That makes it just under 8000 hours. The first CFL failure I seem to have not mentioned; I think it happened about a year ago.

2 comments:

  1. I, too, have had numerous CFLs that did not live to see old age.

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  2. But I mean here in this case, I have been using four CFLs. One failed at 5000 hours. This one failed at 8000 (I think they are rated at 8000 hours). I still have two working that are running past their rated lifetimes. I have two in an open ceiling fixture that are used frequently, about the same age as the first lamp, that haven't gone yet plus three in another conversion torchiere. I believe the rated lifetimes (in a quality CFL) are correlated with proper heat&humidity&use management: keep them base down, keep them in a ventilated or open fixture, keep them out of humid environments, and use them only in places where they will be on for a long time. And in those cases, CFLs last a long time.

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