A Burnt Out Lamp

A light bulb burnt out this week in my bedroom. Actually, "Bulb" is an improper name for it. It was really a lamp. The word "Bulb" is meant to be the name of the glassware that surrounds the lighting filament/s. Lamp is the proper name for what most of us call a "Light Bulb." But enough for the trivia . . . there didn't seem much to write about on a lamp burning out. Not much except I bought this lamp in 1997 and it was the first Compact Florescent Lamp I ever bought, in fact I bought eight of them in a package. It is different from those curly ones we get now. It has three fingers sticking straight out. I bought it at Wal-Mart because it said I would use only 14 watts while getting 60 watts of light and I got eight lamps fro $12.96. That was the first time I ever saw them for under $2 each. I think they were trying to get rid of them because the next batch they received was the twisty/curly type.

There were no real instructions with those lamps, they just wanted you to replace your old incandescent lamps with the new CFLs. But, some uses don't fit the CFL. For instance;

--If you have a dimmer switch in the dinning room, those CFLs won't
work when dimmed, or in some cases they don't work at all.
Some new CFLs are usable with a dimmer and are so marked as
"Dimmable."

--If you turn a light on and off frequently, a CFL will not last as long
as when you put it where a light stays on for long periods and only
gets turned on and off once or twice a day.

--If you use a CFL outside during cold or even cool weather it will
not work as efficiently and it will take several minutes for it to
warm up to the point of sufficient lighting. It will also not last as
long.

All in all, the CFLs I've had have outlasted any incandescent bulb I've owned. Now don't get me wrong, some CFLs have lasted a shorter period of time than this 13 year lamp because they were put in one of my two bathrooms where lights were turned on and off several time a day or they were used outdoors in the cold weather. But this being of the original purchase and used in my bedroom where the light is on for several hours each day, make it very special.

The other two in that fixture are of the same original purchase and I assume that they will soon be gone, too. But they are still working and have more than paid for their purchase price in putting out light and saving me money on electricity.

If you want to know more about CFLs and have not yet decided to invest in them, go to http://www.cflfacts.com/ to get straight information on use and disposal of CFLs.