Compact Fluorescentize Your House

The new fad isn't the iPhone, or the Crocs. The new fad is Compact Fluorescent light bulbs! During this Instructable I will be replacing the word; Compact Fluorescent, with CFLs, to make it shorter, and less repetitive. As you might already know, CFLs use less energy than a regular Incandescent Light Bulb. Not only do they save energy, they also last much longer! What more could you ask for?

Though the price of the CFL is higher than an Incandescent bulb, the extra money spent is easily saved because of the longer output and energy saved. QuickFact: In the United States, a CFL can save over US$30 in electricity costs over the lamp's lifetime compared to an incandescent lamp and save 2000 times their own weight in Greenhouse Gases.

All Energy Star CFLs use about 75 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer.

In this Instructable, I will be making my house, into a house of Compact Fluorescents! That means that every light bulb in my house, will become a Compact Fluorescent! I will show the many stores to purchase CFLs, I will calculate the approximate money saved by using CFLs, and teach you a little bit about how CFLs help the environment!

Not only do we put new CFLs in, we also have to recycle our old Incandescent Bulbs. I will teach everyone how to do that as well!

(Photo by PiccoloNamek from Wikipedia.)

Step 1: 7 Steps For Purchasing the Right CFL/Stores to Buy Them

What do you want to look for when you are buying CFLs?

1.Well first you have to decide where you will use them. A recommended fixture, is one that is left on 3 or more hours per day. You want to replace the bulbs that you use the most frequently first.

2.Make sure it will fit in your fixture. You wouldn't want to spend money on a CFL, and not have it fit into your fixture!

3.Check to make sure that the CFL is energy star compliant. What is Energy Star Compliant? It is a government that regulates programs and products that help save the environment and save consumers money by using less energy through advanced design or construction.

4.Circline or 2D styles are usually best for most table lamps. These also tend to be the brightest options.

5.Choose the Color Temperature, if listed, that's right for you; for example:
Approx. 2700K = Warm White (looks just like incandescent!)
Approx. 5000K = Cool White (White/Blue, often higher CRI)

6.Does your chosen fixture have a dimmer switch? If so, be sure your CFL choice is labeled to be Dimmable.

7.Avoid using CFL's with photocells unless the control is specifically labeled that is it compatible with CFLs. Timers are an easier option

Nowadays, any hardware store should carry CFLs. They are the new fad of course! The HomeDepot website has a very wide variety of them. Home Depot CFLs

Comments

[PeoplesCar]

Cool instructable. I did the CFL thing at my apartment a few years ago, now I leave my lights on even longer than I used to (I have houseplants and don't get much natural light so they appreciate it) and my electric bill was still cut in half. I also think that out of 15 bulbs in my apartment, I've only had a couple burn out in all these years (the ones on my front porch / back patio run 24/7 and are original to when I moved in). I ended up using the double envelope CFLs everywhere except the front porch / back patio, which actually put out less UV light than standard incandescent bulbs. The plain "twist" ones are the ones that put out a lot of UV light.

[morlamweb]

Many of the big-box home improvement stores will also take burnt-out bulbs for recycling, for free. If you live near one, call their Customer Service desk and inquire about CFL recycling at the store. If they do accept bulbs, it's usually in the returns area, just inside the store. The store near me will also accept old non-CFL bulbs (circline, straight tube, u-shaped tube), though the box is sized for CFLs. If you have any of the larger bulbs to recycle, call the store ahead of time to make sure they take em'.

[sollysolly]

CFLs are a total business scam. They are toxic, guys. Wake up and don't have them in your house. Lighting represents a tiny proportion of most people's energy bills. CFLs are simply not worth the health and environmental risks.

Prolonged exposure to the light and 'dirty electricity' emitted from CFLs has been linked with skin cancer as well as a host of other health problems. If they break, they release mercury - the most toxic of all metals which can cause permanent physiological and neurological damage if breathed, touched or ingested. Do your own research if any of this is unfamiliar. Businesses do not advertise this stuff.

Why do the businesses producing CFLs not inform us about these risks? Why are the procedures required in case of breakage not printed on the packaging? (eg opening all the windows and leaving the house for at least 15 minutes to avoid the vapour.)

My guess is: Money. We have been hoodwinked.

Get angry, get over it then do something about it. Incandescent and LED bulbs do not produce dirty electricity, although some LEDs may contain arsenic and lead.

Remove all CFLs and dispose in compliance with your local council regulations for hazardous waste.

A couple of links for the basics:
http://www.youtube.com/v/VS5ogZxoZ2Y
http://www.naturalnews.com/032020_eco-friendly_bulbs_toxic_chemicals.html

[jgoodman4]

The one second delay is almost non existent on the newer ones

[ilpug]

I know they are supposed to be environmentally sound, but they make buzzing sounds sometimes in lamps, and don't give off very good light.

[DANgerous124]

Yeah, I don't trust CFLs. Regular light bulbs are fine with me.

[Philip J Fry]

I don't believe they last longer than incandescent globes, I've found on average they last half as long, also in australia CFL's can cost upto $7 dollars each, where you used to be able to buy incandescent globes for around $0.30

[steve000]

You could have bad electricity. I was an early adopter of CFL's and have had the same set running since I installed them between 6 and 9 years ago. even those horrible orangepink early ones are still going strong

[theelectrifier]

one of these smashed on top of my friends dinner table while she was having dinner, she is now gone blind in one eye and deaf in one ear, she is now unable to concentrate on anything and is having major emotional issues. Mercury is extremely toxic! stop using these poisonous bulbs.

here's what can happen if they break it your presence....

A series of difficulties characteristic of mercury toxicity affecting the eyes

• bleeding from the retina of one or both eyes
• dim vision, expecially after exercise
• slow and poor accommodation to changes in vision distances
• Inability to fix one's gaze
• uncontrollable eye movements
• eyes drawn to one side
• imaginary geometric figures appearing in the visual field, which migrate in a few minutes from the periphery toward the center and slowly disappear
• "film" seeming to appear over the eyes
• dry eyes
• a gray ring forming permanently around the cornea (known as Arcus senilis)
  

One or more heart difficulties:

• irregular hearbeat (palpitations), often together with anxiety
• stong pains in the left part of the chest come on
  

Problems in the upper respiratory tract:

• asthmatic breathing troubles, such as a feeling of not being able to inhale
• A "cracking" sound in the lower part of the pleural sac, forcing one to cough
• red irritated throat
• inflammation in the upper airways and pleurisy appearing about a year after the dental treatment with amalgams
• difficulties in swallowing
  

Psychological troubles come on such as:

• severe amnesia
• constant feelings of tension and strain
• anxiety
• irritability
• difficulty and even impossiblity to control behavior
• indecision
• loss of interest in life
• mental or emotion depression
  

Conditions of the brain, including:

• tiredness nearly all the time
• a feeling of being "old"
• resistance to intellectual work
• reduced capacity for work, both for intellectual and physical tasks
• reduced powers of comprehension because information does not come through
• increased need for sleep
• headache about once a week. The headache often is migrainelike, especially induced by weather changes and by prolonged sleep in the mornings
  

Neurological complications can come on like:

• vertigo (dizziness)
• facial paralysis, usually on the right side, that is partly permanent
• damage to balance and hearing
• a painful pull a the lower jaw toward the collar bone
  

Oral discomforts make their appearance such as:

• increased salivation
• often-present sour metallic taste
• bleeding gums at toothbrushing
  

Numbers of other symptoms gradually showing up, including:

• joint pains, especially increasing about a year after receiving the implantation of amalgam fillings
• pains in the lower back
• weakness of the muscles with a slowing down of muscular action
• feelings of pressure, pains, and paresthesis ("pins and needles") in the region of the liver
• gastrointestinal irritation
• paresthesis in the region of the lymph nodes under the arms and in the groin
• exzema or other skin eruptions
  

1 Sources: Stock, "Die Defaehrlichket des Quecksilberdampfes"; F. Gasser, "Quecksilberbelastung im Menschlichen Korper durch Amalgam," Med.-Biol. Arbeits und Forschungsgemeinsch (Baden-Baden, Germany: Dtsch. Zahnarzt., 1976): K. D. Jorgensen, "The Mechanism of Marginal Fracture of Amalgam fillings," Acta Odont. Scan. 23 (1965): 347.

[Thempleton]

All this has to do with "amalgam" the dental filler as shown in the references, not with CFLs.
Mercury is no more contained onto fluorescent lamps since 1991.
So don't worry antmore and go on with CFLs. :-)

[ZATVORNIK]

AMEN ! ! ! !  These things will kill as many people as obamacare ! ! ! ! !

[Mr. Smart Kid]

don't belive this shi* he just realy hates CFLs

plus there is most likey more Hg in drain traps in old hing school chemistry labs

P.S. old hat makers form the 1800s were the ones that mainly suffered and went crazy

[bassclarinet23]

It is very true. Why would he hate a bulb that saves him money and the environment? If he doesn't want to risk using it, he doesn't have to. He's just sharing some information curious people may want to know.

[Mudbud]

becuase He rather have his life than some left wing ding-dong getting money from this scam... just sayin...

[theelectrifier]

yea, don't believe peer reviewed scientific research

[bassclarinet23]

Ha ha. I agree with you, but I still use them (very carefully).

[Jimstructables]

 Don't forget, faulty ballasts burn down houses. The risk is too great for me. I am skipping this step and converting directly to LEDs.

[rabid_engineer]

Aye. I use halogen spots , since they deliver a warmer light (and still are more efficient than ordinary incandescent light bulbs). LEDs still have a ways to go before they are thoroughly applicable, mostly because of power density.

[aloy99]

... the problem isn't about you ingesting the mercury. I think it's in the form of a vapour. The problem is due to the rising no. of CFLs in landfills(which are kinda... rough?) the mercury can seep into the underground water/streams, flow to rivers and drains, even possibly fish farms. So the mercury goes back to us when we eat the fish.. and... yeah. It accumulates in your body. And even a small amount can cause, errr... craziness...

[Lori216]

I asked a professional electrician about these bulbs and he told me that he wouldn't pay the extra cost. Since installing these expensive, and extremely hazardous bulbs,(of which I just learned the severity of them) about a year ago, I have had three burn out. Regular light bulbs last much longer. These may save energy but with having to replace them more than regular bulbs I am dishing out some serious bucks! I will never buy another CFL. The next thing you know there will be a shortage of mercury and mercury in the landfills (due to improper disposal) and then someone will complain and say that we are not being ecofriendly. Sometimes you just can't win.

[arcane2rox]

about 3 years ago I tried one of these bulbs because the old house i was living in kept burning out my standard 65 watt bulbs. a month later I bought a replacement 13 Watt bulb replacement for every Light in my house hold. I have never had one of these bulbs ever burn out on me, even in old houses that have voltage fluctuation caused by old wiring that burns out a incandescent light Bulbs in a week. It's definitely Worth changing!

[arcane2rox]

I also do want to add that they are dangerous to so be careful or don't risk the change!

[awang8]

Hmm... I think I read somewhere that exposures of light produced by poorly made CFLs can cause skin cancer. Probably because the glass thingy isn't 100% coated with phosphor and some UV leaked out...

[theelectrifier]

UVB frequencies. about twenty times greater than the sun. the people who are telling everyone to use these lightbulbs are the same people who put fluoride and chlorine in our water and mercury in our teeth. Aluminium, Aspartame and MSG and Pesticides in our food

[Mr. Smart Kid]

if u did'nt know UVA, UVB, and UVC all come from the sun

[bassclarinet23]

Yes, but you should limit your exposure if you don't want skin cancer.

[thermoelectric]

Was it on my topic?

[bassclarinet23]

It's a good concept, but the mercury is very dangerous. Plus, I'm reckless and I've accidentally broken five (in various manners) this past year.

[littlechef37]

I cant live with florescent they make me sick.....migrains.....I can only go in walmart for tops 30 mins.... So I use LED's Which use a fifth the voltage of CFL's I have a theroy as well, I think long term exposure to fluorescent light bulbs could cause depression.

[Mr. Smart Kid]

you mean "wattage" or "amprage

p.s. i love flourscents, for one thing i will never use an incandencent for lighting my fish tanks

[theelectrifier]

yes you are correct, the lamps output an extremely high level of UVB light. in fact 20 times more UVB than the sun. UVB is the frequency which causes skin cancer. what would be causing you to feel sick is the strobe effect of the light flashing on and off 60 times a second. they also cause ADD in kids

[Mr. Smart Kid]

"UVB is the frequency which causes skin cancer"
should say "can cause skin cancer"
matter a fact all uv radiation can cause skin cancer ( UVA, UVB, UVC )

"the lamps output an extremely high level of UVB light"  they output much less then you think. halogen lamps also output UVA, UVA

"causing you to feel sick is the strobe effect of the light flashing on and off 60 times a second" only the old magnetic ballasts in the old long tube fixtures do that.

"they also cause ADD in kids" that's f**king insane

[12V]

new electronic lamps run at about 100khz (200 times a second)

[itsthatsguy]

100KHS its 100,000 times a second
khs = killaherts=thuosands fo herts, so 100*100=100,000

[joe57005]

Are you sure it's the lights and not the walmart?

[littlechef37]

I'm sure... it happens in any room that is large, windowless, and has florescent lights

[thermoelectric]

You probably notice the 50/60Hz flicker, That is what causes the migrains...

[itsthatsguy]

Lol, its not 60 HZ, the internal regulators kick it into the thousands

[thermoelectric]

No, He's talking of the older magnetic ballast fluorescent light. Wal-mart doesn't use CFL's. They use the batton fluorescrnt lights. And it isn't regulaors that change the frequency, it is the transistors..

[MrUbuntu]

Most LCD and Plasma Displays / Computer monitors are back lit with fluorescent lights. So I'm guessing you can't use computers either... Wait?... How did you comment then?