Readers recount eco-bulb woes

• Send us your stories [1]
• Bulb fire worries family [2]

Readers share their stories about energy-saving lightbulbs.

A year ago we suffered a power surge. Two nearly new energy saving bulbs failed, but none of the traditional filament bulbs were affected.

Roger Browne
Alexandra

My parents bought 6 energy-saving bulbs and half of them failed within 3 months. Experts acknowledge that they are far more expensive than normal bulbs but since they will last for years (the box said 9 years) then over time we will eventually save money. Since half have already failed and had to be replaced, the other 3 original bulbs will have to last for 18 years if they are to break even. Based on the evidence so far, this is extremely unlikely.

In your Aug 5 article you quoted a fire safety officer saying that we can't use energy-saving bulbs where there isn't good air flow, presumably to aid cooling. Yet energy-saving bulb experts tell us these bulbs DON'T emit heat like the old incandescent bulbs, some even telling us we can now block off vents in ceiling downlights. Who is right, the energy-saving bulb experts or the fire safety officer?

Also a previous comment, from the DCC I think, said we must drive to the Green Island Waste Disposal site to safely dispose of faulty bulbs since they contain toxic material. With the cost of petrol these days, this adds greatly to the overall cost of each bulb.

While they may save us a little electricity, remembering that lighting is a small proportion of our electricity bill, it appears they will only cost us in other ways - high initial cost, high disposal costs, high failure rate and replacement of some light fittings since we're told that we are unable to use them with dimmers and seemingly now with many forms of enclosed lampshade.
John Cotton
Dunedin

Hi, I bought two of the same bulbs as in the paper and they lasted three weeks and both failed one after the other. I then bought the eco bulbs from Shell on July 4, 2007. These bulbs go from 7.30 am until 10.00pm 7 days a week and they are still going strong [they are in down lights ]
Doug
Brighton

I bought 10 of the eco light bulbs from Shell garages last year and so far 5 have already blown. Energy Mad warranties them for 2 years but it is very difficult to access this.
Helen

I have been using energy-saving light bulbs for several years without any problems, until last month. I replaced one in my passage light with an 'Eco' brand bulb on the 16th July. 12 days later when I turned on the light I heard a slight cracking sound as if someone was crushing plastic and then smoke poured out of the light. It had only been used for a few hours.
I got an electrician to check my light socket in case that had caused the problem but it is fine.
It would be interesting to know if these problems have only occurred recently or have they been happening since people starting using the energy-saving bulbs.
Helen Laney
Oamaru

The ODT has featured a few articles lately about these energy saving light bulbs.
I have a house that is about 5 years old and has inset light bulb cavities in the ceiling, I have brought about 25 of these so called new, and soon to become compulsory light bulbs to try them out.
I have already had to replace 15 of them as they only lasted about 3 weeks! Not very good considering they are very expensive in comparison to those that last longer.
Also the heat could be an issue, I recently replaced one and was told they produced light and not heat, that was the reason they were more efficient, so I turned off the light switch and went to replace the bulb for a brighter one, it was very very hot.
Your suggestion of also holding the body of the bulb to screw into the recessed cavity is impossible, you just can't, there's no room and you have to gently screw them in with the actual glass bulb.
I am very disappointed in them mainly because they just don't last, the last pack of Osram Bulbs I brought claimed they last 3 years.
I don't usually worry about things like this, or would change the brand, or continue with the existing old type of light bulb, but when they are being toasted as 'the best thing since sliced bread' feedback is necessary, the budget is stretched far enough without having to buy a product that is expensive and unreliable.
Karen Robertson

My experience is that they don't last as claimed and are unreliable. Nor do they work with dimmers (fire hazard).
They burn out dramatically and alarmingly. Great for outside but inside is a worry.
It appears that our own authorities are unaware of the risks involved and unaware of the overseas reports.
Some serious allegations are made regarding the mercury content and the form of same (being a powder). Risks are serious if inadvertently broken. These claims need to be settled.
My view is that the current filament bulbs should be allowed to continue until the true environmental issue of disposal of these new bulbs is sorted out.
The companies promoting these products have a vested interest in claiming no health risk so an independent assessment should be carried out.
Jemima Fatima

The trouble I've had has been with the high-end curly spiral ones. Two have gone in a couple of years and one went bang and dropped a few inches. I started keeping the dockets (proof of purchase) and returned one to Lighting Direct - they refunded the cash - $24- without a problem and said they don't sell those any more. They might save power but they don't save money.
Doug Haworth

I read with interest your story on energy saving lightbulbs.
I bought my lightbulbs during the promotion last year and replaced nearly all my bulbs as the old ones died. I moved to a new address on 1st April this year and proceeded to replace standard bulbs with energy saving ones immediately and I had two I had replaced in the lounge.
Within 2 weeks one of the bulbs exploded and sprayed shards of broken glass all over the carpet and also the main unit had been blown out of the socket in ceiling and was on the floor amongst the glass.
6 days later a second bulb just across the ceiling from the first bulb also exploded spraying me and the floor with shards of glass again when I was sitting just under and in front of the light at my computer.
I am now wary of all the other bulbs that are in my house, but I have been told by an electrician there is nothing wrong with my wiring as it is a fairly new house and he said sometimes these energy bulbs have been known to explode occasionally. I apparently was unlucky to have two explode in short space of time.
I will let you know if any more decide to depart company with the light sockets.
Carol Markham

I purchased 10 ECO long-life light bulbs from the Kaikorai Valley Service station when they had them on a promotion The first one I put in lasted 20 minutes, the second one 3 min. Not good eh?.
Dennis Sharp

My experience with these bulbs started in the mid to late 1990's. The cost in those days were generally between $20 + $30 a pop, so initially one was fairly cautious about the claims etc. A standard incandescent bulb cost about $1 or so.

These first few energy saving bulbs (ESB) I installed were not at all as bright as claimed. eg A ESB rated at 20 watts rated to give as much light as a 100 watt incandescent.... I did a few tests and the light output was about that of a 75 watt std bulb a long way short of 100watts claimed.

I dated these ESB's, as I've done will all my ESB's on installation and found that they were only lasting about or slightly better than the incandescents they replaced! (I recall one failed after a few weeks and hankfully I got a replacement, NC). The manufacturers claimed they would last some 10 times longer but this is far from my experience. When one worked out the economics it was doubtfull at that time that there was any money saved bulb cost verses electricity saved, and then we had the problem of lower light ESB output. I think in one case at least I had to revert back to incandescent light as the ESB was just ot satisfactory as far as light output went.
Some of these early bulbs were also quite ugly in some light fittings and just did not look right. I think a lot were put off by this aspect as well.

From about 2000 onwards the cost of the ESB's started to decline sharply to well less than $20, in fact perhaps as low as $15 per ESB so the economics had become much better and I replaced at some stage where I could all the incandescent bulbs and installed ESB's and dating them as I did so. By replacing several at once I did for sure notice a drop in electricity usage.

After about 18 months the most used ESB's started to fail and it transpired that the ESB life was still not much better than a incandescent bulb!

Since that time I've continued with ESB's, and the cost of ESB's has kept coming down and indications are for sure they now have a longer life of about 2 - 2.5 times that of incandescent bulb which is still very much lower than claimed but certainly much better than the early ESB's. The saving in electricity is what it is really all about and ESB's certainly do that in comparison to a incandescent bulb.

I have also noticed that nowadays the light ouptput is nearer the specification than the 1990's ESB's but a 20watt ESB still maybe stretching to match a 100 watt incandescent. (I've not done any tests so this is only a feeling.... quick .. call a scientist!).

Recently I bought a pack of 3 ESB's for about $10 so regardless of anything they are now even better value... so what if their life is not as great as some might claim. There is also a better variety of ESB on the market so the 'ugly' factor may not now be so much of a problem.
Interestingly a incandescent bulb these days still costs about $1 while a ESB has dropped from $20-$30 to $3-$5!

What a pity electricity could not follow suite!

I've not had any bulbs go on fire but I do note that some ESB do get blackened bases after they have been around for a while. This may be a indication that they may be near the end of their life. Most of the ESB's I've replaced have shown 'burnt' or discoloured bases where the glass lighting tubes are embedded in what looks like a ceramic base material.

Some places in my home will never see ESB's because the present incandescents are so little used that it must be well over a decade since any bulb was replaced! I also have a couple of incandescents on a dimmer ircuit and I'm not sure how these will fair but I have several replacement bulbs at a $1 each so can keep these running for a long time. I expect that technology will prevail and we will see a usefull dimable ESB and I could then perhaps donate these last incandescent bulbs to a museum or something!

Well that's something of my experience with energy saving light bulbs: (ESB)

Don Weston.