Chinese Junk!!!

[weldequip]

I'm sat here in front of my laptop searching through the forum & suddenly BANG! The low energy light-bulb above me explodes... fecking ell! All brown & smokey. These things are supposed to last 10 years!!! 4th.one I've had fail out of 6!!
Bought through Viking Direct... your friendly office supplies people (who's Chairman's face you get utterly sick of after a while!)
Sent as a freebie deal with other stuff I wouldn't touch another with a barge pole!
Stick to Phillips, Osram etc.
weldequip

 

[jinnan_tonnix]

Aren't these things supposed to be... well... not very good for you? Full of mercury, or deadlium or something?

 

[TonyWilk]

Low energy c~@p!

The really low-energy LED lights are just as bad... even from Osram - bought a couple of types and they both went FUT! in a couple of weeks. They should last donkey's years.

I think they all use cheapnese LEDS and <geek alert> the internal circuit drops mains with a cap onto all the LED's in series, needing 40v or so. When one crappy LED dies open-cct the whole lot goes out and since there's nothing else to limit the voltage, a 64v electrolytic shortly goes BANG (knocking a small hole in the case of one of 'em).

It's the very influential electronics giants that are forcing a lot of this 'low-energy' crap which is less reliable and is a lot less environmentally friendly than glass with a bit of thin wire in.

Yours,
Tony Wilk

 

[rtbcomp]

You can get Philips compact flourescents for less than a quid at Netto. I've just had to replace one after two years. They used to do a cheopo brand which were useless.

If you do the sums you save a lot of money using them.

 

[bump]

The Philips ones at Netto are utter s**te too. They use Netto and the like as a dumping ground for old stocks. BELL do a good line, I'm not overly impressed at Megaman's quality, though the range is excellent.

Calling them Low energy IMHO is utterly against the trades descriptions act, low electricity consumption I'll accept.

 

[rtbcomp]

The trouble is with all this environmental c**p is that so-called experts differ. Whether we like it or not we're stuck with what the government says we should do, so my take is do whatever saves me the most money!

 

[weldequip]

Whether we like it or not we're stuck with what the government says we should do

You'll be signing up for one of the new ID cards then RTB?! "Not compulsory, but you will be restricted from using certain services without one"
weldequip

 

[Justme]

The power saving is not as simple as it seems. Ok so 80% of the elec is converted to heat so you are paying for heat & not light with a standard bulb, but not only are you getting light but the bulb is helping to heat the room, ok so on a 100w bulb its only 80w of heat but its not wasted as such. If the room is heated with a theromstaticly controled heat source any heat from the bulb should reduce the heating needed from the heating system.

Check out the its not easy being green forun & the downsizer forums as they are full of threads about this issue.

Justme

 

[rtbcomp]

The power saving is not as simple as it seems. Ok so 80% of the elec is converted to heat so you are paying for heat & not light with a standard bulb, but not only are you getting light but the bulb is helping to heat the room, ok so on a 100w bulb its only 80w of heat but its not wasted as such. If the room is heated with a theromstaticly controled heat source any heat from the bulb should reduce the heating needed from the heating system.

Check out the its not easy being green forun & the downsizer forums as they are full of threads about this issue.

Justme

Ah but - if your normal heating is gas, wood or solar you'll be paying more in electricity to replace the cheaper heat. Also what about when you don't want heat in your room, but you need light?

 

[rtbcomp]

You'll be signing up for one of the new ID cards then RTB?! "Not compulsory, but you will be restricted from using certain services without one"
weldequip

Yup - I'll need it to remind myself who I am and where I live.

 

[hareng]

Theres also the cost of the so called low energy light bulb, how many thousands of hours left on compared to standard bulb will it take to break even!
Up to last year ish they were £7 to £10 each, now a lot lot less.

Whats the current cost for leaving a 60W light bulb on per hour? Same again for a low energy efficient jobby?

 

[rtbcomp]

If electric costs 5p per unit (kwh) it costs (60/1000)*5 p/hr to leave a 60w bulb on = 0.3 p/hr

To compare it's easier to consider a 100 watt bulb (100/1000)*5 = 0.5 p/hr

an equivalent compact flourescent takes 20 watts = 0.1 p/hr

A CF lasts 8 times as long as filament bulb, so if a bulb costs 50p you pay 8*50p equals £4.00 over the life of a CF Paying a £1.00 for one at Netto you're quids in. (save £3.00)

If CF lasts 8000 hours it burns £8.00 worth of leccy. Over the same 8000 hours a bulb burns £40.00 of leccy, save £32.00 with a CF

Total saving of a CF = £35.00

 

[Justme]

If electric costs 5p per unit

Can I have you elec bill our units cost 12p day rate & 4p 1am to 8 am.

Ah but - if your normal heating is gas, wood or solar you'll be paying more in electricity to replace the cheaper heat. Also what about when you don't want heat in your room, but you need light?

Yes you are right but its still not the simple save 80% like the bulb makers / greenies try to tell you. Also as lights are needed more in the colder months the losses when heating is not needed are less. Also people on oil heating would find the elec bulb heating cheaper. Have just fitted two new 4 lamp lights in the kitchen I am refitting. The heat output is huge fron the 8 x 50w bulbs (400w / 80% so about 320w of heat which is enough to heat the room with the rads off, will be changing the standard GU11 bulbs for low heat output / lower elec usage ones for the same light).

Justme

 

[rtbcomp]

Night = 2.080 p/kWh, day = 5.2 p/kWh plus 13.95 p/day standing charge. Plus VAT. British Gas.

I haven't had a bill for 9 months either.

320 watts to heat a room - must be well insulated! I recover the heat from my air compressors to heat my office. Presumably yours is mostly radiated heat in which case you'll feel warmer than the air temperature in the room. There'll be a fair amount of cooking heat if it's a kitchen?

 

[Justme]

That is seriously cheap elec. Are you on a fixed price tarrif from a few years ago? Whats the tarrif called?

Oddly we dont cook in the kitchen. The rayburn is in the dining room. We have no standing charge & even on the same tafif we used to be on in Leicester they charge more here per unit. Done the price check thing & for the area no one is cheaper (or last time I looked anyway). I think its enough heat as like you said its radiated at just over head level so you can feel it more. Also rooms on both sides are heated too. Also remember its not regulated with a thermostat so is on 100% unlike a controled device which is prob only actualy on 30% of the time based on our heating boiler cycles.

This is uswitches cheapest supplier prices for my area on E7

18.27p per kWh (day)
10.41p per kWh (day) above 900 kWh p.a
4.79p per kWh (night)

Or for no E7

17.87p per kWh
9.09p per kWh above 900 kWh p.a

Or with standing charge

£65.26 Annual standing charge
8.94p per kWh



Justme

 

[rtbcomp]

That is seriously cheap elec. Are you on a fixed price tarrif from a few years ago? Whats the tarrif called?

........

You've got me worried now. It was fixed for 5 years but I'm sure it was more than 5 years since I took the contract out. It is supposed to be a business tarrif, but they still charge 5% VAT. I queried that and they charged 17.5% for one month.

I don't know what the tariff's called, there's no reference on the invoice.

I changed my bank and gave British Gas my new details for the Direct Debit, they cancelled the old one and never started the new one!

Life is too short to try to get sense out of BG so I'll wait until they wake up.

 

[Justme]

Tell me about it. BG are trying to sue me for an unpaid £50 bill based on the end readings when I move to a new supplier. trouble is the reading is 10k units out from what the new supplier started with. The meter was removed a year later & still had not reached the reading they closed the account with. Have supplied them copies of the opening readings for the new company a copy of the reads when the meter was taken out but they still cant seem to stop the court procedings. It works out that they actualy owe me about £200. I guess I will enjoy my day out in court that day as I have all the paper work to prove it all & rwecords of every phone call I have made with dates times & peoples names.. That was after 2 years of them billing me as a biss customer when I was domestic. After each bill I would complain & they would change it then come next bill it was back again as biss. 3 time the "of" whatsit had it out with them to change it.



Justme

 

[scarecrow]

They are banning the old lightbulbs in Ireland so everyone will have the use the low energy bulbs it should make traffic lights even more interesting

 

[Justme]

Arnt most trafic lights now LED's?

Justme

 

[TonyWilk]

Arnt most trafic lights now LED's?

Justme

Yep, they aren't cheap ones tho' - cost loads more than a socket with a bulb in, but were cheaper overall when cost of bulb replacement and downtime were taken into account. (I seem to remember the early ones were over 100quid each).

Same argument for LED lights in cars, the LEDs are more expensive but are designed to last the life of the car so can be fitted as complete sealed units without access panels and such.

Domestic bulb replacements are different, they are made as cheap as possible - and you probably know what that means...

Yours,
Tony Wilk