Replace CFL with LED or wait till CFL burns out?

I have long ago replaced all the 60W eq CFLs with LED bulbs, but 100W LEDs cost far too much. Last fall they were on an amazing sale 1600 Lumen, 3000K 15W and $5 each. I bought 5, and replaced 3 already. The last two i have been waiting for the CFLs to burn out but they seem to be immortal, already lasting over twice their rated lifetime.
When calculating payback one calculates energy savings compared to replacement cost and decides whether to buy or not.
In this case i already have the LEDs and the calculated savings are about $4 a year, but then throwing away working CFLs bugs me, yet i wonder how much longer the CFLs will last (they now give off a somewhat rose coloured light mind you).
Your thoughts?

Life is short man…replace those lights! Plus, I can’t stand CFLs.

IMO a big factor is whether you like the CFL’s - in some cases, tint and warm-up time can be annoying. In other cases, they’re a non-issue. I’ve done some of each - I still have a few CFLs in various spots around the house, but others I’ve tossed after a few months, even when they had plenty of life left and the LED alternative was notably more expensive.

If the CFL is working for you and you don’t have a real need for it then keep it until it’s dead.

I put my remaining CF’s outside on lamp posts, porch lights, etc….put the cooler running led’s in the home.

Toss the CFLs in the backburner for replacements or new light fixture additions, and get the LED bulbs.

I personally can’t stand CFL and their “hospital bleach” feeling.

remember the LEDs are not going to last their stated hours, that is for the led only, the electronics usually find some way to fail in about 1/4 the led life.

there are CFLs with decent warm tint, and the energy saving isn’t much vs LEDs, you have to use that bulb a LOT to pay for a $5 LED bulb, when the difference is only say 4 watts.

$5 / (4watts / ($.001/watt-hour) ) = 1250 hours of USE time, not just time …

that is 2 years at 3.4 hours a day…

wle

I still have some high lumen CFLs going. Also a table lamp next to my chair in the den has 2. I just can’t find an LED bulb small enough and bright enough to replace them

Also consider CFLs loose lumens over time, in industry they get replaced before they fail to maintain the brightness that is required

Color rendering of 80+ CRI Led lights is also better, no heat up time

I couldn’t stand the “warm-up” time of CFL’s on cold days. When I turn on the light switch to see something quickly and end up pacing around the room until I can see anything, that drove me nuts. There were some good instant rebates on 40, 60 and 100 watt equivalent LED bulbs with nice color tints about a year ago. I replaced all of the bulbs. They were cheap and actually use a little bit less power than the CFL bulbs.

On the other hand, warm up time can be an advantage. In our Master Bath I purposely have CFL’s. I don’t want full brightness immediately in the middle of the night when I turn the light on.

BTW, “warm up time”
CFL’s act differently than LED’s When a CFL warms up, it gets brighter. An LED, when it warms up, gets dimmer
and BTW, both CFL’s and LED’s get dimmer with age.

I’m not defending CFL’s, just pointing out that there are still some applications where they can be useful.
Even a 100W incandescent can be useful as a small, inexpensive 100W heater. :smiley:

I think i am just wanting to know how long these bulbs i have can live which is why i have not tossed them yet.

Interesting perspective. I despise the warm up on CFLs, i have not had the issue you use them for.
LEDs do lose brightness, though i have never been able to tell the difference, CFL its very noticeable.
If you go LED in the master bath perhaps a dimmer would work?

Bort, you want to know how long the CFL will last? I don’t know.
But I do know this, IF you want it to burn out so that you can replace it with an LED, it will last forever! :smiley:

I think if you buy brand name LEDs they will last year’s. I have some LEDs and some halogens the halogens have a bad life span but they are cheap. LEDs can pay for them selves quickly. Running 10 60 watt bulbs is 600 watt hours. It’s like 20 cents per kW/h. Running those lights per 5 hours a night is 3kw so 60 cents.
Equivalent led output cost. 10 watts each bulb so 100 watt hours. So 500 watts total for the night. That would equal 10 cents. Saving 50 cents a night adds up quickly.
Most people probably don’t leave 10 lights on at once lol.

Wow my maths was super bad on this lol

Indeed, they have no counter on them but they are at at least double the rated lifetime, maybe even triple.
Probably helps that they are turned on once a day only, no on/off that kills them fast.
A watches pot truly never boils!

They are truly quality Philips bulbs, its weird that i actually want them to die.

I’ve been typically buying only high end LED bulbs (on sale/clearance), most of mine are Philips and Sylvania, though the 100W eqs are Feit.

I replaced a 11W warm CFL bulb with a 7W NW LED in my room… couldn’t be happier! instant turn on, uniform light, the tint is much better and because the light is directed down it looks a lot brighter. Best $4 spent on any light bulb!

If you’ve got the replacement or can get it cheaply enough and want to , then replace it (and do something useful with the CFL or gift it afterward :slight_smile: ). Most of the time I choose to be lazy and not bother with replacing bulbs till I have to, especially if they’re not easy to get at. Just me, not a recommended approach for anyone else :wink:

Phil

question:
“How may flashaholics does it take to change a light bulb?”

answer:
“only 1, but he really wants to have to change” :smiley:

First CFL bulb unexpectedly died today, almost a year from this thread creation!

Both have virtually identical use profiles so i expect the second one to die very soon.
There is charring on the beginning of the tube so it looks like it tried to ignite itself, iirc they legally have to use flame resistant plastic for the base, it seems to have prevented ignition. I hope LEDs have the same requirement.

I’ve done both. I’ll change everything in a fixture. I’ll also replace all the ceiling lights in a room at the same time.

The CFL’s still get used. I use them in the garage opener because that is a bulb killer. They’ll go in the enclosed outdoor lights that are unfriendly to LED’s, and I don’t really care about the outdoor lights. The rest are backups. Fortunately $1 60W LED bulbs are easy to get now, and $1 100W bulbs are popping up, so I won’t mind when I finish burning through my stash of backups. My CFL last a long time though, about as long as LED’s overall, although Cree bulbs are really dragging down the average LED bulb life.