Remodel Kitchen » lightbulb http://www.remodelkitchen.net Observations on the home remodeling and construction process. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:53:39 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Batteries N Bulbs http://www.remodelkitchen.net/2010/06/22/batteries-n-bulbs/ http://www.remodelkitchen.net/2010/06/22/batteries-n-bulbs/#comments Tue, 22 Jun 2010 10:01:10 +0000 Ken http://www.remodelkitchen.net/?p=179 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> After lunch at The Old Siam, I discovered a light bulb store while walking to my car. Batteries N Bulbs is located at 1111 W El Camino Real, #135, Sunnyvale, California. Although the interior of the store is quite spartan, the store carries an amazing variety of light bulbs. Since I needed a few specialty bulbs, I headed in to take a look.

First, the other 4 Pin Trip Tube Fluorescent Bulb in the bathroom went out. At least, I got 7 more months of use from this one, but no where near the claim 10,000 hour life. For this go around, I picked up an Eiko 26 watt 3500° K Triple Tube FLuorescent Lamp Base GX24q-3 for $15.95.

Compared to a 100 watt incandescent bulb, I should be saving 74 watts per hour. If the light is on for 3 hours a day for the 3 year life of the bulb, that’s 3,285 hours. So, the compact fluorescent saved me 249,600 KWH during its functional life. So, how much does 249 KWH cost? At 9.54 cents per KWH, one bulb saves me $23.76, if I would have installed a 100 watt bulb instead. So, despite the diminished life of the fluorescent bulb, I think I’m still ahead.

Now, for the more difficult task. I was also looking for a 40 watt type t4 e11 base mini candlelabra. I’ve searched in all the major hardware stores but never found a replacement bulb until I found Batteries N Bulbs. I mean this bulb was out for at least a year or more. The replacement bulb, a Bulbrite Industries, Inc. KX40CL/MC cost me $16.75.

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]]> http://www.remodelkitchen.net/2010/06/22/batteries-n-bulbs/feed/ 0 UFL-CF26TE/835 Goes Kaput http://www.remodelkitchen.net/2009/11/07/ufl-cf26te835-goes-kaput/ http://www.remodelkitchen.net/2009/11/07/ufl-cf26te835-goes-kaput/#comments Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:43:25 +0000 Ken http://www.remodelkitchen.net/?p=149 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> In California, the 2005 Building Energy Efficiency Standards require the installation of high-efficacy lighting. And, to prevent you from swapping high cost fluorescents with low cost incandescents, screw-in CFLs do not count. So, 2 1/2 years into this energy saving experiment, our first triple tube 4-pin fluorescent failed. So much for that 10,000 hours average rated lifetime. I guess the plug-in CFLs fail just as well as the screw-in CFLs.

Anyways, our triple tube 4-pin fluorescent was installed in a bathroom. If the bulb stayed lit for 2-3 hours a day for 2 1/2 years, that comes to 1,825-2,737 hours. In reality, our usage is probably far less than that. How weak. 25% of its average rated lifetime. Now I have to hunt for an expensive replacement bulb.

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