Fluorescent vs. incandescent? Environmentalists can't decide

[Thor]

Firethorn, I had the electric company come out to check my power at the last house. All they brought was a digital multimeter.  An oscilloscope would have seen any problems, but they didn't have those.

[K Frame]

You know, I totally clutched on this, but the two CFLs I have in my bathroom are N:Visions.

Friends of mine told me about them and said that they're pretty darned good, so I bought two.

I like their warranty - 9 years or 10,000 hours.

http://www.nvisioncfl.com/


So far, no complaints.

[Harold Tuttle]

[Firethorn]

Firethorn, I had the electric company come out to check my power at the last house. All they brought was a digital multimeter.  An oscilloscope would have seen any problems, but they didn't have those.

That's it?!?  Sheeshh....

There's a number of issues that a simple multimeter can find, but I can check that myself(Ever tried to figure out why an outlet's showing 60 volts?).

Still, you need a bit more when trying to figure out funky equipment failure rates.

Worst case, you can stick a power conditioner on your house.  Bonus, many of them can keep power active for a 'blip' type power outage.

[Manedwolf]

Worst case, you can stick a power conditioner on your house.  Bonus, many of them can keep power active for a 'blip' type power outage.

I have one before the TrippLite suppressor the computer stuff is plugged into. It's a Raytheon one, military. No idea how much the government paid for it. 

[Bogie]

The power center for my living room stereo has a voltage/amperage meter (switchable) on it... I've seen between 110 and 125 volts... It got during the summer that I could look at it and say "whoa... Everyone's got their AC on... better open the garage door so I can reach the generator..."

[Thor]

Firethorn, best I could figure out is that it was dirty power. Unfortunately, I never acquired an Oscilloscope to really dig into it. I kind of wish I had one of those, a signal generator and a spectrum analyzer. I'd be set to open up my own business. After all, the Navy taught me pretty well when it comes to electronics.

[Manedwolf]

Firethorn, best I could figure out is that it was dirty power. Unfortunately, I never acquired an Oscilloscope to really dig into it. I kind of wish I had one of those, a signal generator and a spectrum analyzer. I'd be set to open up my own business. After all, the Navy taught me pretty well when it comes to electronics.

Go to bankruptcy auctions of electronics manufacturers.

[Tallpine]

The colder the bulb is the longer it will take to warm up. When it's really cold the outside bulbs on the front of my house take quite awhile to warm up to full power.

That's not really good for security, is it?

[K Frame]

The colder the bulb is the longer it will take to warm up. When it's really cold the outside bulbs on the front of my house take quite awhile to warm up to full power.

That's not really good for security, is it?

Security isn't an issue.

The pole light comes on at dusk via electric sensor, so there's still quite a bit of ligth out. The porch light I turn on when I get home.

I also live in a fairly tightly packed townhouse community, so I catch the light from others pole lights, as well.

The reason I keep the light burning in the back of the house 24x7 is because that's a much less secure area. I have a 6 foot fence and back up onto a treeline.

[seeker_two]

I like the Home Depot brand CFL....have them throughout my house. Even have the "Super Solar" ones for the outside lighting that I keep on all the time.....we can play a baseball game at midnight now....

They can pry my CFL's from my cold, dead sockets.... 

[Firethorn]

I have one before the TrippLite suppressor the computer stuff is plugged into. It's a Raytheon one, military. No idea how much the government paid for it. 

Another option might be a 220V surge arrester - they're ~$80, and fits into your circuit breaker box.  Might not be perfect, but should prevent surges for the whole house.

[Brad Johnson]

They can pry my CFL's from my cold, dead sockets.... 

I'd be careful issuing ultimatums around this bunch.

Brad

[Sergeant Bob]

They can pry my CFL's from my cold, dead sockets.... 

[giant alien cockroach voice] Your terms are acceptable [/giant alien cockroach voice]

[seeker_two]

They can pry my CFL's from my cold, dead sockets.... 

[giant alien cockroach voice] Your terms are acceptable [/giant alien cockroach voice]

Makes sense....in the end, the only things that will be left will be cockroaches, Twinkies, and CFL's.....

[CAnnoneer]

If you eat oceanic fish, especially predatory ones like tuna, you already get plenty of mercury.

[AJ Dual]

Just like mammals, heavy metals in fish tend to congregate in the nerves and brain tissue. The original mercury scare in fish was from a study where the entire fish was liquefied in a blender, then the mush was tested.

A later study that only tested the cuts of the fish a first-world citizen from a western background would eat showed the mercury risk was negligible.