# Are CFL low energy bulbs worth the money?



## landlord (21 Aug 2012)

I am finding my GU 10 down lighter CFL bulbs blow within a year or two. I don't even get close to the 10,000 hours expected life.  They cost around 6 to 8 euro each, so I don't know if the saving on electricity is worth it???

I do find the standard bedroom cfl low energy bulbs last longer and are cheaper though.


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## RonanC (21 Aug 2012)

LED GU10's are the way to go - Have a look at the Philips Master LED bulbs. Expensive but the closest thing you will get to a halogen bulb in terms of colour and instant light and also fully dimmable. The best thing is they are only 4w each !!


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## DrMoriarty (21 Aug 2012)

I recently fitted a half dozen of them in the kitchen ceiling. A box of ten 3W GU10 bulbs only cost me about €30 online (and took about a fortnight to get here from HK), but they seem to be much pricier here.

My only problem with them is that even the "warm white" bulbs are much cooler than the ordinary CFL bulbs elsewhere in the house. Not unpleasantly cold, just much closer to daylight. It makes the other lights look really yellow by comparison.

I'll post back in a couple of years and let you know how they're lasting. ;-)


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## bstop (22 Aug 2012)

The wattage quoted for these LED lamps is probably the output power and not the input power consumed by the lamp. I recently bought three 6 watt LED lamps to replace three 50 watt GU 10 halogens. The light output from these LED lamps is greater than the 50 Watt halogens, but I tested the electricity consumption of the LED lamps and the three consume approx. 50 watts i.e. about 18 watts each. This is 3 times the rated wattage of the lamps. They provide more light than the 150 watt total of the halogens for one third of the electric energy but they are not as economical as you might assume.


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## STEINER (22 Aug 2012)

Although not downlighters, I  bought 2 x 20w and 1 x 23w CFLs back in 1994/1995 for bedroom, hall and kitchen for my parents.  They may have been a tenner each, but they are still going strong and so are my parents!  18 years is pretty good.


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## fme (5 Sep 2012)

Hi, when we moved into our house 2 years ago now, there were 25 50W GU10 halogen spotlights in the house. 
I replaced all of these with 3W LED lights - the output of each equivalent to the previous 50W bulbs. I have only replaced one bulb (it was faulty from the start and got it replaced) and they are all going well 2 years down the line.


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## landlord (5 Sep 2012)

How much did the LEDs cost?


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## DrMoriarty (6 Sep 2012)

I bought 10 3W GU10 bulbs for £23.99 from this eBay seller. Generic, but I didn't fancy paying €8-10 per bulb in B&Q until I saw how they worked out.

The seller says (s)he's in Kent and has "UK stock" emblazoned on all the ads, but the package came from Hong Kong. Otherwise no complaints.


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## Leo (6 Sep 2012)

The €8-€10 bulbs from B&Q don't last. 

The Philips Master range, available from Eurosales and others are supposed to be good. Dimmable and ~€10 each. Haven't gotten around to trying them myself yet.


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## landlord (6 Sep 2012)

Leo said:


> The €8-€10 bulbs from B&Q don't last.
> 
> The Philips Master range, available from Eurosales and others are supposed to be good. Dimmable and ~€10 each. Haven't gotten around to trying them myself yet.



Thanks ,but I suppose back to the original question. Buying loads of LED lights at 10 euro each compared to normal GU10 s at 1 euro each would mean it would take 10,20,30 ???? Years to Pay for themselves in energy saving.


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## Leo (7 Sep 2012)

landlord said:


> Thanks ,but I suppose back to the original question. Buying loads of LED lights at 10 euro each compared to normal GU10 s at 1 euro each would mean it would take 10,20,30 ???? Years to Pay for themselves in energy saving.


 
It's basic maths from there. We can't tell you how many years, as we don't know how long your lights are on for each day.

Ok, so let's take one of the Philips 7W GU10s as an example so. They give the equivalent light output to a 50W halogen. The LED light costs €10, the halogen €1. With electricity at 18c a unit, after 1163 hours, both will have costed you €11.47.

Should the LED bulb last the stated 40,000 hours, total cost will be €60. A halogen bulb will use €360 in electricity over that period. GE (one of the better brands) halogen bulbs have a stated 3,000 hour life. So you'll go through 14 halogen bulbs in that 40,000 hours, giving a total cost of €374.

If your lights are on 4 hours a day on average, you'll have broken even within 10 months, and from then on will make considerable savings. Elevtricity prices are only going one direction...


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