Quote:
Originally Posted by niky
LEDs have longer lifespans, though. My current brand claims 40k hours versus the 8k hour guarantee of the best Japanese bulbs, and they carry a five year unconditional warranty to support it.
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Lifespan? I just witnessed a CFL bulb die a week ago or so. I can remember that lamp being used since over 10 years ago when I was in elementary school (back then incandescent bulbs were still common and I remember having to change them a lot), and sometime then we changed the incandescent bulb to a florescent one. There is a small chance that I'm wrong and that this lamp has only been in use since about 7 years ago, but nevertheless it has had quite a long service life. The light started flickering intensely a few weeks ago, and then one day it refused to turn on.
I replaced the bulb, and the lamp still did not work! Turns out the contacts in the switch were so dirty that they didn't really conduct anymore. If you read a thing or two about any lamps using an arc (that includes CFLs), the most wear occurs when you switch it on; Striking the arc wears down the electrodes. That lightbulb must've experienced several thousand starts or more in its last month. I disassembled the lamp, cleaned the contacts, and discovered that the old bulb was in fact dead, as the new bulb works great.
The rest of the CFLs at home have been going strong for 5-7 years already. Replacing that bulb was the first time I opened the lightbulb box in 5 years, and I had never changed a CFL bulb before that. I'd say as far as longevity goes, I'm pretty sold on CFLs. I would love to DIY an LED lamp someday since I think it'd be cool, but I don't see any problem with CFLs right now.
By the way speaking of mercury, it should probably be pointed out that metal mercury is toxic, but not horrible until it's converted to methylmercury by bacteria, so it's not a hazmat situation when a CFL breaks.