It's been my limited experience the compact fluorescents do _not_ last
as long. I have a pair of sockets for my living room that are near
each other in the ceiling (20 feet up, yes I have room for two floors
in that room.) When I first bought the place, there were two
incandescents already there. One eventually went out and I replaced
it with a compact fluorescent... twice... before the other one finally
expired (it was also incandescent.) They are on the same circuit and
attached to the same light switch so they are either both on or both
off, always.
Is this a recessed ceiling fixture? Those build up heat and are hard on
compact fluorescents. For that matter, some compact fluorescents brag
about being specifically rated to use in recessed ceiling fixtures. Such
includes the 15, 20 and non-dimmable 23 watt ones of Philips SLS series.
Philips did say that the 25 and the dimmable 23 are not rated for use in
recessed ceiling fixtures.
[snip]
I can say where and when compact fluorescents appear to me prone to
short life:
1) When on-time is short. As I hear it, "standard conditions" for life
expectancy include 3 hours per start. So I expect a fair chance of short
life expectancy compared to incandescents in motion sensor lights,
closets, restrooms used mainly for short trips, and refrigerators.
2) Higher wattage CFL in small enclosed fixture, due to heat buildup.
3) If the CFL is a problem-prone one, such as (according to my
experience) 25 watt spirals of GE and LOA brands made around 2001, LOA
45 watt ones, and LOA "Q-Lites" from the early 1990's. Also I have seen
"dollar store" ones have a significant rate of spectacular infant
mortality, as well as never achieving claimed light output (sometimes
low by a factor of 3) and sometimes not achieving stated color.
4) I hear of a few complaints of the Commercial Electric 42 watt spiral
dying young when operated base-up. I suspect the problem here is heat.
- Don Klipstein (
[email protected])