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Flourecent light bulb question

3K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  Stavop 
#1 ·
Ok, maybe a little odd question but you guys all seem very helpful so I will give it a shot.

I am lookingto replace my exterior lighting on my house....3 units that attach to the house and are under the eaves of the house.....and a pole light. We just got a new roof and soffit/facia and they need replaced.

I was leaning towards the new "energy saver" flourescent units....but it seems like their is a $35-$50 PER LIGHT difference between the fixture that accepts the two-pin twist type flourescent bulbs versus the standard screw in incandecent bulbs.

Could I just use the standard type fixture but use the screw-in type flourecent bulbs?

Is there a downside?

I cant understand why the price hike? And that doesnt even include the flourescent lamps! LOL

Any ideas?
 
#6 ·
Thanks folks

I just went ahead and ordered the standard light fixtures....spending an extra $300-400 just to get the built in flo units seemed dumb so I am going to just use the screw in type flo bulbs...if they flicker in the cold weather i will just swap them for standard incand. bulbs until the warm weather comes back.
 
#7 ·
Do not be concerned. Flickering will not be an issue with CFL's. It can and is with regular tube fluorescents. The only issue you will face is time to get to full brightness. I also have them all through my house and they light up pretty fast. I have one on the front porch fixture. It takes about 1.5 minutes to reach full brightness in cold weather.
The long bulbs flicker because they are filled with a gas just like the CFL's, but they have much more area inside the bulb, and that takes a while to get juiced up in cold weather. The CFL's have very little area to activate.
 
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