Dimmable Cfl

The dimmer can give a more relaxed feel to your home and save you energy. But with the increasing prevalence of compact fluorescent lamps or CFLs, many people are wondering what options they have for using a dimmer light with - or if it saves more electricity use regular CFL, or incandescent bulbs use halogen or a dimmer switch.

Let's start by putting to rest the misconceptions people have about using the energy of fluorescent, incandescent and halogen bulbs.

Many owners put in halogen bulbs, from the 1990s on the mistaken idea that these lights are more effective than incandescent lamps. In fact, their efficiency is almost the same as that of incandescent bulbs. So do not think you're saving energy by using them.

CFLs, on the other hand, are very effective - it takes about one fourth as much electricity to light a CFL bulb to light up an incandescent or halogen lamp with the same luminous flux. They are also last about eight times longer than incandescent bulbs.

So if you use a dimmer mainly to save energy, you might be better to just get your incandescent or halogen, CFLs, and keep the dimmer on full, or return to a level switch on / off. This will give you more light with less energy.

If you want softer lighting all the time, one way is to put in bulbs that are not as bright. What you get from, for example, an incandescent lamp of 100 watts for an incandescent bulb 60 watts, or down from a 100 watt light bulb filament at a 18-watt CFL, you always get less than light and you will use less electricity. Of course, the solution CFL will save you a lot more electricity in the long term.

But the chances are that you want the best of both worlds: low cost of operation and durability of compact fluorescent bulbs, with flexibility for Sun if you do not need their full light.

You may have heard that you can not put a regular CFL on a regular dimmer. In fact, you can, but it is not recommended because it can really shorten the life of the bulb. There was no increased risk of explosion or fire at the installation of a regular CFL on a standard dimmer switch - you just increase the risk of shortened lamp life. And since the higher price of CFLs is offset by the fact that they live longer than incandescent bulbs by a ratio of 8 to 1, putting a dimmer on CFL regular standard destroys this cost advantage.

If you choose to Sun CFLs, you have two real options: to buy a special dimmer that is compatible with compact fluorescent lamps, or buy CFLs Dimmable that are designed to work with standard dimmers.

Both options leave you with the benefits of energy saving compact fluorescent lamps, and the ability of these CFLs Sun. But for now at least, Dimmable CFLs seem the most affordable because fluorescent dimmers are compatible prohibitive, while the price difference between standard and Dimmable compact fluorescent is tiny.

Consider the total cost for both options, for a device with three 60 watt bulbs. Suppose you already have a dimmer and standard incandescent bulbs. If you want to switch to CFLs, your choices are:

1. The installation of three compact fluorescent lamps standard 13 watts to 3 per unit, and a $ 49 fluorescent tube dimmer. Total cost: $ 58.

2. Aim for three 13-watt CFLs can be dimmed to $ 3.50 each, and use the existing drive. Total cost: $ 10.50!

As you can tell, using an existing dimmer switch is a more affordable alternative. Since the two possibilities of using the same amount of energy in terms of payback period of the solution with a dimmer CFLs is certainly much shorter.

Even if you need to buy a dimmer switch because you do not, it still makes sense to.